1 Mariengroschen - Francis Arnold of Metternich

Francis Arnold of Metternich-Winneburg held the Paderborn see from 1704 until his death in 1718, a tenure shaped almost entirely by the disruptions of the War of the Spanish Succession. The Westphalian bishoprics were repeatedly squeezed for military contributions during these years, and the debasement visible in this billon issue — barely a third silver — reflects exactly that fiscal pressure rather than any administrative negligence.

Mariengroschen coinage had circulated through the northwest German ecclesiastical territories for over two centuries by this point, the denomination deeply embedded in local trade. The tight four-year window of this type corresponds to a specific renegotiation of minting rights within the diocese.