Douzain - Henry IV

Henry IV was still a Protestant king in 1593, fighting to secure a throne half the country refused to accept. He abjured Calvinism in July of that year — allegedly remarking that "Paris is worth a mass" — and the mints loyal to him had been operating in contested territory throughout the Wars of Religion. Billon coinage of this precise moment exists in a numismatic grey zone: struck by a king mid-conversion, circulating among a population that had spent decades melting, hoarding, or simply distrusting royal small change.

The Dy royales 1248 / Gad R554 reference confirms this as a League-period type, and mint attribution on surviving examples is complicated by the proliferation of active mints Henry used to supply cash to his armies.