Francesco Maria I came to power in Urbino in 1508 under the patronage of his uncle Pope Julius II, who had him formally invested with the duchy. That relationship collapsed almost immediately after Julius died in 1513 — his successor Leo X moved to strip Francesco Maria of Urbino entirely, eventually succeeding in 1516 when Medici forces under Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici drove him into exile. The window for this coinage is therefore narrow by circumstance, not design: roughly three years of increasingly precarious rule.
Francesco Maria retook the duchy in 1521 after Leo X's death. The gold struck during the 1513–1516 period belongs entirely to his first, embattled reign.
Francesco Maria I came to power in Urbino in 1508 under the patronage of his uncle Pope Julius II, who had him formally invested with the duchy. That relationship collapsed almost immediately after Julius died in 1513 — his successor Leo X moved to strip Francesco Maria of Urbino entirely, eventually succeeding in 1516 when Medici forces under Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici drove him into exile. The window for this coinage is therefore narrow by circumstance, not design: roughly three years of increasingly precarious rule.
Francesco Maria retook the duchy in 1521 after Leo X's death. The gold struck during the 1513–1516 period belongs entirely to his first, embattled reign.