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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roerbakmix, post: 3795399, member: 100731&quot;]So I have been looking for a Carolingian coin for a while and finally with this example, I believed to have a rather nice one. Until it turned out not to be a Carolingian coin, but a silver penny by Heinrich II, or Henry II (973 - 1024). This colourful person became duke of Bavaria in 995 (at the age of 22) and king of Germany at 1002, following the sudden death of his cousin Otto III, king of Italy in 1004 and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1014. That&#039;s quite a career.</p><p><br /></p><p>So when Otto III, at the age of 21 experienced a revolt against him in Italy, Henry II was asked to join with reinforcements. However, when Henry II was on his way, Otto III died, leaving no children or instructions for the Imperial succession. Henry II probably thought &#039;well, since I&#039;m here already ...&#039; and demanded Archbishop Heribert of Cologne to give him the Imperial Regalia. However, this clever fellow had sent these ahead of the funeral procession to one of the rival candidates for the throne. So without crown jewels, imperial authority, cooperation of the Archbishop (some sources state Henry II captured and imprisoned him for a while) and the nobles attending the funeral, Henry II took the radical action of having himself crowned King of Germany by another (more friendly) Bishop in Mains thus breaking with the tradition of German kings being crowned in Aachen (which was started in 936, and, apparently already a tradition). In the following years, he consolidated his power over Germany.</p><p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Kronung_Heinrich_II.jpg/800px-Kronung_Heinrich_II.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Sacramentary of king Henry II [1002-14] - München BSB Clm 4456 Seite 33c: King Henry II</p><p><br /></p><p>In 1004, Henry II decided to include Italy to his kingdom, and succeeded doing this (mainly because Italy had been in a political vacuum after the death of Otto III). After being crowned king of Italy, Henry decided to wear two crowns: one for Germany, and one for Italy. The party following his coronation was spoiled a bit by the inhabitants of Pavia, however Henry II quickly responded by massacring the entire population in response, thus saving the party. He did not visit pope John XVIII (who did not really like him), and thus did not became Emperor of the Holy Empire just jet. However, after John XVIII came pope Sergius IV. And after Sergius IV came Benedict VIII who had to flee from Rome because an antipope was installed as head of the Church. Henry II of course promised to undo al this wrongdoing against Sergius IV, and did so two years later, in 1014. In response, of course, Henry II became Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.</p><p><br /></p><p>Subsequently, Henry II fought a few times against the Polish, and came into conflict with Byzantium. However, his 22-year long reign was marked by expansion and consolidation of the Holy Roman Empire. As the union between Henry II and Cunigunde of Luxembourg produced no children, after Henry&#039;s death in 1024 the Ottonian dynasty came to an end (919-1024). In 1146, Henry was canonized, making him the only German monarch to be a saint (restoring Sergius IV to the papal throne probably helped).</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Now the coin:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1014071[/ATTACH]</p><p>Heinrich II (973 or 978 - 1024)</p><p>Denomination: AR Pfennig, minted: Regensburg (Germany), mintmark ELLN; 985-995 AD</p><p>Obv: Retrograde +• HENRICVS V, cross with two pellets and one annulet within circle</p><p>Rev: REGINA CIVITAS, around temple facade, ELLN (mintmark) within</p><p>Weight: 1.69g; Ø:23mm</p><p>Catalogue: Probably a variant on Hahn 22 c 2 (I don&#039;t own this catalogue).</p><p>Provenance: Metal detecting find near Kalkar, Germany; acq.: 10-2019</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin is superb to hold in hand, with a lovely grey patina and almost no wear despite being rather large (23 mm) and with 1.69 gram obviously rather thin. It&#039;s minted in Regensburg, Germany, a city with Celtic and Roman roots. I could not find information about the moneyer (mintmark ELLN). A quick search in ACsearch yields 478 results for &quot;Heinrich Regensburg&quot; - however, the mintmark reduces the number to 12, of which is by far the highest graded example. Furthermore, it&#039;s the only example I could find showing the retrograde HENRICVS V on the obverse (of the 478 results, not limited to the mintmark, only two examples have a retrograde obverse).</p><p><br /></p><p>If you have them, please show your coins of Heinrich II - or any other coin you deem relevant![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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