Sede Vacante issues were struck by cathedral chapters during the vacancy between a bishop's death and the installation of his successor — a window in which the chapter held temporal as well as spiritual authority and, critically, the right to coin money. The Hildesheim chapter exercised that right in 1761 following the death of Clemens August of Bavaria, who had simultaneously held the sees of Cologne, Münster, Paderborn, Osnabrück, and Hildesheim. His death triggered five separate Sede Vacante coinages across northern and western Germany.
Hildesheim's chapter had minted on these occasions since the medieval period, making this issue part of a long-established jurisdictional reflex rather than a special circumstance.
Sede Vacante issues were struck by cathedral chapters during the vacancy between a bishop's death and the installation of his successor — a window in which the chapter held temporal as well as spiritual authority and, critically, the right to coin money. The Hildesheim chapter exercised that right in 1761 following the death of Clemens August of Bavaria, who had simultaneously held the sees of Cologne, Münster, Paderborn, Osnabrück, and Hildesheim. His death triggered five separate Sede Vacante coinages across northern and western Germany.
Hildesheim's chapter had minted on these occasions since the medieval period, making this issue part of a long-established jurisdictional reflex rather than a special circumstance.