Eberhard V — later Eberhard im Bart, "Eberhard the Bearded" — issued this schilling in the same year he achieved something no other German territorial ruler had managed: the conversion of Württemberg from a county into a duchy, ratified at the Diet of Worms in July 1495. The timing puts this coin at the precise hinge point of that political transformation. Whether it was struck before or after the elevation is a question the dating leaves frustratingly open.
The "Palmbaumschilling" designation derives from the palm tree device adopted by Eberhard following his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1468, which he used as a personal emblem for the rest of his reign.
Eberhard V — later Eberhard im Bart, "Eberhard the Bearded" — issued this schilling in the same year he achieved something no other German territorial ruler had managed: the conversion of Württemberg from a county into a duchy, ratified at the Diet of Worms in July 1495. The timing puts this coin at the precise hinge point of that political transformation. Whether it was struck before or after the elevation is a question the dating leaves frustratingly open.
The "Palmbaumschilling" designation derives from the palm tree device adopted by Eberhard following his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1468, which he used as a personal emblem for the rest of his reign.