''Schinderling'' was a popular name for the
pfennig
The 'pfennig' (; . 'pfennigs' or ; symbol pf or ₰) or penny is a former German coin or note, which was the official currency from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002. While a valuable coin during the Middle Ages, ...
s with a sharply decreased content of fine silver from the time around 1457 to 1460, which were in circulation mostly in the region of
Inner Austria
Inner Austria (german: Innerösterreich; sl, Notranja Avstrija; it, Austria Interiore) was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for the Habsburg hereditary lands south of the Semmering Pass, referring to the Imperial duchie ...
.
History
The cause of the decrease in silver content were the probate disputes between
Emperor Frederick III and the master of his mint in
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popu ...
,
Balthasar Eggenberger
Balthasar Eggenberger (died 1493), was an Austrian entrepreneur in the early days of mercantilism. He was master of the imperial mint at Graz in the Duchy of Styria and financier to Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. He was a man cut of the same ...
. As an independent entrepreneur, Balthasar was doing business at his own risk and his profit margin was based on the ratio of the value of the actual silver content of the coins against their value as currency. When the emperor increased the fees for the minting lease or raised taxes to pay debts, merchants had to pass that cost on by increasing prices or, as in the mint master's case, decreasing the actual amount of silver in the coinage thereby lowering the production cost of the coins against their value as currency. According to Austrian chronicler and contemporary of Balthasar's: "The emperor allowed bad coins to be minted; these coins were named ''Schinderlings''. Anyone with lots of old copper kettles could mint better. He allowed such coins to be minted...by a citizen in Graz named Eggenberg, who had the lease on the minting operations in Graz and in
St. Veit in
Carinthia."
[Jakob Unrest, "Österreichische Chronik von 1379 bis zirka 1500". K. Grossmann, Monumenta Germaniæ Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, N.S. 11, 1957, reprint 2001.]
According to another chronicle from the period, Balthasar became quite wealthy and influential through these activities until the emperor was forced to act in the spring of 1460. He issued an arrest warrant for Balthasar, who received word of the order and fled to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
with what was a vast sum in gold, silver and jewels of about £40000. By July of that year Balthasar and the emperor had come to some sort of arrangement, the details of which have been lost. Through this arrangement Balthasar was to pay the emperor an unknown sum in exchange for renewal of the minting lease under the stipulation that the minted coins could not have less than a specified amount of silver and amnesty to return to his lands in Graz.
This shortage of money for the payment of the mercenaries linked with the disputes between Balthasar and Emperor Frederick III created a financial crisis. The ''Schinderlingszeit'' (Schinderling era) was one of the first cases of open inflation in the German linguistic area shortly before the beginning of
modern times. As a result of this the emperor also issued a decree in 1460 fixing wages and prices based on the value of better coins to be minted under the new agreement between the emperor and Balthasar.
Notes and references
See also
*
Kipper and Wipper Era
''Kipper und Wipper'' (german: Kipper- und Wipperzeit, literally "Tipper and See-saw time") was a financial crisis during the start of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648).[Ephraimiten
An Ephraimite (German Ephraimit, plural Ephraimiten) was a debased coin part of whose silver content was replaced with copper. Ephraimites, as they came to be called, were issued under the authority of Frederick the Great of Prussia in the Duchy ...]
Sources
* Heinz Fengler und Autoren "transpress Lexikon Numismatik" VEB Verlag für Verkehrswesen, Berlin 1988,
* Konstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Erzherzog Albrecht VI. von Österreich (1418–1463). Ein Fürst im Spannungsfeld von Dynastie, Regionen und Reich (= Forschungen zur Kaiser- und Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters. Bd. 38). Böhlau, Köln u. a. 2015, 499-505, 630
* Hans-Werner Sinn, Die wundersame Geldvermehrung, Staatsverschuldung, Negativzinsen, Inflation, 3. Auflage, Freiburg im Breisgau 2021.
External links
The Joanneum Coin Cabinet
{{Austria topics
Numismatics
Medieval economics
Medieval currencies
Debased coins of Germany