Vryman - Arnold of Hornes

Arnold of Hornes held the Prince-bishopric of Liège from 1378 until his death in 1389, a tenure defined largely by the chronic factional violence between the ruling patriciate and the craft guilds that periodically convulsed the city throughout the late fourteenth century. The Vryman — a local denomination whose name derives from the concept of the "free man" — was a product of episcopal monetary authority exercised amid that instability. Liège's minting activity during this period drew on silver supplies tied directly to the Meuse valley trade networks, already under pressure from broader disruptions to Flemish commerce.