2 Pfennig - Francis I of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Francis I of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was appointed Bishop of Minden in 1508, part of the broader Welf dynastic strategy of placing family members in ecclesiastical offices across northern Germany. The Bishopric of Minden held the right to strike small silver coinage, and this 2 Pfennig belongs to a series of minor issues produced as Lutheran reform sentiment was already eroding the temporal authority of such sees — Minden's chapter would formally embrace Protestantism within decades of this coin's minting.