MEDIEVAL COINS OF AUSTRIA & SALZBURG

WIENER, GRAZ, and FRIESACH PFENNIGS
The crude little coins often generically called "Wiener Pfennigs" were struck for centuries throughout the Austrian duchies. Vienna, Enns, Wiener Neustadt issued pfennigs that eventually spread to be used throughout all of the Duchies (with the exception of Tirol). In Styria, mints at Graz and Oberzeiring began to strike coins of similar weight and fineness to those of Friesach, but later adjusted the composition to match that of the Duchy of Austria. The mint of Friesach was established by the Archbishops of Salzburg in the early 12th century and struck coins to the Cologne monetary standard rather than the Rhenish standard used in surrounding areas until its closure in the mid-14th century. Identification of lower grade coins is often difficult as the coins were often initially so blundered at the time of striking as to be barely recognizeable. Also, the manner of their striking would often leave one side relatively clean but totally obliterate the other. However, some symbols on the coins are consistent and aid in identifying the mint.

DUCHY OF AUSTRIA

FREDERICK II, 1230-1246
Frederick II, known as the Quarrelsome or the Warlike (German: Friedrich der Streitbare; 1201 – 15 June 1246), from the dynasty of the Babenbergers, was the duke of Austria and Styria from 1230 to 1246. He was the second, but the only surviving son of Duke Leopold VI and Theodora Angelina, a Byzantine princess. His first spouse was another Byzantine princess named Sophia Laskarina, of the Laskaris dynasty, and his second wife was Agnes of Meran. He had no surviving children, and the male line of the Babenberg dynasty ended with him.

Frederick was known as the Quarrelsome because of his frequent wars against his neighbors, primarily with Hungary, Bavaria and Bohemia. Even the Kuenringer family, which had so far been faithful to the ruling house, started an insurgency as soon as his reign began. But most dangerous were his disputes with Emperor Frederick II, who ostracized him in 1236. During the years of his ban, Vienna became an imperial free city for some years. However, he managed to maintain his position in Wiener Neustadt. In 1239, in a spectacular change in imperial politics, Frederick became one of the emperor's most important allies. Negotiations about the elevation of Vienna to a bishopric and of Austria (including Styria) to a kingdom were initiated. However, the duke's niece Gertrude would have had to marry the almost fifty-year-old emperor, which the girl refused.

In the year before his death, he finally succeeded in gaining the Duchy of Carniola, but his death in battle against the Hungarian king Bela IV led to it going to the duke of Carinthia.

As the last Babenberg duke, Frederick the Quarrelsome signifies the end of an era in the history of Austria. With his overambitious plans, which were frequently foiled by his erratic character, he somewhat resembled his later successor Rudolf IV. As the Privilegium Minus also allowed women to inherit, his sister Margaret and his niece Gertrude would have been entitled to the throne. Gertrude first married Vladislav, Margrave of Moravia, who soon died, then Herman VI, Margrave of Baden, who did not manage to maintain his position in Austria, and later Roman of Halicz, a relative of the king of Hungary. Margaret was married to Premysl Ottokar II of Bohemia, more than twenty years her junior. Subsequently, Austria became of field of conflict between the Premyslid and Arpad dynasties, in which Ottokar would prevail until being overthrown by Rudolph of Habsburg.

Wiener Pfennigs, each minted at Enns

HERMAN OF BADEN, 1248-1250 - claimant to the Duchy of Austria during the interregnum
Herman VI (c. 1226 - October 4, 1250) was Margrave of Baden from 1243 until his death. In 1248, he married Gertrud, the niece of the last male member of the Babenberg family, Duke Frederick II of Austria, and on the basis of that marriage claimed the Duchies of Austria and Styria. However, Herman and his son Frederick could not establish themselves in Austria.

Wiener Pfennig minted at Enns

OTTOKAR II OF BOHEMIA, 1260-1278
Otakar II (also spelled Ottokar or Premysl Otakar/Ottokar) (c. 1230 – August 26, 1278) was a king of Bohemia (1253–1278). He was the second son of King Wenceslaus I of the Premyslid dynasty, and through his mother, Kunigunde, was related to the Hohenstaufen family, being a grandson of the German king, Philip of Swabia. After the death of his older brother Vladislav in 1247, Otakar became the heir to the Bohemian throne and margrave of Moravia. In 1248, some discontented Bohemian nobles declared him as their sovereign. This resulted in strife between him and his father and the imprisonment of Ottokar. On his father's death in 1253, Ottokar succeeded as King of Bohemia.

