Gold Ecu with sun - Henry I of Albret

Henry I of Albret, lord of Béarn and king of Navarre in title if not in effective territory — the bulk of his ancestral kingdom having been seized by Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1512 — continued to strike independent coinage throughout his reign as a pointed assertion of sovereign authority over what remained. Béarn's monetary independence from the French crown was a long-standing privilege, jealously maintained. The sun privy mark situates this issue within a specific phase of the Pau mint's activity, though the broad 1517–1555 window has made precise attribution within the reign difficult for researchers.