Die-study: Coins and Medals of the Teutonic Order since 1526

In 1526 the Teutonic Order had to be reorganized due to the secularization of the Prussian territories by Albrecht of Brandenburg; this change initiated the transition from the middle ages to modern times in the general history of the Order. In analogy with this the numismatic objects produced by the Order from this time on belong to the modern history of coins and medals. A detailed investigation of the coinage and medal-production by analysing the individual dies is the subject of this work. Coins and medals of the Order from 1526 on are very poorly documented, therefore the material has to be identified and gathered from various collections and classified by denomination, dating and variation in inscriptions and images. Based on this assembly a systematic inventory arranged by dies will be developed to reconstruct the minting either by traditional hand-strike or (since Grand Master Maximilian I. of Austria 1585/90-1618) by the "modern" rolling-mill. Information on the Order`s role as a member of the Franconian Imperial Circle can be expected by compilation and analysis of the numismatic material as well as on the function of the medals as objects of selfrepresentation of the individual Grand Masters and of the spiritual community as a whole. The medals of the 19th and 20th centuries, issued since the final secularization of the Order in 1809, are included, as they draw a more or less official picture of the Order`s conception of itself up to the present.

In 1526 the Teutonic Order had to be reorganized due to the secularization of the Prussian territories by Albrecht of Brandenburg; this change initiated the transition from the middle ages to modern times in the general history of the Order. In analogy with this the numismatic objects produced by the Order from this time on belong to the modern history of coins and medals. A detailed investigation of the coinage and medal-production by analysing the individual dies is the subject of this work. Coins and medals of the Order from 1526 on are very poorly documented, therefore the material had to be identified and gathered from various collections and classified by denomination, dating and variation in inscriptions and images. Based on this assembly a systematic inventory arranged by dies was developed in order to reconstruct the minting either by traditional hand-strike or (since Grand Master Maximilian I. of Austria 1585/90-1618) by the "modern" rolling-mill, too. Information on the Order`s role as a member of the Franconian Imperial Circle was gathered by the compilation and analysis of the numismatic material as well as on the function of the medals as objects of selfrepresentation of the individual Grand Masters and of the spiritual community as a whole. The medals of the 19th and 20th centuries, issued since the final secularization of the Order in 1809, are included, as they draw a more or less official picture of the Order`s conception of itself up to the present.