John Frederick the Magnanimous, Elector of Saxony, was among the most committed early supporters of Luther's Reformation — a political stance that would eventually cost him his electorate entirely. These double thalers were struck in the silver-rich Erzgebirge mining districts at a moment when Ernestinian Saxony was at the height of its territorial influence, before the Schmalkaldic War reduced John Frederick to a captive of Charles V and stripped his line of the electoral dignity in 1547.
The Keilitz 243 attribution places this among the earliest double thaler issues from any German state.
John Frederick the Magnanimous, Elector of Saxony, was among the most committed early supporters of Luther's Reformation — a political stance that would eventually cost him his electorate entirely. These double thalers were struck in the silver-rich Erzgebirge mining districts at a moment when Ernestinian Saxony was at the height of its territorial influence, before the Schmalkaldic War reduced John Frederick to a captive of Charles V and stripped his line of the electoral dignity in 1547.
The Keilitz 243 attribution places this among the earliest double thaler issues from any German state.