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AR Pfennig (1485-1500)
O/ Coat of arms; rosette above; ring on either side.
R/ Flat reverse.
15 mm; 0.27g
Albert the Bold, Duke of Saxony (1443-1464-1500):
Albert was the third son of Frederick the Gentle, Elector of Saxony (1428-1464), and Margaret, sister of the Emperor Frederick III (1452-1493). He had two elder brothers, Frederick, who died at 12 in 1451, and Ernest.
Ernest and Albert co-ruled the Duchy after the death of their father in 1464, but only Ernest was Elector. At the death of their uncle William III, the two brothers reunited all the Wettin possessions, which were however divided once again at the Treaty of Leipzig in 1485. Ernest kept the Electorate and received the core of Saxony around Wittenberg, plus southern Thuringia, whilst Albert picked the historic land of the house of Meissen and northern Thuringia. This partition led to the creation of the Ernestine and Albertine branches of the House of Wettin, which lasted until the abolition of monarchy in 1918.
It is also interesting to note that at the same time in the neighbouring Brandenburg, Albert Achilles forbade his heirs to divide their possessions, thus avoiding diluting their authority in multiple divisions as the Saxons did. This led to the rise of the Hohenzollerns in Brandenburg, then Prussia.
Albert the Bold owed his nickname to his frequent wars, against the Burgundian Duke Charles the Bold first, then Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and Dutch rebels at the end of his life. All of them were opponents to Frederick III, his uncle, to whom he remained a devoted vassal throughout his life.
His two sons George (1500-1539) and Henry V (1539-1541) succeeded him as Dukes of Saxony. His third son Frederick was also Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (1498-1510).
The coat of arms on this coin was that of the House of Meissen. Although Duke of Saxony, Albert apparently preferred to be Margrave of Meissen, the title of the family before they received the Electorate of Saxony in 1423.
Collection : Holy Roman Empire