Catalog
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| Issuer | Bishopric of Lausanne |
|---|---|
| Year | 1440-1461 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Livre (1420-1536) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Facing bust of Bishop Georges de Saluces rendered in a crude, stylized medieval manner, depicted wearing a mitre and episcopal vestments. The bishop's face is shown frontally, with rudimentary facial features typical of 15th-century hammered billon coinage. Decorative pellets and stylized foliate or beaded ornamental elements frame the bust in the field. The surrounding legend in uncial Latin reads: + G * D * SALVCIIS. The overall design reflects the provincial artisanal style characteristic of the Bishopric of Lausanne in the mid-15th century. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central device depicting a heraldic eagle or similar episcopal charge, rendered in a rough, schematic style consistent with hammered billon production of the period. The design is set within a plain field on an irregularly shaped flan. A partial floral or cross-like ornament may be present beneath or flanking the central device. The surrounding legend in uncial Latin reads: + EPS LAVNES, an abbreviation for Episcopus Lausannensis (Bishop of Lausanne). The die work is characteristic of mid-15th-century provincial ecclesiastical coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Georges de Saluces held the see of Lausanne from 1440 until his death in 1461, though his tenure was marked less by ecclesiastical administration than by chronic conflict with the Duke of Savoy over jurisdictional control of the city. The Bishopric's right to strike coinage was itself a bone of contention — temporal minting privileges exercised by a bishop sitting uncomfortably between Savoyard ambitions and the older Burgundian sphere.
Billon issues of this type circulated alongside heavier Savoyard silver in a region where monetary boundaries were as contested as political ones.