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Kreuzer - Hildebrand I
| Issuer | Bishopric of Sion |
|---|---|
| Year | 1565-1577 |
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| Value | 1 Kreuzer (1⁄72) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field displays a stylized trefoil (clover) motif flanked by two six-pointed stars, one to each side, all contained within a raised inner circle. The surrounding legend, separated from the inner device by a beaded border, reads + HILTEBRANDVS · D · R · E · S, identifying Hildebrand of Riedmatten as Bishop of Sion. The die work is characteristic of mid-sixteenth-century Swiss hammered billon coinage, with a somewhat irregular flan edge. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Hildebrand I von Riedmatten served as Bishop of Sion during one of the most turbulent periods in Valais history, navigating the diocese through the pressures of the Reformation while maintaining Catholic authority in a canton where Protestant influence was actively encroaching from neighboring Bern and Geneva. His coinage, issued across a twelve-year span, reflects the diocese's determination to assert independent temporal power through minting rights even as its political position required constant negotiation.
Billon issues of this type circulated alongside a chaotic mixture of foreign small change flooding the Alpine passes — Savoyard, Bernese, and Italian pieces all competed in local markets.