1/2 Reichsthaler - Christopher of Manderscheid

Christopher of Manderscheid-Blankenheim held the abbacy of Stavelot-Malmedy from 1546 until his death in 1576, presiding over one of the oldest Benedictine foundations in the Carolingian heartland — an institution that had maintained imperial immediacy, answering directly to the emperor, since the ninth century. The right to strike coin was among the abbey's jealously guarded privileges, and issues from this period reflect the abbey's insistence on that autonomy during a decade when religious authority across the Low Countries was fracturing under the pressure of Calvinist revolt and Spanish military consolidation.

The two-year span of this issue likely reflects a specific authorization or a short minting contract rather than continuous production.