1 Mariengroschen

Brunswick's civic coinage of the early sixteenth century emerged from the city's long struggle to assert financial independence from the surrounding ducal territories. The Mariengroschen denomination — named for the Virgin Mary — was a regional accounting unit that had circulated across Lower Saxony since the mid-fifteenth century, and Brunswick's municipal mint struck its own issues partly to reduce dependence on Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel ducal coin. The four-year span of this type likely reflects a single authorization period under the city council rather than continuous minting throughout.