Ottokar was originally educated for the role of an ecclesiastical administrator. However, after Ottokar's older brother Vladislav's death, shortly after the latter's marriage in 1247, Ottokar became the heir. According to popular oral tradition, Ottokar was profoundly shocked by his brother's death and did not involve himself in politics, becoming focused on hunting and drinking. In 1248 he was enticed by discontented nobles to lead a rebellion against his father, King Wenceslaus. During this rebellion he received the nickname "the younger King" (mladší král). The rebellion was defeated and Ottokar imprisoned by his father. Father and son were eventually reconciled to assist the King's aim of acquiring the neighbouring Duchy of Austria. The Duchy had been without a ruler since the death of Duke Frederick II in 1246. Wenceslaus' initial plan of acquiring the duchy was through his elder son's marriage to the last Duke's niece Gertrude. That match had been cut short by Vladislav's death and Gertrude's re-marriage to the Margrave of Baden. The latter was rejected by the Austrian estates and could not establish his rule in Austria. Wenceslaus used this as pretext to invade Austria in 1250 - according to some sources, the estates called upon him in to restore order.

Wenceslaus released his son and in 1251 made him Margrave of Moravia and, installed him, with the approval of the Austria nobles, as governor of Austria. Ottokar entered Austria, where the estates acclaimed him as Duke. To legitimize his position, Ottokar married the late Duke's widowed sister Margaret, who was his senior by thirty years and because of her, the engagement of his aunt Agnes (future Saint Agnes of Bohemia) to Henry VII of Germany was cancelled. In 1253, King Wenceslaus died and Ottokar succeeded his father as King of Bohemia. After the death of the German Emperor King Konrad IV, Ottokar also hoped at obtaining the Imperial dignity for himself. His election bid was unsuccessful.

Feeling threatened by Ottokar's growing regional power, Béla IV of Hungary, King of Hungary challenged the young King. Bela formed a loose alliance with the Duke of Bavaria and claimed the Duchy of Styria, which had been a component of Austria since 1192. The conflict was quelled through the Pope's mediation. It was agreed that Ottokar was to yield large parts of Styria to Bela in exchnage for recognition of his right to the remainder of Austria. However, after a few years the conflict resumed and Ottokar defeated the Hungarians in July 1260 at the Battle of Kressenbrunn. Bela now ceded Styria back to Ottokar, and his claim to those territories was formally recognized by the Emperor, Richard, Earl of Cornwall. This peace agreement was also sealed by a royal marriage. Ottokar ended his marriage to Margaret and married Bela's young granddaughter Kunigunde. Kunigunde became the mother of his children, the youngest of them became his only legitimate son Wenceslaus.

Ottokar II also led two expeditions against the pagan Prussians and founded Königsberg, which was named in his honour and later became the capital of Prussia.

In 1269 he inherited Carinthia and part of Carniola. His claim was once again contested by the Hungarians on the field of battle. After another victory he became the most powerful prince within the Empire. A new election for the Imperial German throne took place in 1273. But Ottokar was again not the successful candidate. He refused to recognize his victorious rival, Rudolph of Habsburg, and urged the Pope to adopt a similar policy. At a convention of the Reichstag at Frankfurt in 1274, Rudolph decreed that all imperial lands that had changed hands since the death of Emperor Frederick II must be returned to the crown. This would have deprived Ottokar of Styria, Austria, and Carinthia. In 1276 Rudolph placed Ottokar under the ban of the empire and besieged Vienna. This compelled Otakar in November 1276 to sign a new treaty by which he gave up all claims to Austria and the neighbouring duchies, retaining for himself only Bohemia and Moravia. Ottokar's son Wenceslaus was also betrothed to Rudolph's daughter Judith. It was an uneasy peace. Two years later, the Bohemian king tried to recover his lost lands by force. He found allies and collected a large army, but he was defeated by Rudolph and killed at the Battle of Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen on the March on August 26, 1278. His son was Wenceslaus II succeeded him as King of Bohemia and Margrave of Moravia.

