1/4 Thaler - Maximilian III

Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria, served as Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1590 until his death in 1618 — an unusual appointment that concentrated Habsburg influence over the Order's remaining Prussian and Franconian territories at a moment when its military function had long since collapsed. By 1615 the Order existed primarily as a revenue-generating institution and a convenient sinecure for Habsburg family members, which explains the relatively ambitious coinage program under Maximilian: these fractions circulated in the Order's Mergentheim territories in Württemberg.