Pfennig - Bernard II Heiligenkreuz

Bernard II, Duke of Carinthia from the Sponheim dynasty, issued these bracteate-style pfennigs during a period when Carinthian coinage was heavily influenced by the nearby Friesach mint tradition — itself one of the most commercially significant minting centers in the eastern Alpine region during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Friesacher pfennigs had become a dominant trade currency across the Adriatic hinterland and into the Balkans, and Bernard's issues circulated within that same economic network.

The CNA reference Cq97 places this among a well-documented but scarce class of Carinthian feudal issues from the Sponheim period, which ended with the dynasty's extinction in 1269.