Helmet money

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Helmet groschen of Margrave Frederick the Arguable without year (1405–1411) from the Freiberg mint (diameter 29 mm; jug 665/2)

The late medieval helmet groschen or Thuringian groschen are good-value groschen coins minted from 1405 to 1411 under Margrave Friedrich the Arguable of Meißen and Landgrave Balthasar of Thuringia in the Margraviate of Meissen and the Landgraviate of Thuringia from 1405 to 1411 , which were mainly intended for the Thuringian possessions. For the first time they show the coat of arms of the Meissen lion , which is on the front above the flower cross . The name of the groschen is derived from the helmet with the large Thuringian crest on the back.

Coin history

Frederick the Disputable (1381–1428), portrait as Elector from 1423

Margrave Friedrich the Arguable (1381–1428) was Margrave Friedrich IV of Meißen-Osterland , from 1410 Margrave of Meißen and from 1423 Elector Friedrich I of Saxony. Under him and his two uncles Balthasar (1349 / 79–1406) and Wilhelm the One-Eyed (1349 / 79–1407) the bad habit began to gradually and secretly reduce the silver content after the first coinage of a grosch type . After one to two decades only about half of the fine silver content remained. To support the penny currency , high-quality pennies were therefore minted at times, which had a value ratio of 20: 1 to the Rhenish guilder and had conspicuous coin designs. The new groschen should already show by their conspicuity that they are good.

Balthasar (1349 / 79–1406)

After Margrave Friedrich the Controversial had reached an agreement with his uncle Landgrave Balthasar, in 1405 they both took on the issue of high-quality groschen. For the first time since the beginning of the Meissnian penny coinage, the previous typical penny image was changed. For his new groschen, Friedrich chose the " flower cross " coin image as on the previous groschen coins, but with a small lion shield arranged centrally above it and the helmet with the large Thuringian crest on the reverse. The coin name Helmgroschen or Thuringian Groschen is derived from this crest. In contemporary documents, however, they were referred to as grossi clippeati ( Latin = shielded or shield egg) because of the lion shield used for the first time . The helmet groschen were the first Meissen groschen with the coat of arms of the Meissen lion. They had a value of:

The new groschen were minted in the Margraviate of Meißen in the Freiberg mint and in the Landgraviate of Thuringia in the Sangerhausen mint , which Landgrave Balthasar had built in 1391. The coins of the new Sangerhausen mint were the first to be struck outside of the state mint in Freiberg. When Balthasar died in 1406, the landgrave's mint was closed. Friedrich had the helmet groschen minted in the Freiberg mint until 1411.

Note: Hessian helmet groschen are also known. They were minted under Landgrave Ludwig I of Kassel (1413-1458). These groschen are largely similar to the Meissnisch-Thuringian helmet groschen.

Coin description

The helmet or Thuringian groschen are Meissnian groschen from the Meissnian-Saxon groschen period .

On the front is located in the quatrefoil that covered with a lion shield lily cross. The back shows the large Thuringian helmet jewel, each with seven rods on the side, which takes up the entire picture surface.

The silver groschen from Freiberg and Sangerhausen have a diameter of 29 millimeters and weigh about 2.8 grams.

Freiberg helmet groschen

Margrave Friedrich the Arguable had the helmet groschen minted in Freiberg from 1405 to 1411. Petrus Bornis was the mint master in Freiberg from 1409 to 1411. From 1405 to 1408 the mint masters are unknown.

The transcriptions

  • Obverse: (flower) FRID o DEI o GRACIA o TVRInG o LANG
    • written out: Fridericus, dei gratia Thuringiae landgrafius.
    • Translation: Friedrich, by the grace of God Landgrave of Thuringia.
  • Back: GROSSVS o MARCh o MISnENSIS
    • written out: Grossus Marchionis Misnensis.
    • Translation: Groschen der Mark Meissen.

Sangerhaus helmet groschen

Landgrave Balthasar's helmet groschen without year (1405/06) from the Sangerhausen mint . (Diameter 29 mm, jug 578/1)

Landgrave Balthasar had helmet groschen minted from 1405 until his death in 1406 in the Sangerhausen mint as a parallel to the groschen of his nephew Friedrich the Arguable.

Since the groschen from Sangerhausen , which were minted without the mintmaster's mark , had to differ from the groschen of the state mint in Freiberg, BALThA was used as a distinguishing feature as an abbreviation for the name Balthasar until the mint closed in 1406. The landgrave's groschen struck in the Freiberg mint bear the abbreviated name BALTh.

The transcriptions

  • Obverse: (flower) BALThA o DI o GRACIA o TURInG o LANG
    • written out: Balthasar, dei gratia Thuringiae landgravius.
    • Translation: Balthasar, by the grace of God Landgrave of Thuringia.
  • Back: GROSSVS o MARCh o MISnENSIS
    • written out: Grossus Marchionis Misnensis.
    • Translation: Groschen der Mark Meissen.

See also

literature

  • Gerhard Krug: The Meissnian-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 , Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1974
  • Walther Haupt : Sächsische Münzkunde , Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1974
  • Helmut Kahnt: The great coin lexicon from A to Z , Regenstauf 2005, p. 189, Helmgroschen
  • Heinz Fengler, Gerd Gierow, Willy Unger: transpress Lexikon Numismatics , Berlin 1976
  • Numismatischer Verein zu Dresden e. V. (Ed.): Dresden Numismatic Hefte No. 1, 1996. In it: The genealogy of the Meissnian-Saxon princes.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 (1974), pp. 134/138
  2. ↑ Helmut Kahnt: The large coin dictionary from A to Z (2005), p. 189: Helmgroschen
  3. ^ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338-1500 (1974), p. 136: Friedrich der Streitbare
  4. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 66: Münzverschenkenung
  5. ↑ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 (1974), p. 64: New coin design for the first time
  6. ↑ Heinz Fengler, ...: transpress Lexikon Numismatik (1976), p. 221
  7. ^ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338-1500 (1974), p. 54: Groschenbezeichnung
  8. ↑ Helmut Kahnt: Das große Münzlexikon von A to Z (2005), p. 189
  9. ^ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 (1974), p. 72
  10. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 68
  11. ^ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 (1974), p. 80: Münzstätten Freiberg and Sangerhausen
  12. ↑ Helmut Kahnt: The large coin dictionary from A to Z (2005), p. 189: Helmgroschen
  13. ^ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 (1974), p. 72: Petrus Bornis
  14. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 261
  15. ^ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338-1500 (1974), p. 128: Example without abbreviation
  16. ↑ Helmut Kahnt: The great coin dictionary from A to Z (2005) P. 281: Translation
  17. ↑ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 (1974), p. 126: parallel stamp
  18. ↑ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 (1974), p. 126: Identification of the mint
  19. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 261: front