Vaquette - Francis Phoebus

Francis Phoebus inherited the viscountcy of Béarn at age nine in 1479, and this vaquette was struck during the brief window before his elevation to King of Navarre in 1483 — a reign cut short entirely when he died at fifteen, allegedly from a crossbow accident, though contemporaries suspected foul play. Béarn's billon coinage of this period reflects the lordship's stubborn monetary autonomy within the French sphere, a tradition the Foix-Albret dynasty maintained long after neighboring territories had consolidated under royal mints. The "var." designation in both Dy and Schlumberger signals die or fabric differences that remain imprecisely catalogued.