Bracteat

The Bishopric of Utrecht's copper bracteates of this period occupy an awkward position in monetary history — thin, fragile, and low-value, they were produced as petty coinage during the long episcopate of David of Burgundy, an illegitimate son of Philip the Good who ruled Utrecht from 1456 until his death in 1496. David's tenure was defined by persistent conflict with the city's secular factions and intermittent warfare, conditions that kept demand for small-denomination copper alive even as silver coinage grew scarce in the regional economy.