2 Patards - Ernest of Bavaria Liege

Ernest of Bavaria held the see of Liège from 1581 until his death in 1612, one of several Wittelsbach ecclesiastical appointments that concentrated Church authority across the Holy Roman Empire's northwest. His tenure coincided with the Dutch Revolt on his doorstep, and Liège's careful neutrality — maintained through that entire conflict — kept its mints active when neighboring territories were economically devastated. Billon issues like this patard circulated into a region flooded with debased Spanish Netherlands coinage, making even modest ecclesiastical silver-copper pieces a relatively stable transactional currency.