Pfennig - Rudolf and Duke Meinhard II Friesach

The Friesach pfennig type was among the most widely circulated coinages in the medieval Eastern Alpine trade network, copied by dozens of ecclesiastical and secular mints across Carinthia, Styria, and Slovenia from the late twelfth century onward. This joint issue reflects the fractious but commercially pragmatic relationship between the Archbishopric of Salzburg and the County of Tyrol under Meinhard II, who spent much of his reign consolidating territorial control against exactly the kind of ecclesiastical authority that co-signed this coin.