Groschen - John Zápolya

John Zápolya struck this groschen in the opening year of one of the most chaotic dual-kingship disputes in Hungarian history. Following the catastrophic Ottoman defeat of Louis II at Mohács in 1526, the Hungarian nobility split: Zápolya was elected king by one faction in November 1526, Ferdinand of Habsburg by another weeks later. Both struck coinage asserting legitimate rule. Zápolya's issues of 1527 were produced while Ferdinand's forces were actively driving him from Buda, which he lost that same year, retreating eastward under Ottoman protection.