How Far Back Can We Go? Fifth Edition! Ended At 1461 Waiting On 1460 C. E. (A. H. 864)

@pepactonius: great that you posted a coin of queen Elizabeth I

Below a half daalder minted in Antwerpen in 1583, the period that the task of sovereign of the (chaotic) Netherlands (north and south) was confided to Francis of Alençon (1555-1584). A piece which is difficult to find.




Alençon, often called Anjou in the story of the Dutch revolt, was the youngest son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici.

In 1579 William the Silent had invited him to accept the title "Protector of the Liberty of the Netherlands" and become the sovereign of a much divided 17 provinces where no one could foresee the future. This was the time the Southern provinces united with a Spanish ruler with the Union of Atrecht, while the North united in rebellion with the Union of Utrecht.

But Anjou was quite distracted by other affairs, like courting the 20 yr older queen of England. Below a detail of a love letter between the two.



However, A marriage was not possible because religious complications and opposition of influential politicians like Leicester and Walsingham.

Portrait of ANjou

@tdziemia, great suggestion!

Anjou was the younger brother of Henri III and nominated by the States General of the Netherlands Duke of Brabant and Count of Flanders, titles that belonged to King Philip.

So a very strange emission of a coin made in a confusing society with the South gathering around the growing power of Farnese and the North led by William of Orange. I short Anjou was rather powerless and when he tried a military "coup d'etat" (which failed) he lost all confidence.

Below a jeton from 1583 on occasion of the failed attempt of Anjou to seize the city of Antwerp by force. We see again as in 1584 the emblem of the wolf attacking the shepherd.



Below an amusing summary of the strange political situation in that period by a satirical painting "Queen Elizabeth I Feeds the Dutch Cow. Oil on panel, artist unknown"


We see an allegory of the Netherlands (a cow) which king Philip tries to ride, while the prince of Orange hold the reigns. Anjou grabs the tail of the animal and receives cow dung on his pants. Queen Elizabeth is feeding the cow. It would be very interesting to understand who is milking the cow .....



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franc...uke_of_Anjou

the image of the painting has all the circumstances that explain the story of the jetons of the 1580-ies

the hats are indeed important; very good guess

Very nice! The dated coins of Charles III are very few if I recall, despite his long reign. I have only the 1588 florin with some damage from mounting, but did not post it here (it is on page 260 of the How Far Back ... Fourth Edition).

Yes, you got it tdziemia - and I have the F FRAAN part as well:

Franciscus Filius Franciae Frater Unicum Regis Dei Gratia Dux Brabantiae = Francis, Son of France, Single Brother of the King, By Grace of God Duke of Brabant.

FRAAN is probably a misspelling of FRAN (although I have seen Franciae written Fraanciae as well, but that is unusual).

.
I have seen examples from 1582 with FRAN. Perhaps in 1583 the Antwerp die maker was distracted by the cannonballs and such, and made a mistake.
Concerning the col fraise (I cannot find the accent on my keyboard which makes this a strange collar indeed), we see that Stefan Batory, King of Poland, may have been less interested in fashion than his peers on other thrones (he was from Transylvania, perhaps not the most cosmopolitan place?). Philip II, Elizabeth and Henry III are all wearing this fashionable accessory (well, only some of the time for Henry, as we see in that nice portrait).

Poland Lithuania Commonwealth, 1582 schilling/solidus, Gdansk mint

thanks for the explanation ! The duke of Anjou was indeed the younger brother of Henri III from whom we see again a nice coin today.

below a jeton of 1582 from Dordrecht showing the first attempt on the life of William of Orange. From the short distance the bullet did not miss the prince, but William recovered from the wound.

1582 -- Kingdom of England, 3 pence: