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

1 6 The Coins of Europe
Germany naturally divides itself into North and South ;
and in the latter are comprised the former kingdoms of
Bohemia and Hungary, and the principality of Transylvania,
each of which of course possessed during centuries an autonomous
coinage of a very varied and interesting character.
Austria itself is entitled to the honour of having produced
the earliest dated thalers, commencing with the schauthaler,
which commemorates the marriage of Maximilian I. and
Mary of Burgundy in 1477. The Transylvanian series is
particularly curious from the portraits of the waiwodes
or princes, and the singular head-dress of some of them an
invariable feature of it
being the aigret or heron's crest.
In the North, Saxony yields an unique succession of
portrait-thalers, and Brunswick in its several branches, though
more especially that of Luneburg, is remarkable for its artistic
contributions to the numismatic stores of the Fatherland.
The influence of the first-named region on that of Brandenburgh
was attended by very important results in consequence
of the intimate and permanent alliance between the margravate
and Prussia, and between Prussia and Poland. The
issue of large silver money appears to have begun in Austria
and Saxony almost concurrently, if the gulden groschen with
the portrait of Frederic the Wise (1486-1500)
is to be
accepted as the first experiment in the latter country.
On the other hand, Brunswick, from its numerous grand
alliances in a variety of directions during the Middle Ages,
may be held to have played a very leading part in determining
the types not only of neighbouring states, but of those
at a distance ;
and the extension of the rule of the Frankish
and German emperors of the Carlovingian and later dynasties
over a considerable portion of Italy was necessarily productive
of a certain degree of monetary conformity on the part of
the Peninsula to Teutonic treatment and feeling.
The Italian trading communities, such as Venice, Genoa,
and Pisa, exercised an influence in the same direction by
spreading, wherever their ships penetrated, or their colonies
established themselves, an acquaintance with the monetary
medium employed at home. This agency may explain a