Pfennig - Henry IV of Isny

Henry IV of Isny served as Bishop of Basel from 1275 to 1286, a tenure marked by ongoing friction with the city's burghers, who were steadily consolidating municipal autonomy against episcopal authority. These bracteate pfennigs were struck precisely during that contested period, functioning as much as assertions of jurisdictional control over local coinage as instruments of trade. The Bishopric's minting rights in this region were repeatedly challenged, and the thin fabric of these coins reflects the broader regional bracteate tradition of the Upper Rhine rather than any local eccentricity.