William I of Langres held the bishopric for barely two years before his death in 1138, making this a genuinely short-issue type. Episcopal minting rights at Langres had been contested repeatedly between the bishops and the Dukes of Burgundy throughout the twelfth century, and coins struck under William fall within that fractious period of competing monetary authority in the region. The billon content of surviving examples varies noticeably — a product of inconsistent alloy control at provincial ecclesiastical mints rather than any deliberate debasement policy.
William I of Langres held the bishopric for barely two years before his death in 1138, making this a genuinely short-issue type. Episcopal minting rights at Langres had been contested repeatedly between the bishops and the Dukes of Burgundy throughout the twelfth century, and coins struck under William fall within that fractious period of competing monetary authority in the region. The billon content of surviving examples varies noticeably — a product of inconsistent alloy control at provincial ecclesiastical mints rather than any deliberate debasement policy.