Liard - Sede Vacante

Sede Vacante coinage was struck by cathedral chapters to assert their administrative authority during the gap between a bishop's death and the installation of his successor — a right jealously guarded and periodically contested by secular powers. At Liège, the Chapter of Saint-Lambert exercised this prerogative with particular consistency across multiple vacancies. The 1724 issue followed the death of Joseph-Clément of Bavaria, whose 34-year tenure had been politically turbulent, marked by the War of the Spanish Succession and a forced exile from his own see.

The chapter's right to coin during vacancies was not merely ceremonial — it generated real revenue at a moment when episcopal finances were in transition.