(Vendida por $76.0)

1306, Cologne (Archbishopric), Heinrich II of Virneburg. Silver Pfennig Coin. R!

Mint Place: Cologne Denomination: Pfennig Mint Period: 1306-1372 Reference: Noss 24 var. (here no dot below church in reverse!) Condition: Minor greenish (vendigris) deposits spot in reverse, otherwise a nice VF+ Diameter: 20mm Weight: 1.23gm Material: Silver

Obverse: Mitred and throned Archduke, holding crozier and book of gospels. Legend: hENR . ARC - HIEPS . COLN Reverse: Side view of the Bonn Minister church, which is preaking thru inner circle ans splitting legend at 12 o'clock! Legend:  SIGN ECCE . SCI . CASSI BVNEN .

The Bonn Minster (German: Bonner Münster) is a Roman Catholic church in Bonn. It is one of Germany's oldest churches, having been built between the 11th and 13th centuries. At one point the church served as the cathedral for the Archbishopric of Cologne. However, the Minster is now a minor basilica. Originally the Minster was the collegiate church of Saints Cassius and Florentius, who were Roman legionaries of the legendary all-Christian Theban Legion. The legion's garrison, according to legend, was in the Egyptian town of Thebes. Roman Emperor Maximianus Herculius ordered the legion to march to Gaul and assist in subduing rebels from Burgundy. At some point during their march, the legion refused to follow the emperor's orders either to kill fellow Christians or to worship Maximianus Herculius as a god. As a result, a large number of legionaries were martyred in Agaunum, now named Saint Maurice-en-Valais after Saint Maurice. According to legend, Saints Cassius and Florentius, who were under the command of Saint Gereon, were beheaded for their religious beliefs at the present location of the Bonn Minster.

Count Heinrich II of Virneburg (German: Graf Heinrich II. von Virneburg) (1244 or 1246 – 5 January 1332) was Archbishop of Cologne from 1304 to his death in 1332. Heinrich was the sixth son of Count Heinrich of Virneburg (1238-1290) and his wife Ponzetta of Oberstein (1253–1311). In 1288, together with his father and his brother Ruprecht, he took part in the Battle of Worringen on the side of John I, Duke of Brabant. From 1288 he held two prebends and was a canon of St. Gereon's in Cologne, and in 1292 became chaplain of the German king Adolf of Nassau, to whom he was related. In the following years he became the occupant of a number of canonries. He was not only cathedral provost of Cologne Cathedral, but also archdeacon of both Trier and Cologne. In 1300 he was elected Archbishop of Trier, but the Pope refused to allow it. Heinrich nevertheless remained as opposition bishop to the Pope's appointee, Diether of Nassau, until 1306. In 1304 however he was elected Archbishop of Cologne, although Papal ratification was not forthcoming until 1306. In the election of King Henry VII in 1308, Heinrich followed the example of Baldwin of Luxembourg, Elector of Trier, and of Peter of Aspelt, Elector of Mainz, and took substantial payment for his vote. For his seat of government Heinrich II favoured Bonn, where from 1313 to 1328 he was provost of the collegiate foundation of St. Cassius (Cassius-Stift). He issued over 110 writs and charters from here, declared invalid the renunciation of tolls to which his predecessor had been forced to agree and obtained permission from King Henry VII to set up a new toll in Bonn. However, as the burghers of Bonn courageously supported the archbishop in his feud with the lord of Falkenburg at the battle of Euskirchen, Heinrich II granted them exemption from the Rhine toll for all goods. Under Heinrich of Virneburg Bonn became the location of a king's coronation for the first time, when on 25 November 1314 he crowned Frederick the Handsome as King of the Germans in Bonn Minster. Heinrich also advanced the building works on the cathedral in Cologne, where on 27 September 1322 he was able to consecrate the high choir of the new Cologne Cathedral. He was decisively involved in the heresy proceedings against Meister Eckhart, when the written accusation was formally presented to him in 1325. He transferred the proceedings to the Papal curia in Avignon. According to contemporaries, Heinrich was a chatterer and too fond of drink. He died on 5 January 1332 in Bonn and was buried in St. Barbara's Chapel in Bonn Minster, next to his sister, the abbess Ponzetta of Dietkirchen. His grave is no longer extant.

The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop representing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany and was ex officio one of the electors of the Holy Roman Empire, the Elector of Cologne, from 1356 to 1801.

Since the early days of the Catholic Church, there have been ninety-four bishops and archbishops of Cologne. Seven of these ninety-four retired by resignation, including four resignations which were in response to impeachment. Eight of the bishops and archbishops were coadjutor bishops before they took office. Seven individuals were appointed as coadjutors freely by the Pope. One of the ninety-four moved to the Curia, where he became a cardinal. Additionally, six of the archbishops of Cologne were chairmen of the German Bishops' Conference.

Currently, Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki is the Archbishop of Cologne, since his 2014 transfer from Berlin, where he had been Cardinal Archbishop.