Rappenmünzbund

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The Rappenmünzbund was a late medieval and early modern coin association in West Upper Germany.

history

The Rappenmünzbund was first mentioned under this name on March 14, 1377. It was initially founded for 15 years. The cities of Zurich and Basel - represented by the Basel Bishop and the Austrian Duke in Basel - created a more uniform coin validity area; Sense was the unification of the so-called coin . In the middle of the 14th century, the Rappenmünzbund included around eighty participants (e.g. cities, but not only) from the Upper Rhine, north-western Switzerland and Upper Austria. In addition to the penny , the penny and other types of coins also belonged centimes to the coins, the more the small change of today Switzerland forms. Three circles of coins were created with their own currency. However, this project failed due to the lack of a convention.

This mistake was recognized and on September 14, 1387 a new area of ​​the "unitary coin" was created. This included about 70 members. Areas such as Schaffhausen , Colmar , Zurich , Basel , Bern , Neuchâtel (Nienburg), including the surrounding area, were involved. The common penny coin had a fine silver weight of around 0.15 grams . In order to maintain the coin value, members and area size were quickly reduced to a smaller black coin federation on February 24, 1403. The declared federal coin, the Rappenpfennig, should now be struck from the 10 2/4 lotigen mark in the amount of 1242 pfennigs. With a fineness of 0.23 grams of fine silver, the coin was called a Zweiling . For security reasons, the first square coins should be struck round and with a pearl edge, i.e. a rib.

From 1425, the Strasbourg pfennig was then imitated. For example, the Basel staff was embossed in the coat of arms, Freiburg with an eagle's head and Colmar with a morning star in the shield. The type for the black horse was kept for about 150 years. Switzerland has received the centimes to this day (since 1850 100 centimes have been converted into 1 Swiss franc ).

The venue was Neuchâtel . Each member tried to improve their position through special contracts. In 1399, Duke Leopold of Austria tried to keep the Schillingen edition. In 1425 the Plappart , a penny-like coin, was issued. Representatives from Basel introduced the so-called four in 1462. In the Treaty of Neuchâtel on November 30, 1498, the Dickplappart, the guilder , was issued with a fine weight of 6.87 grams and a total weight of 7.32 grams . In 1542 the right to mint coins was obtained. The issue of Batzen, which had been decided on March 24, 1533, had been fought in vain. A lump should have 10 cents with 20 staves.

After March 3, 1564, the Rappenmünzbund was subject to the Imperial Coin Order of 1559 and finally dissolved after almost 200 years. At the beginning of the 16th century the Rappenmünzbund defended itself unsuccessfully against the newly emerged Batzen , which soon became an important new coin in Switzerland too, until the Confederation switched to the franc currency , borrowed from France, in 1850 and revived the Rappen.

The last meeting of the members of the Rappenmünzbund took place in Colmar on September 11th, 1584. The termination of silver mining for the federal government was the real end.

literature

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ J. Cahn: Der Rappenmünzbund (1901).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Friedrich von Schrötter, N. Bauer, K. Regling, A. Suhle, R. Vasmer, J. Wilcke: Dictionary of coinage. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1970.