Boniface IX, born Pietro Tomacelli, relied heavily on the sale of indulgences and papal offices to finance his pontificate — a practice so aggressive it drew widespread condemnation and arguably accelerated the conditions that would eventually produce the Reformation. Fermo, held as a papal possession in the Marche, was one of several regional mints he exploited to assert temporal authority during the Western Schism, when rival claimants in Avignon contested his legitimacy in Rome.
The CNI XIII attribution places this among a well-documented but numerically scarce local series. Billon content in Fermo issues of this period varies considerably, suggesting inconsistent bullion supply at the mint.
Boniface IX, born Pietro Tomacelli, relied heavily on the sale of indulgences and papal offices to finance his pontificate — a practice so aggressive it drew widespread condemnation and arguably accelerated the conditions that would eventually produce the Reformation. Fermo, held as a papal possession in the Marche, was one of several regional mints he exploited to assert temporal authority during the Western Schism, when rival claimants in Avignon contested his legitimacy in Rome.
The CNI XIII attribution places this among a well-documented but numerically scarce local series. Billon content in Fermo issues of this period varies considerably, suggesting inconsistent bullion supply at the mint.