#1 is a denier or 1/2 gros of Charles IV and Nicole (Lorraine, France) - looks like (16)25, Nancy mint. Cracked flan, billon. Scarce but not very valuable, especially in this shape. The date is indicated by two numerals left and right of the eagle's tail, those two numerals are the last two digits of the date.
Obverse: CAR. ET. NIC. D. G. DVC. LOTH. B - Charles & Nicolas, by the Grace of God, Duke of Lorraine (and) Bar / CAROLUS ET NICOLA DEI GRATIA DVX LOTHARINGIAE (et) BARRI
Reverse: MONETA NOVA NANCEII - New Money (minted in) Nancy
Charles IV de Lorraine, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, would let his wife Nicole "Nicolette" de Lorraine, Duchess of Lorraine and Bar, "rule" alongside him for only a year, 1624-1625; after 1625 she was made virtually powerless by the schemes of Charles' father, Francis, Comte de Vaudemont, who contested for and was awarded the Duchy of Lorraine and then abdicated a week later, thereby making his son Charles IV the only authority. Charles tried repeatedly to keep his wife Nicole away from the court, at one point ordering the execution of the priest who had married them by condemning him as a heretic, and later pleading with the Pope to annul the marriage on the grounds that he had never had the right to marry her in the first place. None of his requests were successful, and he was unable to secure a divorce, so she was quite literally kicked to the curb in 1635; Charles married again in 1637 but the Church refused to recognize his marriage. After Charles bore a son with his new "wife", he was excommunicated by the Pope; in case that wasn't enough sin for the Church, he remarried a third time, past 60 years of age, to the 18 year old daughter of the Comte d'Aspremont-Lynden.
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Posted 10/05/2017 11:21 am
