Gustav II Adolf of Sweden occupied Würzburg in October 1631 following his decisive victory at Breitenfeld, expelling Prince-Bishop Franz von Hatzfeld and installing a Swedish administration. These kreuzers were struck under Swedish military occupation authority — not by the bishopric's own government — making them an anomaly in the Würzburg series: Catholic episcopal coinage infrastructure pressed into service by a Lutheran king prosecuting the Thirty Years' War. Franz von Hatzfeld did not recover his see until after Gustav's death at Lützen in November 1632, and Swedish control of the region persisted fitfully until 1634.
Gustav II Adolf of Sweden occupied Würzburg in October 1631 following his decisive victory at Breitenfeld, expelling Prince-Bishop Franz von Hatzfeld and installing a Swedish administration. These kreuzers were struck under Swedish military occupation authority — not by the bishopric's own government — making them an anomaly in the Würzburg series: Catholic episcopal coinage infrastructure pressed into service by a Lutheran king prosecuting the Thirty Years' War. Franz von Hatzfeld did not recover his see until after Gustav's death at Lützen in November 1632, and Swedish control of the region persisted fitfully until 1634.