1/2 Stiver 'half vuurijzer'- Philip the Handsome, Regency Ghent Revolt

Ghent's mints struck this piece under duress. The city had been in open revolt against Maximilian of Habsburg since early 1488, capturing and imprisoning him for months before his eventual release. This coin belongs to the uneasy interregnum that followed — Ghent nominally acknowledging Philip the Handsome as titular count while effectively running its own affairs, a political fiction the city maintained through 1490 before Maximilian's forces reimposed control.

The 'vuurijzer' series is closely tied to this episode of defiance, issued under the authority of the rebel regency rather than the Habsburg administration proper.