Rappen 'Schwanhälser'

The "Schwanhälser" nickname derives from the Schwanhals family, ministerials who served the Habsburg-Laufenburg line and whose name became attached to this small bracteate-style issue through local usage rather than any official designation. Habsburg-Laufenburg was itself a cadet branch of the main Habsburg dynasty, holding the Rheinfelden and Laufenburg territories after the 1232 partition, and by the late fourteenth century was financially exhausted and politically marginal. The county was formally absorbed into the main Habsburg line in 1408 — the terminal date of this type's production.