Wolfgang Wilhelm converted to Catholicism in 1613 — a calculated move to secure the Jülich-Cleves inheritance dispute in his favor, aligning himself with the Habsburgs and Spain against his own Protestant relatives. The conversion scandalized the Reformed territories and triggered a diplomatic crisis that would feed into the broader conflagration of the Thirty Years' War, already one year old when this thaler was struck.
Neuburg's mint output in the early 1620s benefited, perversely, from the monetary chaos of the Kipper- und Wipperzeit — the debasement crisis of 1619–1623 — as full-weight thalers became worth hoarding almost immediately upon issue.
Wolfgang Wilhelm converted to Catholicism in 1613 — a calculated move to secure the Jülich-Cleves inheritance dispute in his favor, aligning himself with the Habsburgs and Spain against his own Protestant relatives. The conversion scandalized the Reformed territories and triggered a diplomatic crisis that would feed into the broader conflagration of the Thirty Years' War, already one year old when this thaler was struck.
Neuburg's mint output in the early 1620s benefited, perversely, from the monetary chaos of the Kipper- und Wipperzeit — the debasement crisis of 1619–1623 — as full-weight thalers became worth hoarding almost immediately upon issue.