Ducaton - Maximilian Henry of Bavaria

Maximilian Henry of Bavaria held Liège as Prince-Bishop from 1650 until his death in 1688, but his tenure was defined less by pastoral governance than by the competing pressures of Louis XIV and the Habsburg emperor — both of whom regarded the Meuse corridor as strategically essential. He navigated that tension by staying formally neutral while French influence quietly dominated his court.

The ducaton denomination itself was a Spanish invention adopted across the Spanish Netherlands and neighboring ecclesiastical territories as large-module silver became the preferred vehicle for bulk commercial settlement. Liège's high fineness standard — well above most contemporary German circle coinage — reflects the city's role as a major iron and arms trading center with exacting merchant expectations.