2 Groats 'Braspenning' - John the Fearless Uncrossed As

John the Fearless, Count of Flanders and Duke of Burgundy, issued this coin during a period of near-constant political violence — he had personally orchestrated the assassination of Louis d'Orléans in 1407, plunging France into civil war between Burgundians and Armagnacs. Flemish mint output during these years was shaped less by economic planning than by the urgent need to fund alliances and military positioning. The "uncrossed" variety distinction in this type reflects a deliberate die modification, catalogued separately by Martiny precisely because such variants were not accidental — small heraldic adjustments in Flemish billon coinage of this period carried administrative or mint-authorization significance.