Margaretha van Brederode governed the Abbey of Thorn as abbess from 1557 until her death in 1577, during which the abbey exercised its longstanding imperial immediacy — answerable to the Emperor alone, not to any intervening secular lord. That status gave Thorn the right to strike its own coinage, a privilege the abbey had held since the medieval period and guarded fiercely against encroachment from the surrounding Bishopric of Liège.
Copper issues of this type circulated locally in the Maas valley and are frequently found with heavy wear, suggesting genuine day-to-day use rather than hoarding.
Margaretha van Brederode governed the Abbey of Thorn as abbess from 1557 until her death in 1577, during which the abbey exercised its longstanding imperial immediacy — answerable to the Emperor alone, not to any intervening secular lord. That status gave Thorn the right to strike its own coinage, a privilege the abbey had held since the medieval period and guarded fiercely against encroachment from the surrounding Bishopric of Liège.
Copper issues of this type circulated locally in the Maas valley and are frequently found with heavy wear, suggesting genuine day-to-day use rather than hoarding.