William of Winchester, son of Henry the Lion, held Brunswick during a period when the Welf dynasty was fighting to reassert itself after Henry's imperial exile in 1180. Bracteate production in the region during this decade reflects both the fragmented political authority of the Saxon duchies and a minting tradition that favored these thin, single-sided uniface pieces precisely because they could be recalled and reissued — a revenue mechanism disguised as currency reform.
The Welter 93 attribution places this among a tightly catalogued sequence; Fiala's earlier numbering system occasionally splits what Welter consolidates, so cross-referencing all three cited references is advisable before assigning die varieties.
William of Winchester, son of Henry the Lion, held Brunswick during a period when the Welf dynasty was fighting to reassert itself after Henry's imperial exile in 1180. Bracteate production in the region during this decade reflects both the fragmented political authority of the Saxon duchies and a minting tradition that favored these thin, single-sided uniface pieces precisely because they could be recalled and reissued — a revenue mechanism disguised as currency reform.
The Welter 93 attribution places this among a tightly catalogued sequence; Fiala's earlier numbering system occasionally splits what Welter consolidates, so cross-referencing all three cited references is advisable before assigning die varieties.