1 Pfennig - Charles II Francis of Austria

Charles II ruled Inner Austria — Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola — as a separate Habsburg appanage following the division of Ferdinand I's territories among his sons in 1564. A devout Catholic, Charles spent much of his reign battling Protestant reformers within his own nobility, ultimately issuing the harsh Pacification of Bruck in 1578, which expelled Protestant clergy while temporarily tolerating Lutheran nobles. These tiny billon pfennigs were the lowest denominational unit circulating through that fractious period, struck in large numbers precisely because small-change demand was constant and unaffected by confessional politics.