Denier - Wilderold et empereur Otton III

Wilderold served as Bishop of Strasbourg from 991 until his death in 999, and his tenure coincided almost exactly with the years Otto III held the imperial title in full authority. The pairing of a local ecclesiastical lord with the young emperor on a single coin reflects the Ottonian practice of binding episcopal power directly to imperial legitimacy — bishops in this period functioned as crown agents, and their coinage rights were granted, not assumed.

Otto III was barely sixteen when this coin entered circulation. He died in 1002 at twenty-one, making all issues struck under his brief reign inherently short-window pieces.