Ecu - Charles I

Charleville was a planned Renaissance town founded by Charles de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers, who began construction in 1606 on land technically outside French royal jurisdiction — the Principality of Arches gave him the authority to strike his own coinage. This ecu was issued just as the town's central Place Ducale was being laid out, and the mint's output was always a political statement of dynastic independence pressed in silver rather than merely a commercial necessity.

Charles de Gonzague would later inherit the Duchy of Mantua in 1627, triggering the War of the Mantuan Succession. The Charleville mint's earlier years, including this 1613 issue, represent the period when his ambitions were still focused westward.