1 Thaler - Christian William of Brandenburg

Christian William of Brandenburg was appointed Administrator of Magdeburg in 1598 — a Protestant holding a Catholic ecclesiastical office, which suited the political compromises of the time. By 1623 he was deeply entangled in the early chaos of the Thirty Years' War, having allied with Denmark and the Protestant Union against Imperial forces. His administration would effectively collapse within a few years; in 1628 he was deposed by Emperor Ferdinand II and replaced with a Catholic archbishop, a move that contributed directly to the tensions culminating in the catastrophic sack of Magdeburg in 1631.