1 Daler - Karl as Duke of Södermanland Type I

Karl of Södermanland struck these dalers in his own name during a period of open constitutional crisis in Sweden. His brother Johan III had died in 1592, and the Catholic Sigismund III of Poland — Johan's son — was the rightful heir, but Karl, a committed Lutheran, moved aggressively to consolidate Protestant control before Sigismund could establish himself. Issuing coinage under a ducal title he was barely entitled to exercise was part of that strategy.

The Type I designation distinguishes these from later issues produced after Sigismund's formal deposition in 1599, when Karl's political position had fundamentally changed.