Obol - Ermesinde

Ermesinde of Luxembourg ruled the county in her own right following the death of her second husband, Waleran III of Limburg, in 1226 — a prolonged widowhood during which she exercised independent comital authority unusual for the period. This obol belongs to her final coinage phase, struck in the years when she was actively transferring governing responsibilities to her son Henri V. The billon content reflects the broader debasement pressures affecting Low Countries coinage through the mid-thirteenth century, a trend no issuer in the region entirely escaped.