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Vierling - Louis of Hessen
| Issuer | Bishopric of Münster |
|---|---|
| Year | 1310-1357 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pfennig |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Crude heraldic design showing a figure or bust in low relief against an unadorned field, characteristic of medieval hammered bracteate-related small coinage. The design is rendered in the rough, schematic style typical of early 14th-century Westphalian Pfennig issues. Legends, if present, are largely illegible due to the flan size and striking quality. The overall composition fills the irregular flan with minimal border treatment. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Facing bearded head, centrally placed on the flan, depicted with pronounced stylized curling hair or locks radiating around the face, and a mitre or episcopal headpiece above. The face is rendered in bold, schematic relief with large circular eyes, a broad nose, and a full beard, consistent with a bishop's portrait type used on Münster diocesan coinage of the early 14th century. The treatment is highly stylized and emblematic rather than portrait-like, with no visible legend or border inscription. The flan is irregular with a plain edge. |
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| Additional information |
Louis of Hessen served as Bishop of Münster from 1310 to 1357, one of the longer episcopal tenures of the period, during which the bishopric navigated persistent friction with the city of Münster over jurisdictional and financial autonomy. The Vierling — a fractional pfennig denomination — was the workhorse of small local exchange, produced in quantities that rarely survived intact given the fragility of such thin, lightweight silver fractions.
Ilisch's cataloguing of this type under Münster XVI 4 places it within a well-documented but physically elusive series.