Francis of Hatzfeld ruled the Bishopric of Würzburg from 1631 to 1642, a tenure entirely consumed by the Thirty Years' War. Würzburg had been occupied by Swedish forces under Gustav Adolf in 1631 — the bishop himself fled — and these thalers were struck during the slow Catholic reconsolidation of Franconia after Swedish power collapsed following Lützen. Coin production resuming at all was itself a political statement about restored episcopal authority.
The Hatzfeld family produced two concurrent prince-bishops during this period: Francis at Würzburg and his brother Melchior at Bamberg, an unusual concentration of imperial church power within a single noble house at a moment of extreme regional instability.
Francis of Hatzfeld ruled the Bishopric of Würzburg from 1631 to 1642, a tenure entirely consumed by the Thirty Years' War. Würzburg had been occupied by Swedish forces under Gustav Adolf in 1631 — the bishop himself fled — and these thalers were struck during the slow Catholic reconsolidation of Franconia after Swedish power collapsed following Lützen. Coin production resuming at all was itself a political statement about restored episcopal authority.
The Hatzfeld family produced two concurrent prince-bishops during this period: Francis at Würzburg and his brother Melchior at Bamberg, an unusual concentration of imperial church power within a single noble house at a moment of extreme regional instability.