Groschen - Edward III

Edward III held Aquitaine as a vassal of the French crown — a legally awkward arrangement that contributed directly to the Hundred Years' War. These groschen-weight pieces were struck during a particularly unstable phase of that conflict, following the Black Death's devastation of Aquitaine's population in 1348–1349 and amid ongoing pressure on ducal finances. Edward's Aquitanian coinage borrowed heavily from continental groschen traditions precisely because the duchy's trading economy demanded coins its merchants already recognized.

The Elias 64a–e subvarieties reflect meaningful die differences rather than trivial collecting distinctions.