Schilling Siege coinage

Danzig struck this piece during the 1577 siege, when the city refused to recognize Stephen Báthory as King of Poland and held out under blockade rather than submit. The municipal authorities issued emergency coinage to keep commerce functioning inside the walls — a practical necessity when normal supply lines were severed and the city's loyalty to the Habsburgs over the Jagiellonian succession made outside resupply politically impossible.

Báthory's forces never broke the walls. Danzig ultimately negotiated terms rather than fell, which is why siege issues from this conflict survived in quantity sufficient to reach the market at all.