3 Patards - Érard de la Marck

Érard de la Marck ruled Liège from 1505 until his death in 1538, making him one of the longest-serving prince-bishops in the see's history. A close ally of the Habsburgs and a cardinal from 1521, his coinage reflects the political weight his office carried — Liège remained a nominally independent ecclesiastical principality wedged between the expanding Habsburg Netherlands and the French sphere. This 3 patard piece was struck the year after his elevation to the cardinalate.

The patard denomination itself had roots in Burgundian monetary practice, and its continued use in Liège coinage through the early sixteenth century reflects the region's deep commercial entanglement with the Low Countries.