Coinage of Saxony

[1] Rich silver deposits, which were discovered near Freiberg after the middle of the 12th century, helped Saxony to a leading position in German coinage.

The sheet metal used for minting eventually became so thin that it could no longer be struck with lower and upper punches simultaneously in one operation.

In order to achieve a good coin image, it made sense to dispense with the second punch and also to save the second work step.

[8] The bracteates from all Meissen and Upper Lusatian mints were struck according to a uniform embossing style and monetary standard.

The clipping of pfennigs by money changers or private individuals for the purpose of illegally procuring precious metals was a capital offence for which the penalty was cutting off the right hand.

In Freiberg's city law it was determined that only the mint master or judge himself was allowed to devalue expired pfennigs.

These included:[11] The increasing power of the Meissen margraves in the 14th century led, with a few exceptions, to the end of minting by imperial ministeriales.

The Bishops of Naumburg exercised their right to mint coins in Strehla on the Elbe in conjunction with the Margrave of Meissen.

Restrikes are known for the Burgraves of Meissen, the Vogts of Pegau Abbey, Margrave Theodoric, the Count of Brehna and Archbishops of Magdeburg.

A rough classification was made by Haupt:[15] For the export trade, the regional pfennig with its limited scope and obligation to exchange it every year was a major obstacle.

In Haupt's Sächsischer Münzkunde, the word Groschen is a popular term for the Latin grossus, which roughly means "fat".

The currency changeover to the new, lighter Rhenish Gulden as the basis for Meissen's groschen coinage took place in stages from 1368 to 1369.

As a result of the high spending policy of Margrave William I the One-Eyed (1382–1407), the country and its population were heavily burdened.

Foreign towns countered the increasing debasement of coins with countermarks of Meissen groschen that were still in good condition.

It was not until 1412 that Frederick the Quarrelsome (1381–1428) succeeded in stabilizing the pfennig currency on the basis of 20 Schildgroschen to a Rhenish gulden.

The discovery of new, rich silver deposits in the upper Ore Mountains at Schneeberg and Annaberg led to another mining period in Saxony in the second half of the 15th century.

The almost identical coin mandates of the Ernestine and Albertines from May 1500, in which the planned transition to the large silver currency on 4 July with new silver gulden (Guldengroschen) With the announcement that there were now 7 Schreckenbergers or 21 Zinsgroschen to a full Rhenish gold gulden, the Meissen-Saxon groschen was superseded after 262 years.

These mints were at: At the end of the 15th century, new technical and economic methods in Saxon mining led to an unusually high silver yield.

This led Elector Frederick III the Wise (1486–1525) and his brother John the Constant (1486/1525–1532), in agreement with George the Bearded (1500–1539), as representative of his father Albert the Bold (1464/85–1500) to promulgate the so-called Leipzig Coinage Act of 1500.

[41] During the time of the Saxon currency separation, the common coinage agreed between the Ernestines and Albertines under the partition of Leipzig in 1485 was temporarily lifted from 1530 to the end of 1533.

When the Ernestines lost their electoral dignity to the Albertines in 1547, the coinage that had been previously minted in brotherly cooperation was finally ended.

The coinage history of the Duchy of Saxony or the Saxon-Ernestine family covers the period from 1547 to 1572 in the remaining Thuringian possessions of the Ernestines.

[42] The Albertine Elector Augustus (1553–1586) centralized coinage by combining all state coin production into a single mint.

[45] The complete disruption of the financial system forced Electoral Saxony to return to the imperial coin standard in 1623.

It was assumed that Beichlingen had this cross designed to be that of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog of which he was a knight, and that the taler was therefore an insult to the king.

Prussian contributions and the counterfeit coining by Frederick II (1740–1786) as a means of financing the war led to the complete collapse of the monetary system in Saxony and Poland.

[65] The old thaler to a 14-thaler standard with the Cologne mark as coin base weight, had its value modified only very slightly by the Vienna Mint Treaty to a 30 thaler standard aligned to the customs pound as the coin base weight, corresponded to three marks in the new common currency.

When Elector John George I died on 8 October 1656 at his residential palace in Dresden, he left behind a will drawn up on 20 July 1652.

[66] The fourth son, Duke Maurice, Administrator of the Naumburg-Zeitz Abbey from 1653, resided in Naumburg from 1653 to 1663, then in Zeitz at the Moritzburg that he had built.

The best known is the thaler minted on the construction of Moritzburg Castle in Zeitz, which Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel calls a medal (see illustration).