Gold Écu - Philip the Bold

Philip the Bold acquired Flanders through his marriage to Margaret III in 1369, but only began issuing coins in his own name as Count following her death in 1384 — which is precisely why this écu's date range opens there. The design closely followed French royal monetary conventions, a deliberate political signal that Burgundian Flanders was aligning its monetary identity with the French crown rather than its mercantile Flemish neighbors.

The Flemish cloth trade kept enormous quantities of gold in circulation throughout this period, and Burgundian mints competed aggressively with English nobles and Florentine florins for dominance in commercial exchange.