5 Reales - Philips IV

Tàrrega struck this piece during the Corpus de Sang uprising — the 1640 revolt in which Catalonia broke from Castile and placed itself under French protection. Municipal coinage was an emergency measure; the disruption to normal Castilian supply lines left towns across the region without adequate circulating silver. Tàrrega was one of very few municipalities granted — or simply bold enough to exercise — the authority to strike at this level of fineness during the conflict.

The Catalan revolt lasted until 1659, when the Treaty of the Pyrenees returned the principality to Spain, but most municipal emergency issues ceased well before that date as French-backed supply stabilized.