4 Sterlings 'Silver Lion' - Louis II de Male

Louis II de Male struck this issue in 1366 during a period of acute monetary instability across the Low Countries, when competing debasements by neighboring princes forced Flemish mints to repeatedly adjust fineness to keep silver in circulation rather than melted or exported. The .640 standard here reflects one of those pragmatic compromises — fine enough to maintain credibility in trade, base enough to slow bullion flight.

Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres each jealously monitored comital monetary policy; mint agreements with the great cloth towns constrained what Louis could issue and when. The 1366 date places this coin just two years before the Treaty of Ath, when Louis briefly reconciled with Edward III of England after years of tension over the wool staple that underpinned Flemish weaving.