Heller Bracteate - Louis IV

Louis IV ruled Hessen-Marburg only because the Landgraviate itself was an artificial construct — created in 1567 when Philip the Magnanimous divided Hessen among his four sons against the explicit advice of his Protestant allies, fracturing one of the most militarily significant territories in the Holy Roman Empire into four weakened halves. Louis received Marburg, the smallest and least viable portion, and the line died with him in 1604, at which point the territory reverted to Hessen-Kassel and Hessen-Darmstadt after bitter dispute.

The bracteate heller sat at the absolute floor of the denomination hierarchy — thin-flan, single-die struck, and produced in quantity precisely because it was worth almost nothing.