Denier - Henry I

Henry I of Brabant, who ruled from 1183 to 1235, was among the most politically active of the Low Countries princes during the Staufen-Welf conflicts — backing Otto IV at Bouvines in 1214, a catastrophic miscalculation that nonetheless left Brabant's internal coinage apparatus largely undisturbed. The denier issues attributed to his earlier reign reflect a period when Brabant was aggressively expanding its commercial reach along the Scheldt and Meuse corridors, and small silver struck in quantity was a practical instrument of that expansion rather than a ceremonial one.

Witte's classification system, on which this attribution rests, remains the foundational reference for Brabantine medieval coinage despite dating to the late nineteenth century.