Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony was appointed Bishop of Freising in 1763 at age twenty-two — a nakedly political appointment engineered by his family's dynastic ambitions rather than any ecclesiastical distinction. He would later become Archbishop-Elector of Trier and serve as the last ecclesiastical elector of the Holy Roman Empire before secularization swept his holdings away in 1803. This ducat dates from his early tenure at Freising, when the see was still generating enough revenue to justify gold coinage.
Freising ducats of this reign are scarce in any grade. The bishopric's mint output was never large, and 1766 was not a high-production year.
Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony was appointed Bishop of Freising in 1763 at age twenty-two — a nakedly political appointment engineered by his family's dynastic ambitions rather than any ecclesiastical distinction. He would later become Archbishop-Elector of Trier and serve as the last ecclesiastical elector of the Holy Roman Empire before secularization swept his holdings away in 1803. This ducat dates from his early tenure at Freising, when the see was still generating enough revenue to justify gold coinage.
Freising ducats of this reign are scarce in any grade. The bishopric's mint output was never large, and 1766 was not a high-production year.