1/2 Groat 'with Knight' - John II of Avesnes

John II issued this type in direct response to the monetary chaos following the Battle of the Golden Spurs in July 1302, when Flemish victories over the French crown destabilized commercial networks throughout the Low Countries. The armed figure — identified in the cataloging tradition as a knight — reflects a deliberate effort to project comital authority at a moment when the political order of the region was genuinely uncertain.

The type's short production window of roughly one year accounts for its comparative scarcity relative to other Hainaut issues of the period.