Kreuzer - Hildebrand I

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.