12 Mites - François d'Alençon, Ghent Revolt

François d'Alençon's tenure as sovereign lord of the Low Countries lasted barely two years before his disastrous "French Fury" of January 1583 — an attempt to seize Antwerp by force that turned his own troops against the population and permanently destroyed whatever trust the Flemish estates had extended him. This coin predates that collapse by months. Ghent had been in open revolt against Spanish authority since 1576, and the city's willingness to accept Alençon as overlord reflected desperation as much as politics.

Martiny G3#168-1 is among the more obscure references in Flemish copper, and documented specimens turn up infrequently outside Belgian institutional collections.