1/2 Goldgulden - Christian William of Brandenburg

Christian William of Brandenburg was appointed Administrator of Magdeburg in 1598 — a Protestant holding a nominally Catholic ecclesiastical office, a compromise arrangement that satisfied almost no one. His tenure ended badly: he sided with the Danes during the opening phase of the Thirty Years' War, was captured by Imperial forces in 1626, and was deposed. Magdeburg itself was sacked and largely destroyed by Tilly's forces in 1631, one of the war's worst atrocities, killing perhaps 20,000 civilians.

Coins issued under his administration span the entire arc of that catastrophe.