2 Albus - John William II

John William II — later the Elector Palatine celebrated for his patronage of the arts — was governing Jülich-Berg under increasingly strained finances during this decade, caught between the costs of maintaining court at Düsseldorf and the broader economic disruptions following the Thirty Years' War. The albus, a small-denomination silver coin rooted in Rhenish monetary tradition, was the workhorse of everyday commerce in the Lower Rhine region. KM#71 spans nearly a decade of issue, suggesting consistent demand rather than a targeted political emission.