Die Frühzeit des Friesacher Pfennigs

The Friesacher Pfennig belongs to the most important medieval currencies in the today`s Austrian area. The present study reflects the written results of a interdisciplinary research project that investigated the early days of the Friesacher Pfennig (c. 1125/30 - c. 1166). The first section deals with the written sources worked out by I. Baumgartner. Besides the work on the quotations until 1170, a wealth of questions, which have only insufficiently been incorporated critically until now, is dealt with. To that belong the political requirements and the questions of property with the legal questions of minting as well as the question of the economic basis and infrastructure for the Friesacher Pfennig. Also the up to now differently judged sources of the mint workers are subject to a critical examination and evaluation. In connection with the for a long time open question of the possibility of ducal Minting in St. Veit, the author deals with new methods by investigating the residences of the duke. In the issue a comprehensive digression deals extensively with the role of the Friesacher Pfennig in Italy. The numismatic material was studied by H. Winter. Based on a very comprehensive collection of material and a precise analysis of typology and style it was succeeded in giving a sound chronological order of the various types of coins and their variants and putting them into the historic context. Added is a detailed analysis of dies, which allows for the first time to gain an insight into the working method of a medieval mint in the first half of the 12th century. Based on the determined number of dies is a statistical calculation of the volume of minting, which enables a rough overview of the quantitative output of the mints in Friesach and St. Veit. Another essential focal point is the revised edition of the three treasure troves form "Roveredo", Gran (Hungary) and Dürnstein (Styria), which are relevant for the early phase of the Friesacher Pfennig. Metal analysis by means of Energy-dispersive X-rayfluorescence analysis for all emissions have been carried out by R. Linke. Thereby on the one hand, it was intended to control the typology and allocation of the mints defined by numismatic methods, on the other hand the material combination of the silver alloy used at different mints was meant to be investigated.