Denier immobilized in the name of Louis IV crozier

Langres held the right to strike coin from at least the tenth century, one of the older episcopal minting privileges in Burgundy. By the twelfth century the bishops had adopted the practice of immobilizing the type in the name of Louis IV — a Carolingian king dead for two centuries — a legal fiction that preserved the coin's circulation acceptance while sidestepping the need to update the royal name with each new reign. This arrangement suited both the bishop and his commercial neighbors in the Champagne fair circuit.

The crozier variety distinguishes this issue from related Langres deniers bearing different episcopal symbols, and it is the type catalogued by both Poey d'Avant and Boudeau under separate references despite their close physical similarity.