1/3 Groat - Louis I of Nevers

Louis I of Nevers spent much of his reign caught between the competing demands of France, to whom he owed feudal loyalty, and England, whose wool trade sustained the Flemish textile economy. The crisis broke openly in 1337 when Edward III embargoed wool exports to Flanders, paralyzing the weaving cities. Ghent's merchant guilds, led by Jacob van Artevelde, effectively seized control of Flemish policy and forced Louis to accept an alliance with England in 1340 — the precise political moment this fractional issue enters the record.

Louis fled to France in 1342 and never returned, dying at Crécy in 1346 fighting for the French crown that had always held his real allegiance.