1 Groat - Mary of Burgundy

Mary of Burgundy's coinage authority was anything but secure when these groats were struck. Following her father Charles the Bold's death at Nancy in January 1477, Mary faced an immediate crisis: the Flemish cities — Ghent foremost among them — extracted sweeping political concessions before they would recognize her rule or fund her defense against Louis XI's invasion. The resulting Great Privilege of February 1477 stripped the Burgundian court of powers accumulated over generations.

Her marriage to Maximilian of Habsburg later that year stabilized the political situation but complicated the monetary one, as competing mint authorities jockeyed for production rights across the Low Countries. Mary died in 1482 after a riding accident, cutting this issue short at five years.