W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

Descriptive Outline of the Coinages of Europe 331
a stag to left ;
these were succeeded by pfennings, also
struck on one side, with a stag's head and Stol. or Stalb.,
Gold florin.
and in due course we meet with the albus, kreutzer, batz,
thaler and half thaler, and gold florin. They are all scarce,
especially the bracteates and the gold.
The province of Silesia, of which the first mention in
modern history connects it with Poland, belonged in turn to
that dukedom, to Bohemia, Austria, and Prussia,
representing the gain of Frederick the Great from
the Seven Years' War. The most remote and
primitive currency associated with a region which at more
than one time felt the influence of Scandinavian conquest and
ascendency, presents itself, as usual, in the shape of bracteates
of difficult attribution ;
and a considerable number of
mints within this geographical area gradually yielded improved
and varied types, while they formed a common
ground or source for the monetary requirements of many
beyond the border. The bulk of the old Silesian coinage,
however, may be said to have been of an urban character
from the I4th century. Three of the leading mints were
Wratislav or Breslau, Glatz, and Schweidnitz ;
and the first
was the place of origin of a long episcopal series in all metals