Ottokar was a founder of many new towns and encoporated many existing settlements through civic charters. He was a strong proponent of trade, law and order. Furthermore, he instituted open immigration policies though which skilled German-speaking immigrants setttled in major citie sthroughout his domains. He is a famous figure both in Czech history and in folkloric legend. He was sometimes referred to as the 'Iron and Gold King'. In the Divine Comedy by Dante. Ottokar is seen outside the gates of Purgatory, in amiable companionship with his imperial rival Rudolph. He is also the protagonist of a tragedy by the 19th century playwright Franz Grillparzer.

ALBERT III, 1365-1395
Albert III was born in Vienna, the 3rd son of Duke Albert II of Austria. Even though his father had determined that the eldest son should be the sole successor, after his father's death in 1358, Albert later inherited the rule from his two older brothers Rudolf IV and Frederick III and later shared it with his younger brother Leopold III.

In 1377, Albert went on a crusade against the pagan Lithuanians and Samogitians. After Rudolf's and Frederick's death without an heir, Albert and his remaining brother, Leopold III, entered, in 1379, into the Treaty of Neuberg to divide the Habsburg territories. Albert received Austria proper while Leopold ruled over Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol and Further Austria. His government was beneficial to the realm, as he supported the arts and sciences. Albert was an apt scholar himself, particularly as a mathematician. He expanded the University of Vienna and attempted to refurbish Vienna. Albert died in 1395 at the castle Schloss Laxenburg. He is buried in the Ducal Crypt in the Stephansdom cathedral in Vienna.

Wiener Pfennig (possibly halbling) struck at Vienna

ALBERT V , 1404-1439 [also known as Albert II, King of the Germans]

Uniface Pfennigs struck at Vienna

Albert was born in Vienna as the son of Albert IV of Austria, Duke of Austria. He succeeded to the duchy of Austria on his father's death in 1404. After receiving a good education, he undertook the government of Austria in 1411, and succeeded, with the aid of his advisers, in ridding the duchy of the evils which had arisen during his minority. He assisted the German emperor Sigismund, who was also king of Hungary and Bohemia, in his campaigns against the Hussites, and in 1422 married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sigismund, who designated him as his successor. (Note that she was not the daughter of Sigismund's first wife Mary of Hungary, and thus not descended from Angevin kings of Hungary, but in many ways, she descended from the old Arpád kings of Hungary.)Elisabeth was daughter of Emperor Sigismund and his second wife, the Slovenian noblewoman Barbara of Celje. Her paternal grandparents were Emperor Charles IV and Elisabeth of Pomerania. Her maternal grandfather was Count Herman II of Celje, whose parents were the Slovenian ruler Count Herman I of Celje and Catherine of Bosnia (who apparently descended also from Nemanjic kings of Serbia and from Catherine of Hungary, a daughter of Stephen V of Hungary). In right of the paternal grandparents, she was, through Emperor Charles, an heiress of Bohemia, and through Elisabeth of Pomerania, an heiress of Poland, of its Kujavian Piast branch of kings. Thus, Albert's marriage brought him claims to several Slavic kingdoms and principalities. She was also a descendant of Arpads of Hungary, through her great-grandmother Elisabeth of Bohemia, who herself was granddaughter of Anna Rostislavna of Halicia, whose mother Constance was a daughter of King Bela IV of Hungary. Admittedly, this was not a very close Hungarian connection, but all the other descendants of Arpads were approximately as distant at that time. Additionally, she descended from Ottokar I of Bohemia's second wife Constance of Hungary, daughter of Bela III of Hungary.

Albert himself descended from Bela IV of Hungary through his daughter Ilona whose descendant was a princess of Brieg who became Albert's ancestress the countess of Hainaut and Holland, and from a younger sister of Queen Elisabeth of Bohemia, thus descending from both Constances of Hungary, and also from King Geza II of Hungary through his daughter Elisabeth who married Bedrich of Czech, their daughter being an ancestress of Albert's maternal Bavarian line. When Sigismund died in 1437, Albert was crowned king of Hungary on January 1, 1438, and although crowned king of Bohemia six months later, he was unable to obtain possession of the country. He was engaged in warfare with the Bohemians and their Polish allies, when on March 18, 1438 he was chosen as German king at Frankfurt, an honour which he does not appear to have sought. He thus was "King of the Romans", but he was not crowned as Holy Roman Emperor. Afterwards engaged in defending Hungary against the attacks of the Turks, he died on October 27, 1439 at Neszmély, and was buried at Székesfehérvár. Albert was an energetic and warlike prince, whose short reign gave great promise of usefulness for Germany.

