coin
Territorially, the German issues began and developed in an area that has since been many times divided and from which Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia have emerged as separate states. Classification of these issues remains one of the most formidable numismatic problems. From the 10th to the 12th century the Carolingian pattern of coinage was continued; but with the advent of the Swabians under Conrad III in 1138, unity disappeared. In the west the silver denier continued. In the east the coinage of very thin bracteates was developed. The western deniers were in part from imperial mints, scattered among a much larger number of feudal mints, representing ecclesiastical rather than lay authorities. Westphalia produced a profuse ecclesiastical coinage. That of Cologne was especially important, showing the former Carolingian “temple” combined with the linear inscription S(ancta) Colonia A(grippinensis); and that of Münster was comparable in influence. This area was conservative and prosperous; the weight of its deniers was well maintained, and, although Anglo-Saxon and, later, English and Byzantine influences became noticeable, its types changed but little. In the eastern region a sharp decline in weight led to the thin, ... (200 of 32,716 words)Germany and central Europe