Anthony Ulrich ruled Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel for nearly half a century and spent much of it at war with Louis XIV, a campaign that drained ducal finances and made fractional silver coinage — including the Mariengroschen series — a practical necessity for paying troops and suppliers. He converted to Catholicism in 1710, a move that shocked Protestant northern Germany and was widely read as political maneuvering to position his dynasty favorably with the Habsburg emperor.
The 24 Mariengroschen denomination equaled two-thirds of a Reichsthaler, a valuation fixed by the Leipzig Monetary Convention of 1690.
Anthony Ulrich ruled Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel for nearly half a century and spent much of it at war with Louis XIV, a campaign that drained ducal finances and made fractional silver coinage — including the Mariengroschen series — a practical necessity for paying troops and suppliers. He converted to Catholicism in 1710, a move that shocked Protestant northern Germany and was widely read as political maneuvering to position his dynasty favorably with the Habsburg emperor.
The 24 Mariengroschen denomination equaled two-thirds of a Reichsthaler, a valuation fixed by the Leipzig Monetary Convention of 1690.