Pfennig - Frederick the Fair Graz

Frederick the Fair — Duke of Austria and Styria, later co-ruler of the Holy Roman Empire alongside Louis IV following the disputed election of 1314 — issued this small silver pfennig from Graz during one of the more turbulent stretches of Habsburg consolidation in the southeast. The rivalry with Louis IV culminated in Frederick's capture at the Battle of Mühldorf in 1322, after which he spent three years imprisoned at Trausnitz Castle before an unusual power-sharing arrangement was negotiated.

Graz had been the administrative seat of Styria since the Ottokar period, and its mint output under Frederick reflects the fragmented bracteate-derived coinage still common to Inner Austria at this date.