Pfennig - Henry IV Stein in Oberkrain

Henry IV of Andechs held the march as Duke of Merania, a title his family had acquired through aggressive dynastic maneuvering in the late twelfth century. The Andechs-Meranians were deeply embedded in imperial politics — Henry's sister Hedwig became a canonized saint, his niece Gertrude was murdered by Hungarian nobles — yet the family's Carniolan coinage remains among the least studied of the German march issues. The Stein mint, situated along the Sava river trade route, served a region that was commercially active despite its peripheral position in the imperial sphere.