Hälbling - Bernhard von Spanheim

Bernhard von Spanheim ruled Carinthia for over five decades, an unusually long tenure that allowed his mint output to accumulate in ways shorter reigns never permitted. The Hälbling — a half-pfennig denomination — was the small change of the Alpine trade economy, circulating through market towns and monastic transactions alike. Bernhard's issues are among the better-documented of the Spanheim dynasty, referenced in the Corpus Nummorum Austriacorum framework that brought order to what had long been a chaotic body of medieval Austrian bracteate and fractional coinage.