Colditz Mint

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Bracteates from the Burggrafschaft Colditz from the 13th century are known from a Colditz mint (also called Kolditz) .

Elector Friedrich II., The Meek (1428–1464) set up his own mint in Colditz in 1456 for his wife Margaretha , daughter of Archduke Ernst I of Austria , to compensate for the high treasure that she was entitled to . In 1463 the Electress received from Emperor Friedrich III. the right to mint in Colditz until the end of her life.

history

Bracteatic time

When the area between Mulde and Elster was placed under the sovereignty of the Roman-German Empire by Emperor Friedrich I in 1158 , the hitherto unfree family of those von Colditz were among the Reichsministeriales . A stately Colditz coin is known as early as the 13th century, in which one-sided pfennigs (bracteates) were struck. Documentary evidence of a mint belonging to the Lords of Colditz is provided by a letter from Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria of March 29, 1318 to the brothers Heinrich and Timo von Colditz. In it, the Lords of Colditz are once again confirmed as the owners of the Colditz Mint. The imperial confirmation of their privileges was to preserve the independence of the rule in the midst of the Meissnian land . You probably already operated silver mining on Ulrichsberg near Pegau .

Dime

Elector Ernst, Duke Albrecht, Duke Wilhelm III. (1465–1482), Horngroschen 1465, Colditz
Elector Ernst, Duke Albrecht, Duke Wilhelm III. with Electress Margaretha (1475–1482), Spitzgroschen 1475, Colditz
Grave slab of the Electress Margaretha of Saxony in the castle church Altenburg . The Electress was the owner of the Colditz Mint.

In 1404, the Margrave of Meißen , Wilhelm I, the One-Eyed (1349 / 79-1407) acquired the Colditz rule, which had already been pledged to the Wettins , and incorporated it into the Margraviate of Meißen .

In 1456, Elector Friedrich II established his wife Margaretha (* around 1416, † 1486), daughter of Archduke Ernst I of Austria and sister of Emperor Friedrich III. (1440–1493), own coin in Colditz. As compensation for the high treasure that was promised to her as a born Archduchess of Austria, she was granted the strike treasure or a certain share in it from the Colditz coin. Duke Wilhelm III. (1445–1482) of Thuringia, the brother of the elector, was opposed to the minting in Colditz, as the large quantities of the Colditz sword groschen struck up to 1463 could only be made possible by special silver deliveries by the elector and he not as with the mints Freiberg and Leipzig had his share in the falling treasure trove. The negative attitude of Duke Wilhelm towards the Electress Margaretha may have prompted the Elector, a year before his death, in 1463 with Emperor Friedrich III. to ensure that his wife receives the right to mint in Colditz in the name of his two sons Ernst and Albrecht until the end of her life. After the elector's death, Wilhelm's attitude changed. From 1465 he minted again in community with his nephews in the mints of Freiberg, Gotha , Leipzig, Wittenberg and Zwickau as well as with the Electress Margaretha in Colditz. (His Weimar state mint was closed when he gave up his sole coinage.)

The Saxon groschen types struck in the mint of the Electress are shield groschen , sword groschen , new shock groschen or 6 Heller groschen , horn groschen , pointed groschen and half pointed groschen . In addition, were Heller and pennies coined. The groschen with an additional M at the beginning or within the romanization are also known as Margarethen groschen .

The sequence of names on the Margaret groschen

On the common shield groschen minted in 1456 by Elector Friedrich II. And his wife Margaretha, the Electress appears as an illegal mint princess with the name sequence M (argaretha) • F (riedrich) •, since she was only granted the right to mint by the Emperor in September 1463. After the successful objection of Duke Wilhelm III. von Thuringia against the coinage in Colditz appears from 1457 to 1463 by the change of the name sequence in F • M • on the Colditzer Groschen the elector himself as minting authority. Gifted with the right to coins in 1463, the name sequence M • F • was then given.

Mint master of the Colditz Mint

Mint master from to Mintmaster's mark
Peter Schwabe 1456 1477 ‡ (double cross, also called patriarchal cross despite the crossbar of the same length ); even without mm.
Augustin Horn and Heinz Martersteck 1477 1481 (?) Shamrock and half rose

See also

literature

  • Gerhard Krug: The Meissnian-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 , Berlin 1974.
  • Walther Haupt : Saxon coinage . German Verl. D. Wiss., Berlin 1974.
  • Heinz Fengler, Gerd Gierow, Willy Unger: transpress Lexikon Numismatics , Berlin 1976.
  • Friedrich von Schrötter , N. Bauer, K. Regling, A. Suhle, R. Vasmer , J. Wilcke: Dictionary of Coin Studies , Berlin 1970.
  • Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Erbstein : Numismatic fragments in relation to Saxon history , volumes 1–3, pp. 41–45, addendum (Margarethengroschen). ( Digitized version )
  • Otto F. Müller: Otto Merseburger Collection comprising coins and medals from Saxony, sales catalog , Leipzig 1894.
  • Ferdinand Friedensburg: The coins and the coinage of the Electress Margaretha of Saxony , in magazine for numismatics 32 (1930). ( Digitized version ( memento from February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ); PDF; 1.8 MB)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ mcsearch: Burggrafschaft Colditz, Timo II. (Around 1215 to around 1264), bracteate around 1250. Count sitting on an arch with a lily scepter and a double empire.
  2. ^ Gerhard Krug: The Meissnisch-Saxon Groschen 1338–1500 , Berlin 1974, p. 83.
  3. ^ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde . German Verl. D. Wiss., Berlin 1974, p. 49.
  4. ↑ mcsearch: In it: Sword groschen with Margaretha as Münzfürstin (1463-1464), Colditz. Saxon Kurschild over flower cross in quatrefoil. Opposite side: lion on the left with Landsberger shield. Krug 1205/2 (sequence of names in the legend M • F •).