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1/2 Groschen - Paul IV Alexander Farnese Legate
| Issuer | Comtat Venaissin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1555-1559 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Mint | Avignon |
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| Additional information |
The Comtat Venaissin was a papal enclave in southern France — surrounded by French territory but sovereign to Rome — and its coinage under legates like Alessandro Farnese the Younger reflected that jurisdictional oddity directly. Farnese held the legateship as a cardinal-nephew appointment, part of a broader pattern of the papacy placing dynastic relatives in administrative control of its French territories. He never set foot in Avignon with any regularity; the coins bearing his authority were issued in absentia.
The mint at Avignon operated under chronic pressure from French crown attempts to restrict its output throughout the mid-sixteenth century.