At the suggestion of a friend, I came across Reutlingen’s earliest surviving Peace Ordinance (1297–1300) in the city’s archival collection. This document proved particularly fascinating, as it offers a rare glimpse into the legal principles of an urban medieval community and its approach to addressing violations of the law.

What stands out most is the predominant use of banishment as a form of punishment. Even in cases of serious crimes such as homicide, offenders were merely exiled from the city for life—a penalty that must have been exceptionally severe in an era where one’s livelihood, social ties, and protection were deeply intertwined with the urban community.

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Everyone has one, everyone uses it: the axe. But what did something as mundane as an axe look like in the 13th century? Axes were indispensable tools and weapons in the Middle Ages, produced in various shapes and sizes. However, not many original axes have survived. Here, I provide an overview of the archaeological finds and depictions of tool axes from the 13th century, primarily from Germany and other European countries. This article focuses on tool axes—a separate article will cover axes in a military context.

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General

Coins were probably used primarily for market transactions. For larger payments, or payments that had to be made over long distances, transactions were probably not settled in pennies, but in silver by weight (Heß, p. 21). For example, with round bars such as those found in the provostry of Tom Roden of Corvey Abbey in what is now the town of Höxter.

A very often used unit of weigh was the mark, e.g. the Cologne mark, weighing 234g for 160 Cologne Pfennigs (Nau, page 93), resulting in a weight of 1.461g per Pfennig. Previously, there was also the Karlspfund, which was minted in 240 Pfennigs. The Cologne mark remained stable in weight and purity/fineness for centuries and was widely used during the Salian and Staufer periods (Nau 1977, page 93) before it was replaced by other currencies (e.g., the Heller). However, the Cologne mark remained in use as a unit of weight for larger payments (Heß, p. 22) also in later times before being replaced by gold and groschen coins.

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What tools are needed for coin production? I am not aware of any evidence from the 13th century that describes the exact equipment used in a coin workshop. For the 15th century, however, we find the following illustration from the Spiez Chronicle.

The following items can be seen:

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The right to mint coins

The right to mint coins was a royal prerogative (See Sachsenspiegel and Schwabenspiegel, Landrecht Chapter 364). This prerogative was granted to Archbishops, Bishops, Monasteries, Dukes, Counts, and since 1216 also to cities (Annweiler in the Pfalz through Emperor Friedrich II).

Between 1197 and 1260, there were 414 mints in the Regnum Teutonicum (i.e., for the part of the Holy Roman Empire north of the Alps). As cities, only Annweiler, Bern, Lübeck, Mühlhausen, and Oppenheim. More than half (277 pieces) are secular dynasties (Nau, Seite 89).

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