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2 Ducats - Henry II and Margaret of Valois
| Issuer | Béarn, Lordship of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1577 |
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| Currency | Livre |
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| Obverse description | Facing busts of Henry II of Navarre and Margaret of Valois, shown in profile facing one another, with a royal crown positioned above between them and a small cow device below; Henry is depicted laureate with armor and ruffled collar to the left, Margaret with an elaborate ruffled collar to the right. The Latin legend runs within a beaded border encircling the central devices. The coin exhibits the robust, high-relief portraiture characteristic of late sixteenth-century French feudal hammered gold coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Béarn's monetary independence rested on a feudal autonomy that French kings repeatedly tried to curtail but never fully extinguished until Louis XIII forced the principality's formal annexation in 1620. This piece was struck under Henry of Navarre — the future Henry IV of France — and his mother Catherine of Bourbon's regency arrangements, during a period when the Béarnais court was navigating the violent sectarian pressures of the French Wars of Religion. Henry had converted to Protestantism in 1572, and his coinage from Béarn carries the political weight of a ruler openly defying Catholic royal orthodoxy.
The Pau mint struck these in small numbers. PA#3463 remains one of the scarcer féodales attributions for the reign.