Anna II von Limburg served as abbess of Herford from 1520 until her death in 1565, presiding over one of the oldest and most politically autonomous imperial abbeys in Westphalia — a house directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor, not to any intervening bishop. The right to strike thalers was an extraordinary privilege for an ecclesiastical foundation, and Herford exercised it sparingly. Davenport records only a handful of distinct thaler issues from the abbey across the entire sixteenth century.
The 1552 date places this coin squarely within the turbulence following the Schmalkaldic War and the 1548 Augsburg Interim.
Anna II von Limburg served as abbess of Herford from 1520 until her death in 1565, presiding over one of the oldest and most politically autonomous imperial abbeys in Westphalia — a house directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor, not to any intervening bishop. The right to strike thalers was an extraordinary privilege for an ecclesiastical foundation, and Herford exercised it sparingly. Davenport records only a handful of distinct thaler issues from the abbey across the entire sixteenth century.
The 1552 date places this coin squarely within the turbulence following the Schmalkaldic War and the 1548 Augsburg Interim.