Charles II ruled Lorraine from 1390 until his death in 1431, navigating the duchy through the turbulent crossfire of the Hundred Years' War and the persistent pressure of competing French and Imperial spheres of influence. His coinage reflects a period when Lorraine's dukes were carefully asserting dynastic identity through heraldry rather than military muscle. The alerions — the eaglets that define the ducal arms — derive from a legendary origin attributed to Godfrey of Bouillon, a piece of dynastic mythology the Lorrainer court actively cultivated.
Flon's corpus remains the definitive reference for this series, and the numbered varieties within type 17 distinguish meaningful die-link groupings across the four-decade striking window.
Charles II ruled Lorraine from 1390 until his death in 1431, navigating the duchy through the turbulent crossfire of the Hundred Years' War and the persistent pressure of competing French and Imperial spheres of influence. His coinage reflects a period when Lorraine's dukes were carefully asserting dynastic identity through heraldry rather than military muscle. The alerions — the eaglets that define the ducal arms — derive from a legendary origin attributed to Godfrey of Bouillon, a piece of dynastic mythology the Lorrainer court actively cultivated.
Flon's corpus remains the definitive reference for this series, and the numbered varieties within type 17 distinguish meaningful die-link groupings across the four-decade striking window.