Rider 'Franc à Cheval' - William V of Bavaria

The franc à cheval was a French royal type, introduced by Jean II in 1360 to fund his ransom after capture at Poitiers. Its rapid adoption by neighboring lordships was less imitation than political signaling — striking in the French royal idiom advertised alignment with Valois interests at a moment when the Low Countries were navigating competing pressures from France and the Empire. William V of Bavaria, who held Holland from 1354, issued this type as one of several gestures toward the French sphere during his troubled rule, which ended when he was declared mentally incapacitated and confined by his brother Albert in 1358 — yet administratively lingered in title well past that date, explaining the broad attribution window.