1240, Regensburg, Otto II of Bavaria. Beautiful Silver Pfennig Coin. PCGS AU-53!

Mint Year: ca. 1240
Denomination: Pfennig
Mint Place: Regensburg
Reference: Emmerig 227.
Ruler. Otto II of Bavaria "the Illustrious" (Ludwig was his predecessor)
Condition: Certified and graded by PCGS as AU-53! - Population 1/0!
Diameter: 19mm
Weight: ca. 1gm
Material: Silver

Obverse: Rampart lion right, with head looking backwards.

Reverse: Heraldic eagle within inner circle. Border of large pellets around.

Regensburg is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the fourth-largest city in the State of Bavaria after Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg. From its foundation as an imperial Roman river fort, the city has been the political, economic and cultural centre of the surrounding region; it is still known in the Romance languages as a cognate of its Latin name of "Ratisbona" (the version "Ratisbon" was long current in English). Later, under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, it housed the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg.

 

Otto II (7 April 1206 – 29 November 1253), called the Illustrious (German: der Erlauchte), was the Duke of Bavaria from 1231 and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1214. He was the son of Louis I and Ludmilla of Bohemia and a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty.

The poet Reinbot von Dürne was active at his court.

Otto was born at Kelheim.

At the age of sixteen, he was married to Agnes of the Palatinate, a granddaughter of Duke Henry the Lion and Conrad of Hohenstaufen. With this marriage, the Wittelsbach inherited the Palatinate and kept it as a Wittelsbach possession until 1918. Since that time also the lion has become a heraldic symbol in the coat of arms for Bavaria and the Palatinate.

Otto acquired the rich regions of Bogen in 1240, and Andechs and Ortenburg in 1248 as possessions for the Wittelsbach and extended his power base in Bavaria this way. With the county of Bogen the Wittelsbach acquired also the white and blue coloured lozenge flag which since that time has been the flag of Bavaria (and of the Palatinate).

After a dispute with emperor Frederick II was ended, he joined the Hohenstaufen party in 1241. His daughter, Elizabeth, was married to Frederick's son Conrad IV. Because of this, Otto was excommunicated by the pope.

He died in Landshut in 1253. Like his forefathers, Otto was buried in the crypt of Scheyern Abbey.