Pfennig - Henry V

Henry V of Austria — not to be confused with the Holy Roman Emperor of the same name and period — ruled the Babenberg march during a stretch when central ducal authority was consolidating against both ecclesiastical landholders and rival Bavarian claims. These bracteate-style pfennigs functioned as much as instruments of that authority as they did exchange media, circulating within a monetarily fragmented region where multiple lords issued competing silver.

CNA B30b is among the more precisely attributed varieties in the Corpus Nummorum Austriacorum sequence for this reign, a series where die workmanship varies considerably across the documented types.