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.

In the crusade tax of 1275/76, the Liber Decimationis, all Pfennigs were rated to the Pfennig of Cologne as follows.

For 3:2, Pfennigs such as:

• Mainz
• Worms
• Speyer
• Strasbourg
• Würzburg
• Halberstadt
• Magdeburg
• Nuremberg
• Regensburg
• Vienna

with a weight of approx. 0.974g. One mark is minted into 240 Pfennigs.

For 2:1, for example:

• Trier
• Augsburg
• Tübingen

with a weight of approx. 0.73g.

And for 3:1, for example:

• Rottweiler
• Breisgau
• Haller
• Konstanz

with a weight of approx. 0.487g.

The Cologne Pfennig also held an important position due to the very high quantity of coins minted. The annual coin output of the Cologne mint is estimated at 13,333 marks of silver per year in 1174. For comparison:

• In 1182, Archbishop Wichmann of Magdeburg minted 236 marks of silver
• In 1226, the Archbishop of Trier minted 36 1/2 marks of silver for his mint
• In 1222, the Bishop of Würzburg minted 133 1/3 marks of silver
• In 1273, the Merseburg mint received 100 marks of silver from Bishop Friedrich

All quantities were determined by lease transfers, and the amount of silver was specified as the lease sum (Nau, page 92).

For comparison of the value of silver: Friedrich Barbarossa purchased the Pleißner Land around Altenburg with the burgraviates of Leisnig and Colditz with ministerials and 20 farms, the Lausigk castle with market and income, the Schkölen farm, Gleißberg castle, Jenzigberg near Jena, Mohrungen castle, and a complex of estates for 500 marks of silver. In 1243, Emperor Friedrich II acquired the county of Allgäu with Eglofs Castle from Count Hartmann von Grüningen for 3200 marks of silver. The city of Frankfurt am Main, for example, paid 280 marks of silver in taxes in 1241 (Nau, page 93).

Coin recall

In a coin recall, the previous coins were declared invalid and replaced with new coins. This was usually accompanied by an exchange fee. However, it was not practiced uniformly, but varied greatly in different areas and with varying frequency. Annual coin recalls were very common, for example in Erfurt, Kölleda, Halle, Freiberg in Saxony, Hildesheim, and Merseburg (sometimes even on fixed days of the year). This was practiced primarily in areas with light Pfennig Heß.

In other areas, coin recalls took place only very rarely, which meant that coins remained very stable in value. This made them particularly interesting for trade. In Cologne, for example, this was carried out on only two occasions:

• when a new archbishop took office
• for the imperial army’s journey to Italy for the imperial coronation Elsewhere, coin recalls could take place much more frequently. For example, every six months in Magdeburg under Archbishop Wichmann (1152–1192) (Nau, page 95).

This changed with the spread of supraregional coins such as the Heller from Schwäbisch Hall, which had been minted since 1190 (Heß, p. 15). Coin masters took measures to curb the spread of the Heller. The short intervals between coin recalls were discontinued either completely or temporarily and later replaced by a fixed levy (often still called “Schlagschatz” or “minting tax”) (Heß, p. 15).

Other pennies were never subject to such coin recalls, even though this was common practice for many coins in their vicinity. These include, for example, the Tübingen and Rottweil pennies (Heß, p. 16).

Area of use of coins

In the area of a market, which often included the entire surrounding town (Heß, p. 16), only specific coins were allowed to be used for trade. This was stipulated by Henry VII in 1231 in a princely decree.

quod in civitatibus et aliis locis, ubi propria et iusta moneta esse conswevit, nemo mercatum aliquod facere debeat cum argento set cum denariis proprie sue monete

Translation: “In cities and other places where proper and just currency is customary, no one should conduct business with silver, but only with denarii, the proper currency.”

Other coins had to be exchanged. Coin exchange was only permitted by minters appointed by the mint master (Nau, p. 93).

The right to mint coins

The right of coinage (in German Münzregal) was a royal regalia, also called royal privileges or sovereign rights (see Sachsenspiegel and Schwabenspiegel, Landrecht Kap. 364). This regalia was granted to archbishops, bishops, monasteries, dukes, counts, and, from 1216, for the first time also to cities (Annweiler in der Pfalz by Emperor Friedrich II).

Between 1197 and 1260, there were 414 mints in the Regnum Teutonicum (i.e., the part of the Holy Roman Empire north of the Alps). The only cities were Annweiler, Bern, Lübeck, Mühlhausen, and Oppenheim. Well over half (277) were secular dynasties (Nau, page 89).

However, most of the coins that originated in the 13th century are not so widespread. There are a few exceptions, such as the Cologne, Würzburg, Strasbourg, Augsburg, Regensburg, and Magdeburg Pfennigs. A special exception is the Pfennig from Schwäbisch Hall. In the late 13th century, this was the dominant Pfennig in southern Germany and replaced the Cologne Pfennig as the mostly used currency.

Sources

• Krabath, Stefan (2001). Die hoch- und spätmittelalterlichen Buntmetallfunde nördlich der Alpen - Eine archäologisch-kunsthistorische Untersuchung zu ihrer Herstellungstechnik, funktionalen und zeiltichen Bestimmung. Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH. Rahden/Westfalen
• Haussherr, Reiner (1977): Die Zeit der Staufer. Geschichte - Kunst - Kultur. Katalog der Ausstellung, Band I, Stuttgart, Württembergisches Landesmuseum
• Heß, Wolfgang (2004): Münzverrufungen der späten Pfennigzeit, besonders in den Brakteatengebieten Mittel- und Südwestdeutschlands. In: Dirham und Rappenpfennig 2. Mittelalterliche Münzprägung in Südwestdeutschland. S. 11 - 22, Bonn, Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH
• Matzke, Michael (2004): Mittelalterliche Bergbauprägungen in Südwestdeutschland. Numismatische und archäometallurgische Untersuchungen an Breisgauer, Tübinger und Wormser Pfennigen. In: Dirham und Rappenpfennig 2. Mittelalterliche Münzprägung in Südwestdeutschland. S. 43 - 173, Bonn, Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH
• Nau, Elisabeth (1977): Münzen und Geld in der Stauferzeit, in: Die Zeit der Staufer. Geschichte - Kunst - Kultur. Katalog der Ausstellung, Band III, Stuttgart, Württembergisches Landesmuseum