John George II Fuchs von Dornheim was the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg from 1623 to 1633 and is historically inseparable from one of the most lethal witch-hunting episodes in European history. During his tenure, an estimated 300 people were executed for witchcraft in Bamberg alone — including his own chancellor, several burgomasters, and ultimately the suffragen bishop himself. The ducats struck under his authority circulated during precisely those years of judicial terror, with the mint operating while the Bamberg witch trials consumed the city's civic leadership.
He fled Bamberg in 1631 when Swedish forces under Gustavus Adolphus swept through Franconia, dying in exile two years later. This 1628 issue falls midpoint in that reign — after the trials began, before the collapse.
John George II Fuchs von Dornheim was the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg from 1623 to 1633 and is historically inseparable from one of the most lethal witch-hunting episodes in European history. During his tenure, an estimated 300 people were executed for witchcraft in Bamberg alone — including his own chancellor, several burgomasters, and ultimately the suffragen bishop himself. The ducats struck under his authority circulated during precisely those years of judicial terror, with the mint operating while the Bamberg witch trials consumed the city's civic leadership.
He fled Bamberg in 1631 when Swedish forces under Gustavus Adolphus swept through Franconia, dying in exile two years later. This 1628 issue falls midpoint in that reign — after the trials began, before the collapse.