Gold Écu 'with Lion' - Louis II de Male

Louis II de Male struck this type during a period of acute political stress in the Low Countries, as his county became an increasingly contested buffer between French dynastic ambition and the commercial interests of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres. The great urban revolt that had simmered throughout his reign — culminating in the Battle of Beverhoutsveld in 1382, where the Ghent militia routed his forces — created chronic pressure on Flemish minting policy and coin output.

De Male died in 1384 without a male heir, passing Flanders to his son-in-law Philip the Bold of Burgundy. That transfer ended Flemish numismatic independence for generations.