Catalog
Pfennig - Ulrich I
| Issuer | Duchy of Carinthia (Austrian States) |
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| Year | 1135-1144 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Full-length effigy of a bearded duke in profile facing left, depicted in a stylized Romanesque manner. The figure holds a sword upright in his right hand and a banner lance in his left, emblematic of ducal authority. The design is executed in low relief typical of early medieval hammered coinage, with linear stylization of the robes and facial features. |
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| Reverse description | Three vertical rods arranged symmetrically across the field, the central rod bifurcating downward into a fork. Between each pair of rods, two facing human heads are depicted above a knotted cross motif, rendered in a schematic Romanesque style. Beneath the central rod, a ring enclosing a central pellet (annulet and dot) occupies the lower field. The overall composition is geometric and heraldic in character, consistent with mid-12th century Austrian regional coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Ulrich I of Carinthia ruled the duchy during a period of intense rivalry between the Babenberg and Spanheim dynasties for influence over the southeastern Alpine territories. His coinage falls within the broader Pfennig tradition of the German-speaking lands, where regional lords exercised minting rights with considerable independence from imperial oversight — a privilege that Carinthian dukes had held intermittently since the late tenth century. The CNA Cb4 attribution places this piece within a tightly sequenced die study, and attribution disputes for Carinthian bracteate-adjacent issues from this decade remain active among specialists.