Ecu - Louis of Berlaymont

Louis of Berlaymont was appointed Bishop of Cambrai in 1570 by Philip II, a deliberate political placement — Berlaymont's family was among the most loyalist noble houses in the Spanish Netherlands at a moment when the region was fracturing under the pressure of Calvinist revolt and Alba's Council of Blood. The bishopric's right to strike coinage was an imperial privilege, and issues of this period carry the weight of that contested sovereignty between ecclesiastical, Hapsburg, and insurgent authority.

The production window of three years closed when Berlaymont died in 1573, making this a short-series type with limited die production.