(sold for $15.0)

1256, Austria, Bernhard von Spanheim. Silver "Friesacher" Pfennig Coin. St. Veit mint!

Denomination: Pfennig Mint Year: 1202-1256 AD Mint Place: St. Veit (Austria) Reference:    CNA I, Cb 14.  R! Condition: Crudely struck as usual, otherwise XF! Diameter: 18mm Weight: 1.28gm Material: Silver

Obverse: Duke under arc supported by pelleted and lis-topped columns. Cross above.

Reverse: Duke, between two banners. Legend around.

Bernhard von Spanheim (or Sponheim) (1176 or 1181 – 4 January 1256 in Völkermarkt) was the duke of Carinthia from 1202 until his death.

He was a member of the Rhenish Spanheim noble family. His father was Herman II, Duke of Carinthia (reigned 1161-1181). His mother was Agnes of Austria. Agnes was previously married to Stephen III of Hungary.

His paternal grandparents were Engelbert III of Istria and Matilda of Sulzbach. [2] Matilda was a daughter of Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach (d.3 December 1125) and Adelheid von Wolfratshausen. Her sisters included Gertrude von Sulzbach and Bertha of Sulzbach, respectively the wives of Conrad III of Germany and Manuel I Komnenos, Byzantine Emperor.

Bernhard was a younger brother of Ulrich II, Duke of Carinthia who succeeded their father on 4 October 1181. Ulrich reigned for two decades but died childless on 10 August 1202. Bernhard succeeded him.

In the conflict between the rivaling House of Hohenstaufen and the Welfs he originally supported Philipp of Swabia but turned to Otto IV after Philipp's assassination in 1208. In 1213, Bernhard again switched sides to Frederick II of Hohenstaufen.

He is credited as founding the Kostanjevica (Mariabrunn) Cistercian Abbey in the March of Carniola about 1234 as well as the city of Klagenfurt, that he had transferred to its present location in 1246. Bernhard is buried at the St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal.