Originally a small silver coin which appeared in the Tyrol in the thirteenth century, and which obtains its name from a cross which was stamped upon it, a device perhaps copied from the Byzantine coinage. In Latin documents of this period it is referred to as Cruciatus, Crucifer, and Cruciger. The oldest types, called Etschkreuzer or Meraner Kreuzer, bore a double cross, one diagonally over the other.

The Kreuzer of the later type was of copper and circulated extensively throughout all of Southern Germany, Austria, and Hungary. It was usually computed at the value of four Pfennig or eight Heller. There were, however, two standards, one of which represented forty-eight Kreuzer to the Gulden and seventy-two to the Thaler, and in the other, called the light Kreuzer, sixty went to the Gulden of Austria was altered from sixty to one hundred Kreuzer.

Among the various multiples are seventeen Kreuzer for Transylvania; obsidional eighty Kreuzer for Strasburg in 1592 (Mailliet, cii. 1); and a piece of seven Kreuzer, 1802, struck for Austria in the war against France (Mailliet, viii. 2).

The Bohemian name for this coin is Krejcar, and the Hungarian form is Krajczar. See Zwainziger.