Salt, Sword, and Crozier

Books and Coins from the Prince-Bishopric of Salzburg (c. 1500—c. 1800)

Description

Like the popes in Rome, the Prince-Bishops of Salzburg ruled over substantial territories as secular princes. Salt, Sword, and Crozier highlights their dual authority—the princely sword and the bishop’s staff or crozier—and the basis of their economic power in their control of natural resources such as salt. The exhibition showcases books from the Salzburg prince-bishop’s seminary library that were printed from the fifteenth through the early-nineteenth century, supplemented by coins minted under the authority of successive archbishops beginning in the twelfth century and ending in 1786.