Ferdinand III had been Grand Duke of Tuscany until Napoleon's reorganization of Italy forced him out in 1801. He spent years in exile before receiving Salzburg as compensation under the terms of the 1803 Reichsdeputationshauptschluss — the sweeping imperial recess that secularized dozens of ecclesiastical territories across the Holy Roman Empire. Salzburg's ancient status as a prince-bishopric was effectively dissolved in the process, and Ferdinand ruled it as a lay electorate.
This 1806 thaler was struck just as the Confederation of the Rhine was forming and the Holy Roman Empire itself was collapsing. Ferdinand would lose Salzburg to Bavaria by year's end under the Peace of Pressburg.
Ferdinand III had been Grand Duke of Tuscany until Napoleon's reorganization of Italy forced him out in 1801. He spent years in exile before receiving Salzburg as compensation under the terms of the 1803 Reichsdeputationshauptschluss — the sweeping imperial recess that secularized dozens of ecclesiastical territories across the Holy Roman Empire. Salzburg's ancient status as a prince-bishopric was effectively dissolved in the process, and Ferdinand ruled it as a lay electorate.
This 1806 thaler was struck just as the Confederation of the Rhine was forming and the Holy Roman Empire itself was collapsing. Ferdinand would lose Salzburg to Bavaria by year's end under the Peace of Pressburg.