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1 Sovereign - Albert and Isabella
| Issuer | Brabant, Duchy of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1611-1617 |
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| Value | 1 Sovereign |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Full-length standing figures of Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella facing right in profile, positioned side by side. Albert is depicted in the foreground, clad in armor, holding an upright sword in his right hand, while Isabella stands behind him bearing a scepter. The figures are rendered in the formal, hieratic court style characteristic of the Southern Netherlandish hammered coinage of the early seventeenth century. The circumferential legend in Latin runs around the periphery of the field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The Archdukes Albert and Isabella ruled the Spanish Netherlands as nominal sovereigns, but their authority was carefully circumscribed — Philip III of Spain retained ultimate control over foreign policy and military affairs. This coin series was struck during the Twelve Years' Truce (1609–1621), the pause in the Eighty Years' War negotiated after the Dutch Republic had proven impossible to reconquer. The truce effectively forced Spain to acknowledge, at least temporarily, the de facto independence of the northern provinces.
The sovereign denomination itself traced back to the Burgundian monetary tradition, kept alive here as a deliberate assertion of dynastic continuity with the Habsburgs' Netherlandish inheritance.