4 Daler - Karl 'Lord Protector'

Karl, Duke of Södermanland, had not yet formally taken the Swedish throne when this piece was struck — he ruled as regent following the deposition of his nephew Sigismund III, who refused to abandon Catholicism. The "Lord Protector" title on this issue reflects that legally ambiguous interregnum; Karl would not be crowned Karl IX until 1604. Large silver multiples of this type were as much political instruments as currency, circulating among the nobility and foreign courts where the legitimacy question was very much unresolved.