The Abbey of Thorn was one of the few religious institutions in the Low Countries that held the status of an imperial abbey — directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor rather than any secular territorial lord. This autonomy extended to coinage rights, and the abbesses exercised them with some regularity. Anne van de Marck's brief tenure produced this copper liard during a period when small-denomination coinage in the region was chronically short-supplied, often leaving local ecclesiastical mints to fill the gap abandoned by larger authorities.
The CNM reference 2.42.47 places this among a tightly catalogued series of Thorn abbey issues, where die-to-die variation is documented but survivorship is thin.
The Abbey of Thorn was one of the few religious institutions in the Low Countries that held the status of an imperial abbey — directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor rather than any secular territorial lord. This autonomy extended to coinage rights, and the abbesses exercised them with some regularity. Anne van de Marck's brief tenure produced this copper liard during a period when small-denomination coinage in the region was chronically short-supplied, often leaving local ecclesiastical mints to fill the gap abandoned by larger authorities.
The CNM reference 2.42.47 places this among a tightly catalogued series of Thorn abbey issues, where die-to-die variation is documented but survivorship is thin.