Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki was elected king in 1669 largely as a compromise candidate — a magnate of modest political standing whom the nobility calculated would be controllable. He proved nearly ungovernable in a different sense: his reign was consumed by the catastrophic Treaty of Buchach in 1672, which ceded Podolia and parts of Ukraine to the Ottoman Empire, triggering immediate domestic revolt and his formal dethronement by the Prońska confederation. He died in November 1673 before the political crisis fully resolved itself.
Gdańsk's mint continued striking ducats in his name through this turbulence, the city's commercial interests demanding hard gold coinage regardless of dynastic chaos on the throne. The three Kopicki references reflect documented die variants across the two-year production window.
Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki was elected king in 1669 largely as a compromise candidate — a magnate of modest political standing whom the nobility calculated would be controllable. He proved nearly ungovernable in a different sense: his reign was consumed by the catastrophic Treaty of Buchach in 1672, which ceded Podolia and parts of Ukraine to the Ottoman Empire, triggering immediate domestic revolt and his formal dethronement by the Prońska confederation. He died in November 1673 before the political crisis fully resolved itself.
Gdańsk's mint continued striking ducats in his name through this turbulence, the city's commercial interests demanding hard gold coinage regardless of dynastic chaos on the throne. The three Kopicki references reflect documented die variants across the two-year production window.