Florin

Metz occupied a peculiar constitutional position during these years — nominally under French protection since Henry II's seizure of the Three Bishoprics in 1552, yet still formally part of the Holy Roman Empire until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The city's right to strike gold coinage was itself a point of contention, exercised under imperial privilege while French political dominance tightened around it. These florins were struck during the Thirty Years' War, when Metz served as a critical French military staging point and its mint was operating under conditions of considerable political ambiguity.