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1/2 Mark - Wilhelm von Fürstenberg and Wilhelm von Brandenburg Riga
| Issuer | Livonia and Riga |
|---|---|
| Year | 1558 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | WILHELM · VORSTENB · D · G · M · LIV 5 - 8 (Translation: Wilhelm Furstenberg Dei Gratia Magistri Livoniae Wilhelm Fürstenberg, with God`s grace, Master of Livonia) |
| Reverse description | Central field features a quartered heraldic shield bearing the arms of the Archbishopric of Riga and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, supported on either side by rampant lions serving as heraldic supporters. The shield is rendered in the flat hammered style characteristic of mid-sixteenth century Baltic coinage. A circular legend in Latin surrounds the device, reading WILHELM · D · G · ARC · E · RIGENSIS · M · B ·, identifying Wilhelm von Brandenburg as Archbishop of Riga and Margrave of Brandenburg by the grace of God. The lettering consists of Gothic-influenced capital letters with pellet stops separating the abbreviated words. |
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| Additional information |
By 1558, the Livonian Confederation was unraveling fast. Ivan the Terrible had launched his invasion of Livonia that January, and the political authority nominally shared between Archbishop Wilhelm von Fürstenberg — then Landmaster of the Teutonic Order — and Wilhelm von Brandenburg-Ansbach, the Archbishop of Riga, was already more ceremonial than functional. Coinage struck in both names reflects that awkward dual-authority arrangement, an administrative fiction maintained even as Russian forces pushed through the eastern territories.
The Confederation would effectively cease to exist within three years of this issue.