FREDERICK V , 1457/1463-1493 [Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor]

Frederick III of Habsburg (September 21, 1415 – August 19, 1493) was elected as German King as the successor of Albert II in 1440. Born in Innsbruck, he was the son of Duke Ernest the Iron from the Leopoldinian line of the Habsburg family ruling Inner Austria, i.e. Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and of Ernest's wife Cymburgis of Masovia. As an Austrian Habsburg Duke, he became Frederick V in 1424. In 1440 he was elected German king as Frederick IV, and in 1452 crowned Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III. He married in 1452, at age 37, the 18-year-old Princess Eleonor of Portugal, whose dowry helped him to alleviate his debts and cement his power.

In 1442, Frederick allied himself with Rudolf Stüssi, burgomaster of Zürich, against the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Old Zürich War (Alter Zürichkrieg). In 1446, he entered into the Vienna Concordat with the Holy See, which remained in force until 1806 and regulated the relationship between the Habsburgs and the Holy See.

Frederick was the last Emperor to be crowned in Rome, being crowned in 1452 by Pope Nicholas V. He opposed the reform of the Holy Roman Empire at that time and was barely able to prevent the electors from electing another king. His politics were hardly spectacular but still successful. His first major opponent was his brother Albert VI, who challenged his rule. He did not manage to win a single conflict on the battlefield, and thus resorted to more subtle plans. He held his nephew Ladislaus Posthumus, the ruler of the Archduchy of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, (born in 1440) as a prisoner and attempted to extend his guardianship over him in perpetuity to maintain his control over Lower Austria. Ladislaus was freed in 1452 by the Lower Austrian estates. He acted similarly towards his nephew Sigismund of the Tyrolian line of the Habsburg family. Despite those efforts, he failed to gain control over Hungary and Bohemia, and was even defeated by the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus in 1485, who managed to reside in Vienna until his death later that year. Ultimately, Frederick prevailed in all those conflicts by outliving his opponents and sometimes inheriting their lands, as was the case with his nephew Ladislaus Posthumus, from whom he gained Lower Austria in 1457, and with his brother Albert VI, whom he succeeded in Upper Austria. These conflicts forced him to an anachronistic itinerant existence, as he had to move his court between various places through the years, residing in Graz, Linz and Wiener Neustadt. Wiener Neustadt owes him its castle and the "New Monastery".

Still, in some ways his policies were astonishingly successful. In the Siege of Neuss, he could force Charles the Bold of Burgundy to give his daughter Mary of Burgundy as wife to Frederick's son Maximilian. With the inheritance of Burgundy, the House of Habsburg began to rise to predominance in Europe. This gave rise to the saying "Let others wage wars, but you, happy Austria, shall marry", which became a motto of the dynasty. The marriage of his daughter Kunigunde of Austria to Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria, was another result of intrigues and deception, but must be counted as a defeat for Frederick. Albert illegally took control of some imperial fiefs and then asked to marry Kunigunde (who lived in Innsbruck, far from her father), offering to give her the fiefs as a dowry. Frederick agreed at first, but after Albert took over yet another fief, Regensburg, Frederick withdrew his consent. On January 2, 1487, however, before Frederick's change of heart could be communicated to his daughter, Kunigunde married Albert. A war was prevented only by intermediation by the Emperor's son, Maximilian. In some smaller matters, Frederick was quite successful: in 1469 he managed to establish bishoprics in Vienna and Wiener Neustadt, a step that no previous Duke of Austria had been able to achieve.

Frederick died at Linz in a failed attempt to have his left leg amputated. His grave, built by Niclaes Gerhaert van Leyden, in the Stephansdom in Vienna, is one of the most important works of sculptural art of the late Middle Ages. For the last ten years of Frederick's life, he and Maximilian ruled jointly.

Early dated kreuzers struck at Wiener Neustadt

Early dated kreuzer struck at Vienna

COUNTS OF TIROL

MEINHARD II, 1286-1295
Meinhard II (c. 1238 - end of October 1295) was Count of Tirol, Duke of Carinthia and Carniola, and Count of Gorizia (as Meinhard IV) He was the son of Meinhard I of Gorizia-Tyrol and Adelheid, Countess of Tirol (died 1275/79). His younger son was count Henry VI, sometime king of Bohemia and his eldest daughter Elisabeth became Queen-consort of Holy Roman Empire. His wife since 1258 was Elisabeth of Bavaria (c 1227-73), the daughter of Duke Otto II and widow of King Conrad IV, King of the Romans. Thus he was the stepfather of Conrad III of Jerusalem, Duke of Swabia and claimant of the Kingdom of Sicily who was killed in 1268.

