1 Penning - Philip II Arms

Philip II inherited the seventeen provinces of the Low Countries from his father Charles V in 1555 but never set foot there after 1559, governing instead through a succession of regents while his fiscal demands and religious persecution drove the region toward open revolt. This penning circulated during precisely that pressure-cooker decade — after the arrival of the Duke of Alba in 1567 and his Council of Troubles began executing dissidents by the hundreds, coin production in Holland continued loyally in Philip's name even as the ground shifted beneath Spanish authority. The revolt that would eventually strip Philip of the northern provinces was already underway before this type ceased to be struck.