Liard - Philip II

Philip II inherited the Burgundian territories from his father Charles V in 1555, but governing the Low Countries from Madrid created immediate friction with local estates over taxation and religious policy. The liard denominations struck in his name during 1561–62 fall squarely within the period of mounting tension that would ignite the Dutch Revolt just a few years later — the Duke of Alba and his Council of Blood still a half-decade away, but the fiscal pressures already visible in the debased billon fabric of petty coinage like this one.