Catalog
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| Issuer | Transylvania, Principality of |
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| Year | 1605 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Armored bust of István (Stephen) Bocskai facing right, wearing a fur-trimmed cap and articulated plate armor with riveted gorget, rendered in high relief in a bold, late Renaissance style. The effigy occupies the majority of the field, with the legend surrounding it within a beaded inner border and an outer wreath border. The circumferential Latin legend reads STE BOCHKAY D G HVNGA TRAN Q PRIN ET SICV COMES, identifying Bocskai as Prince of Hungary and Transylvania and Count of the Székelys by the grace of God. |
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| Obverse lettering | STE BOCHKAY D G HVNGA TRAN Q PRIN ET SICV COMES (Translation: Stephanus Bochkay Dei gratiae Hungariae Transilvaniae qui princeps et Siculorum comes) |
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| Additional information |
Bocskai's 1605 campaign against Habsburg rule was financed in part through emergency coinage struck at Kassa (Košice), freshly captured from imperial forces earlier that year. This piece belongs to that wartime output — heavy gold multiples intended less for ordinary commerce than for paying mercenaries and rewarding noble allies who had backed his rebellion.
The Ottoman sultan Ahmed I formally recognized Bocskai as Prince of Transylvania in September 1605, the same year this coin was struck. He was also offered the Hungarian crown by the Ottomans, which he declined.