1/2 Griffin - John of Bavaria

John of Bavaria was not yet bishop when this coin was struck — he was appointed coadjutor of Liège in 1389 under his uncle Arnold of Horne, effectively running the diocese while still a teenager. His tenure would later collapse into open warfare with the citizens of Liège, culminating in the brutal suppression following the Battle of Othée in 1408, where he massacred thousands of burghers and stripped the city of its traditional liberties.

The griffin denomination was a regional unit peculiar to the Low Countries ecclesiastical mints of the late 14th century, borrowed loosely from the Flemish monetary system.