Frederick of Wirsberg served as Prince-Bishop of Würzburg from 1558 until his death in 1573, governing during a period of acute confessional tension as the Counter-Reformation began reshaping the ecclesiastical territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Würzburg remained a Catholic stronghold, but Protestant influence had penetrated deep into Franconia, and the Prince-Bishops wielded their coinage rights as much to assert jurisdictional authority as for any monetary purpose.
Thalers from this episcopate are struck on broad, heavy flans that frequently show edge weakness — a known characteristic of Würzburg production in this decade, not a strike deficiency specific to any one die.
Frederick of Wirsberg served as Prince-Bishop of Würzburg from 1558 until his death in 1573, governing during a period of acute confessional tension as the Counter-Reformation began reshaping the ecclesiastical territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Würzburg remained a Catholic stronghold, but Protestant influence had penetrated deep into Franconia, and the Prince-Bishops wielded their coinage rights as much to assert jurisdictional authority as for any monetary purpose.
Thalers from this episcopate are struck on broad, heavy flans that frequently show edge weakness — a known characteristic of Würzburg production in this decade, not a strike deficiency specific to any one die.