Batzen

Solothurn's position as a prominent Swiss Confederate state and favored residence of French ambassadors gave its mint unusual political leverage in the sixteenth century. The city maintained active minting rights through this period partly to service the constant flow of French pension money paid to Swiss mercenary suppliers — hard coin was contractual necessity, not civic vanity.

The Batzen denomination itself was a Confederation-wide workhorse, originally introduced in Bern around 1492 and rapidly adopted across the cantons to address chronic small-change shortages.