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Denier - Jean de Michaelis
| Issuer | Lausanne, Bishopric of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1466-1468 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.98 g |
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| Obverse description | Pointed shield bearing the arms of Bishop Jean de Michaelis, surmounted by a mitre, all enclosed within a beaded inner circle. The heraldic device is rendered in the bold, somewhat crude style characteristic of mid-fifteenth-century episcopal billon coinage. A partial abbreviated Latin legend surrounds the inner circle within the outer beaded border. The overall striking is irregular, consistent with hand-hammered production. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin (uncial) |
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| Additional information |
Jean de Michaelis held the see of Lausanne for barely two years before his death in 1468, making his coinage among the shortest-lived episcopal issues of the Swiss plateau. The Lausanne bishopric had long exercised the right to strike billon deniers under the Holy Roman Empire, but by the mid-fifteenth century that monetary authority was increasingly contested by Bern and Savoy, both pressing their influence into Vaudois territory. Surviving pieces are rarely encountered, a direct consequence of the reign's brevity and the low intrinsic value that kept these coins circulating hard until worn to illegibility.