By Arnold Schwede with a contribution by Manfred Beine.
Paderborn: Bonifatius 2012. XII, 301 pp., hardcover, illustrations, maps.
(Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Westfalen, Neue Folge 6; at the same time: Studien und Quellen zur westfälischen Geschichte Volume 70) ISBN 978-3-89710-517-1; price: 59,80 Euro.
Measuring only 215 km², the territory of the counts of Rietberg was created in 1237 by division of inheritance and was elevated to the status of a free imperial county in 1353. It existed until 1807/1808 and had a population of about 11400 in 1812. The position of that imperial county - stretching from the north to the south and consisting of the town of Rietberg, 12 rural communities, woods and a hunting lodge – is elucidated by an additional map. Neighbours were the prince-bishops of Paderborn in the east, the Electors of Cologne as rulers of the duchy of Westphalia in the south, the prince-bishops of Münster and Osnabrück in the west and the counts of Ravensberg or respectively the Electors of Brandenburg/kings of Prussia in the north.
After the demise of the county’s older bloodline in 1562 several changes in regency occurred; finally, the small imperial county fell to the counts (after 1764 princes) of Kaunitz from Moravia, who stood in Austrian service and appointed authorized representatives to govern Rietberg in their place. As late as 1569 the counts of Rietberg were officially granted the right of minting by the emperor. A treatise on the history of the small territory’s coinage was published in 1875, which was supplemented in several parts sporadically since 1914 and considered insufficient even then. The history of coinage presented now unites a catalogue of coins – with detailed descriptions as well as pictures of all known modern coins – with extensive data concerning the lords responsible for the minting, the minting masters and the mints as well as the coinage standard, weights and counting and collects the state orders, protocols and agreements.
Over eight years the post-medieval history of coinage for another territory of East-Westphalia has thereby been compiled according to modern criteria. Like in the volumes The coinage of the high monastery Paderborn (1566-1803) and The coinage of the monastery Corvey (1541-1794) by the same author, all accessible coin types are illustrated in 1:1 scale, the findings of Coins from Rietberg in and outside of Westphalia – stretching all the way to the east to Ruskov in today’s Slovakian Republic – are mentioned und marked on two maps. The large-formated volume is also made accessible by the inclusion of indexes of persons, places and keywords.
Reviews: Numismatisches Nachrichtenblatt 61(2012) 478 [Klaus Giesen] - Archivpflege in Westfalen-Lippe 77 (2012) [Peter Worm] - MünzenRevue 2/2013 154 [Ursula Kampmann] - Münzen & Sammeln 12/2012 45 [U.E.G. Schrock]