In 1259, he emerged from the custody of the Archbishop of Salzburg to claim his heritage. When the inheritance rights to, and properties of, Gorizia and Tyrol were divided in 1271 between him and his younger brother, he received Tirol starting the Tyrolean line of the Meinhardinian dynasty. He struggled to acquire Trento and acquired several territories in the Inn valley. He is known as the creator of Tyrol as an independent territory. He also had roads built and coins minted, especially the silver coin "Zwanziger" (twenty). The type was copied elsewhere in Europe and became widely known as the Adlergroschen. As a supporter of King Rudolf I of Germany, he received Carinthia and Carniola, as a pledge, in 1276 and as fief in 1286, thus becoming the 1st Duke of Carinthia in his dynasty. As far as can be ascertained, he has no ancestry in earlier Carinthian ducal families, whereas he distantly descended from some early Meranian lords of Istria and Carniola. His investiture of the duchy included a provision that in extinction of his male line, the Habsburgs will be its heirs and this was the result after the death of Henry VI in 1335. Meinhard II died in 1295 at Greifenburg, Carinthia.

Zwanzigers (Adlergroschens or Etschkreuzers)

SIGISMUND, 1439-1490
Sigismund of Austria, Duke, then Archduke of Further Austria (Innsbruck, October 26, 1427 – March 4, 1496) was a Habsburg archduke of Austria and ruler of Tirol from 1446 to 1490. Sigismund (or Siegmund, sometimes also spelled Sigmund) was born in Innsbruck; his parents were Frederick IV, Duke of Austria and Anna of Brunswick. He was a first cousin of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1446, upon the death of his father, he acceded to rulership over Tirol and (other) Further Austria Vorderösterreich, which included the Sundgau in the Alsace, the Breisgau, and some possessions in Swabia. In 1449, he married Eleanor Stuart, the daughter of James I, king of Scotland.

In 1469, he sold his lands on the Rhine and in the Alsace to Charles, Duke of Burgundy. Sources are unclear whether he sold them due to his debts he had accumulated owing to his luxury lifestyle or just "rented" them because he wanted to have them protected better against the expansion of the Old Swiss Confederacy. In any case, he bought back these possessions in 1474, and together with the Swiss (with whom he had concluded a peace treaty in Konstanz) and the Alsatian cities, he sided against Charles in the Battle of Héricourt. In 1477, Frederick III made him archduke. Three years later, Eleanor died, and 1484, Sigismund married the 16-year-old Katharina of Saxony, daughter of Albert, Duke of Saxony. He had no offspring from either marriage. In the later years of the 1470s and early 1480s Sigismund issued a decree that instituted a radical coinage reformation that eventually led up to the creation of the world's first really large and heavy silver coin in nearly a millennium, the guldengroschen, which the Habsburgs in Bohemia developed later into the thaler. This coin was the ancestor of many the major European coin denominations to come later. Using new mining methods and technology, the largely quiescent silver mines in Tirol were brought back into production and soon numerous surrounding states were re-opening old mines and minting similar coins. This production of large coinage exploded as silver from the Spain's colonies in the Americas flooded the European economy.

A war with Venice, which he began in 1487, ended in a standoff, but in 1490 the opposition of the population of Tirol forced him to hand over the rulership to Archduke Maximilian I, who later became Holy Roman Emperor.

Goldgulden
In 1477 Sigismund had large numbers of these coins struck to commemorate his ascension to Archduke status.

Sechser (Six kreuzers)

Etschkreuzers

SALZBURG

EBERHARD II, 1200-1246
Archbishop Ebehrard II of Truchsees was made a prince of the Empire in 1213, and created three new sees: Chiemsee (1216), Seckau (1218) and Lavant (1225). Eberhard was excommunicated in 1245 after refusing to publish a decree deposing the emperor and died suddenly the next year. During the German Interregnum, Salzburg also suffered confusion. Philip of Carinthia refused to take priestly consecrations, and was deposed by Ulrich, Bishop of Seckau.

Friesacher Pfennig

JOHANN II von REISBURG, 1429-1441

Uniface Pfennig