1 Goldgulden - Rupert of the Palatinate

Rupert of the Palatinate held the archbishopric of Cologne from 1463 until his forced removal in 1480 — a tenure defined less by ecclesiastical administration than by chronic conflict with the city of Cologne itself, which repeatedly refused to acknowledge his authority. This gulden was struck during the early years of that standoff, when Rupert was still attempting to consolidate control over one of the wealthiest and most politically complex sees in the Holy Roman Empire.

The Rhenish gulden standard governing this issue had been fixed by the electoral union of 1386, binding Cologne, Mainz, Trier, and the Palatinate to a common gold weight. Rupert, as both an elector of the Palatinate by birth and Archbishop of Cologne by appointment, occupied an unusual dual position within that monetary agreement.