Pfennig - Leopold VI Graz

Leopold VI ruled Styria from 1194 until his absorption of the duchy into his existing Duchy of Austria in 1198, thereafter governing both territories until his death in 1230. These bracteate-style pfennigs were struck under his authority as part of the decentralized regional coinage that characterized Alpine monetary practice in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries — each major lord effectively running his own mint with minimal imperial oversight. The Graz attribution distinguishes this issue from Leopold's Austrian pfennigs struck at other centers.