Ducat - William IV

The Lordship of Bergh sat in a precarious position in 1577 — nominally under Habsburg suzerainty but increasingly drawn into the revolt against Spanish authority that was fracturing the Low Countries. That year, William IV of Bergh formally joined the States-General's cause, signing the Union of Brussels, which adds a pointed political dimension to any gold issue bearing his name from this period. Whether this ducat circulated freely or functioned largely as a prestige or diplomatic instrument is an open question, but production from such small lordships was never high-volume.