Martin of Gerstmann was elected Bishop of Breslau in 1574 after a prolonged dispute between the cathedral chapter and Emperor Maximilian II over the appointment — Gerstmann was ultimately a compromise candidate acceptable to both sides. He ruled the bishopric during the difficult early decades of the Counter-Reformation, when Silesia remained overwhelmingly Lutheran and the Catholic bishop's temporal authority was perpetually contested. Ducats of this type were struck in small quantities, and surviving examples are genuinely scarce.
Gerstmann died in 1585, making his eleven-year episcopate the source of a tight, well-defined coinage series.
Martin of Gerstmann was elected Bishop of Breslau in 1574 after a prolonged dispute between the cathedral chapter and Emperor Maximilian II over the appointment — Gerstmann was ultimately a compromise candidate acceptable to both sides. He ruled the bishopric during the difficult early decades of the Counter-Reformation, when Silesia remained overwhelmingly Lutheran and the Catholic bishop's temporal authority was perpetually contested. Ducats of this type were struck in small quantities, and surviving examples are genuinely scarce.
Gerstmann died in 1585, making his eleven-year episcopate the source of a tight, well-defined coinage series.