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Helm - Louis II de Mâle
| Issuer | Flanders, County of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1368-1369 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 6.67 g |
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| Obverse description | Central field depicts a large crowned lion rampant of Flanders facing left, positioned before a crested great helm adorned with a second lion as crest, the ensemble flanked on each side by tall ornate sword-bearing standards or lances. The composition is set within a Gothic architectural framework. A horizontal bar at the base bears the legend FLANDRES in Gothic lettering, separating the central device from the outer marginal legend. The surrounding circular Latin legend, rendered in Gothic majuscules between two beaded borders, reads: DOVICVS DEI GRA COM Z DNS FLANDRIE, identifying Louis by the grace of God, Count and Lord of Flanders. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse presents an elaborate Gothic quadrilobe cross with a central quatrefoil boss, the arms of the cross terminating in trefoil finials and set within a twelve-pointed star or cusped frame. Each lobe and spandrel is populated with small heraldic lions of Flanders, rendered in high relief in the characteristic Gothic style. The entire design is enclosed within a beaded inner circle, beyond which the circular Latin legend in Gothic majuscules reads: BeyeDICTVS QVI veNIT IN NOmINe DOmINI, the Scriptural invocation 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord' (Matthew 21:9), a common reverse legend on Flemish gold coinage of this period. |
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| Additional information |
Louis II de Mâle struck this issue during a period of acute political pressure from both France and England, with Flanders caught commercially between the two powers. The county's wool trade with England made outright alignment with France untenable, and Louis spent much of his reign threading that needle — issuing high-quality gold coinage that projected fiscal confidence his political situation rarely warranted.
The helm type borrows its visual vocabulary from French royal issues while maintaining distinct Flemish monetary identity, a calculated gesture Louis used repeatedly in his coinage program. He died in 1384, leaving Flanders to pass by inheritance to Philip the Bold of Burgundy — ending the independent Flemish comital series entirely.