2 Thalers - John Frederick II

John Frederick II's reign as Duke of Saxony was effectively a slow-motion political catastrophe. His father, John Frederick the Magnanimous, had lost the electoral title to the Albertine branch of the Wettins at the Battle of Mühlberg in 1547, and the Ernestine line never recovered that status. The younger John Frederick compounded the dynasty's difficulties by supporting Wilhelm von Grumbach's feuding campaign against the Bishop of Würzburg — a reckless entanglement that ultimately ended with John Frederick imprisoned by Emperor Maximilian II in 1567, where he would remain until his death in 1595.

The long date span of this issue reflects a reign that was politically constrained from the outset, struck by a line producing double thalers partly to assert a grandeur the Ernestines could no longer back with electoral authority.