4 Kreuzers - John Philip of Greiffenclau of Vollraths

John Philip of Greiffenclau zu Vollraths held the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg from 1699 until his death in 1719, a tenure marked by ambitious Baroque building programs that strained diocesan finances considerably. Small silver fractional issues like this kreuzer denomination served the grinding day-to-day commerce of the Main valley, far removed from the prestige coinage his court preferred. The Franconian Circle mint infrastructure underpinning these strikes was already showing the institutional fatigue common to ecclesiastical mints competing against better-capitalized secular neighbors.