William X — correctly William (Guglielmo) Gonzaga, Marquis then Duke of Montferrat — ruled a territory perpetually squeezed between Savoy and Milan, and his gold coinage was as much a diplomatic instrument as a monetary one. The Gonzaga scudo issues of this period were struck to the same standard as the French écu au soleil, a deliberate alignment that kept Montferrat's currency accepted across transalpine trade routes at a moment when the duchy's political independence was increasingly precarious.
Montferrat passed definitively to Savoy in 1708. Issues from William's reign survive in small numbers, the duchy's mint output having never been large.
William X — correctly William (Guglielmo) Gonzaga, Marquis then Duke of Montferrat — ruled a territory perpetually squeezed between Savoy and Milan, and his gold coinage was as much a diplomatic instrument as a monetary one. The Gonzaga scudo issues of this period were struck to the same standard as the French écu au soleil, a deliberate alignment that kept Montferrat's currency accepted across transalpine trade routes at a moment when the duchy's political independence was increasingly precarious.
Montferrat passed definitively to Savoy in 1708. Issues from William's reign survive in small numbers, the duchy's mint output having never been large.