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Quadruple Gold Ecu - Clement VIII Octave of Acquaviva Legate

Issuer Comtat Venaissin
Year 1596
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Currency Livre Tournois
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Obverse script Latin
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Reverse lettering OCT CARD AQVAVIVA LEG AVEN 1596
(Translation: Octave of Acquaviva, cardinal legate of Avignon.)
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Additional information

Comtat Venaissin was a papal enclave in southern France — entirely surrounded by French territory yet governed from Rome — and its coinage reflected that awkward duality. This piece was struck under Cardinal Ottavio Acquaviva d'Aragona during his legation, a posting that carried full temporal authority over the Comtat on behalf of Clement VIII. Acquaviva's tenure coincided with the final, tense years of the French Wars of Religion and Henry IV's controversial conversion in 1593, events that made the enclave's loyalty to Rome both politically conspicuous and administratively important.

The quadruple denomination at this weight places it among the heaviest gold issues from any French feudal jurisdiction of the period.

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