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Carolus 6th type with decorated shield
| Issuer | Besançon, Free imperial city of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1622-1664 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Central field displays a large heraldic shield bearing the imperial double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, surmounted by an ornate crown and flanked by decorative foliate or scrollwork embellishments, all enclosed within a beaded inner circle. The shield design represents the arms of Charles V as claimed by the city of Besançon on its civic coinage. The surrounding legend reads + MONE : CIVI : BISVNTINÆ, identifying the coin as the official currency of the city of Besançon, with the inscription separated from the inner field by a rope-style border. |
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| Additional information |
Besançon occupied a peculiar constitutional position throughout this period — a free imperial city within the Franche-Comté, surrounded by Burgundian territory under Spanish Habsburg control yet technically subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor. The city jealously guarded its minting rights as one of the few concrete expressions of that autonomy, continuing to strike in the name of Charles V (Carolus) long after his death in 1558, a legal fiction maintained for well over a century because invoking a later ruler would have forced an uncomfortable acknowledgment of which sovereign actually held authority.
The forty-two year span of this type reflects institutional stubbornness as much as administrative continuity.