Charles of Egmont spent much of his reign in open defiance of Habsburg authority, and his gold coinage was part of that posture. The Clemmergulden takes its name from Clemens, the Guelders mint master active during the early decades of this long production run, a relatively unusual instance of a coin type acquiring a popular name from an official rather than from its design or issuing lord.
Guelders was the last of the major Low Countries territories to resist absorption into the Burgundian-Habsburg bloc, holding out until Charles's death in 1538 without a legitimate heir, at which point the duchy passed by treaty to Charles V.
Charles of Egmont spent much of his reign in open defiance of Habsburg authority, and his gold coinage was part of that posture. The Clemmergulden takes its name from Clemens, the Guelders mint master active during the early decades of this long production run, a relatively unusual instance of a coin type acquiring a popular name from an official rather than from its design or issuing lord.
Guelders was the last of the major Low Countries territories to resist absorption into the Burgundian-Habsburg bloc, holding out until Charles's death in 1538 without a legitimate heir, at which point the duchy passed by treaty to Charles V.