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 appointment that reflected the Order's transformation from a crusading military brotherhood into a largely ceremonial Habsburg instrument. By 1615, the Order's territorial holdings in Prussia had been lost for nearly a century, ceded under the 1525 Hohenzollern secularization. Coinage issued from this period originates from the Order's remaining Mergentheim holdings in Franconia, the de facto administrative seat after the Prussian collapse.