Pfennig - Engelbert or Henry IV Friesach

Friesach, in what is now the Austrian state of Carinthia, became one of the most important minting centers in the eastern Alpine region from the early twelfth century onward. The so-called Friesacher Pfennig circulated across a remarkably wide area — Slovenia, Hungary, and the broader Adriatic trade zone — functioning as the dominant silver currency of the region for well over a century. Attribution of the earliest issues to either Engelbert or Henry IV remains contested; the archbishopric of Salzburg held minting rights at Friesach, complicating questions of ducal versus ecclesiastical authority over these pieces.