Maille Lille

Struck under Philip I of Alsace, Count of Flanders, at a moment when Lille functioned as one of his preferred administrative centers. Philip was among the most powerful territorial princes in northern Europe during this period, and his mints at Lille, Arras, and Douai produced a proliferation of small silver fractions feeding the dense commercial activity of the Flemish cloth towns. The maille — half a denier — existed specifically because market transactions at this scale demanded it.