2 Goldgulden - Julius Echter of Mespelbrunn

Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, Prince-Bishop of Würzburg from 1573 to 1617, was among the most aggressive architects of the Counter-Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire. His decades-long campaign forcibly re-catholicized tens of thousands of Protestants across Franconia — expelling those who refused conversion — while simultaneously founding the Julius-Maximilians-Universität in 1582 to train Catholic clergy. The double gulden issues of this period reflect the financial machinery behind that program: substantial gold denominations used for diplomatic payments and high-value transactions rather than daily commerce.

The 1581–1590 window brackets some of his most consequential political years, including intensifying conflict with the Protestant nobility of the region.