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.
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.