Pfennig - Engelbert Friesach

Friesach, in present-day Carinthia, became one of the most important minting centers in the German-speaking lands during the twelfth century, and the Friesacher Pfennig struck there circulated so widely across Central Europe and the Balkans that it functionally served as a regional trade currency for over a century. Engelbert of Sponheim, Duke of Carinthia, controlled the mint during this period under rights that were perpetually contested between secular and ecclesiastical claimants — the Archbishop of Salzburg held competing privileges over the same town.