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1/4 Thaler - Albert of Hohenzollern
| Issuer | Teutonic Order |
|---|---|
| Year | 1520-1521 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Central field depicts the Madonna and Child surrounded by rays of glory, with four small heraldic shields in the inner margin representing the arms of Brandenburg, Nürnberg, Hohenzollern, and Pomerania. The circular outer legend carries the titles of Albrecht von Hohenzollern, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, in Latin. The composition is arranged with characteristic late-Gothic decorative sensibility, typical of early sixteenth-century German hammered coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Albert of Hohenzollern was Grand Master of the Teutonic Order when he authorized this issue, but the political ground was already shifting beneath him. Facing war with Poland and unable to pay his mercenaries, Albert was simultaneously in secret negotiations that would end with him converting to Lutheranism and secularizing the Order's Prussian territories as a hereditary duchy in 1525. This coin was struck in the final years of the Order's temporal rule over Prussia.
The copper composition reflects the financial desperation of the moment. The Order's treasury was effectively broken by the ongoing conflict with the Polish Crown.