John Philip of Greiffenklau zu Vollraths held the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg for barely four years, from 1699 until his death in 1719 — though his episcopate was shaped almost immediately by the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701. Franconian ecclesiastical territories faced acute financial pressure as Imperial military levies drained treasury reserves, and large-denomination gold multiples of this kind were struck less for circulation than for diplomatic gifts and payments to creditors.
Five-ducat pieces from Würzburg in this period are seldom encountered. The high fineness of .986 gold was characteristic of ducat coinage by longstanding Imperial convention dating to the 1559 Reichsmünzordnung.
John Philip of Greiffenklau zu Vollraths held the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg for barely four years, from 1699 until his death in 1719 — though his episcopate was shaped almost immediately by the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701. Franconian ecclesiastical territories faced acute financial pressure as Imperial military levies drained treasury reserves, and large-denomination gold multiples of this kind were struck less for circulation than for diplomatic gifts and payments to creditors.
Five-ducat pieces from Würzburg in this period are seldom encountered. The high fineness of .986 gold was characteristic of ducat coinage by longstanding Imperial convention dating to the 1559 Reichsmünzordnung.