Ferdinand II issued this thaler from Breslau — the commercial heart of Habsburg Silesia — during the most destructive phase of the Thirty Years' War. By 1631, Swedish forces under Gustav Adolf had crossed into the Empire, and the sack of Magdeburg in May of that year sent shockwaves through every Protestant and Catholic principality alike. Silesia, nominally Catholic under Habsburg control but with deep Protestant sympathies among its nobility, was under intense political pressure. Coinage from Breslau in this period reflects Habsburg insistence on projecting imperial authority in a region that was anything but secure.
The Davenport reference EC II#3159 places this within a well-documented thaler sequence, though die variations within the 1631 Breslau issues are not uncommon.
Ferdinand II issued this thaler from Breslau — the commercial heart of Habsburg Silesia — during the most destructive phase of the Thirty Years' War. By 1631, Swedish forces under Gustav Adolf had crossed into the Empire, and the sack of Magdeburg in May of that year sent shockwaves through every Protestant and Catholic principality alike. Silesia, nominally Catholic under Habsburg control but with deep Protestant sympathies among its nobility, was under intense political pressure. Coinage from Breslau in this period reflects Habsburg insistence on projecting imperial authority in a region that was anything but secure.
The Davenport reference EC II#3159 places this within a well-documented thaler sequence, though die variations within the 1631 Breslau issues are not uncommon.