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Pfennig - Berthold II von Pfirt
| Issuer | Bishopric of Basel |
|---|---|
| Year | 1249-1262 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.29 g |
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| Obverse description | Central design features a stylized tower or city gate with an arched portal, rendered in a bold, archaic Romanesque style typical of 13th-century episcopal bracteate coinage. The tower is surmounted by a domed canopy or baldachin with decorative finials, flanked on either side by crozier-like staffs or foliate elements. Two stars appear in the upper field, one to each side of the canopy. The entire design is contained within a plain inner border, the irregular flan edge characteristic of hammered medieval small coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (1249-1262) |
| Additional information |
Berthold II von Pfirt served as Bishop of Basel during a period of intense friction between the episcopal administration and the burghers of the city, tensions that would eventually culminate in Basel's gradual assertion of communal independence over the following century. His episcopate coincided with the broader collapse of Hohenstaufen imperial authority after Frederick II's death in 1250, which left Rhenish ecclesiastical lords operating with unusual autonomy but also unusual vulnerability.
The Wielandt and Wüthrich references place this squarely within the Breisach-associated bracteate tradition of the Upper Rhine, where silver of this fineness circulated in extraordinarily thin, single-sided form across markets stretching from Basel to Freiburg.