800th anniversary of death of Heinrich the Lion - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1995 - 400 Pfennig

Heinrich was born about 1129/30. When he succeeded his father, he had to fight for possession of the two duchies that his father had lost. In Saxony, he was recognized as Duke in 1142, he finally received Bavaria in 1156 by his cousin, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Especially in the north of his reign, Heinrich unfolded extensive activities. The city of Lübeck was created by him in 1159, a year later Schwerin received the city law. Brunswick expanded the Duke to the political and intellectual center of his rule. In Bavaria, he had already moved 1157/58 market, coin and customs law to Munich and thus created the nucleus for the future city. Mutual support, from which both Barbarossa and Henry had benefited, came to an abrupt end in 1176, when the welfe denied the emperor military support. In the subsequent processes, the Duke was denied his Reichslehen. Henry the Lion has always been one of the most controversial figures in German history. In the areas east of the Elbe, he created the conditions for German settlement, under his rule originated in Saxony, the first features of the later territorial state. Without having his duchies back, Heinrich died on August 6, 1195. (Text: M. Vater, M.A., History Department of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelm-University, Bonn)