Pfennig - Ortlieb

The Bishopric of Chur held coining rights in the Graubünden region through much of the medieval period, but by the mid-fifteenth century its monetary authority was increasingly contested by the growing power of the Three Leagues — the confederate bodies that would eventually dominate the region entirely. Ortlieb von Brandis, bishop from 1458 to 1491, issued these small silver pfennigs against a backdrop of steadily eroding episcopal influence. The HMZ reference 2-377d places this among a tightly defined group within his reign.