3 Pfennig - Christoph Bernhard of Galen

Christoph Bernhard von Galen — known to contemporaries and enemies alike as "Bombing Bernd" — was one of the most militarily aggressive prince-bishops of the seventeenth century. These small silver pieces were struck in the years immediately following the Peace of Westphalia, when Münster was reasserting its authority after decades of confessional conflict. Von Galen spent much of his reign rebuilding Münster's political autonomy and military capacity, eventually waging war against the Dutch Republic in the 1660s in alliance with England.