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AR Pfennig (1542, Annaberg mint)
O/ Two coats of arms of the Electorate (left) and Saxony (right); date above; rosette below.
R/ Flat reverse.
14mm, 0.32g
John Frederick I the Magnanimous (1532-1547):
John Frederick inherited the Electorate of Saxony at the death of his father John the Steadfast in 1532. He already had a strong governmental experience by playing a key part in the Protestant policy of his father and uncle. He had indeed befriended Luther and been very active in the making of the Augsburg Confession in 1530.
He gradually opposed the Emperor Charles V and finally went in war alongside other Protestant princes against him (during the Schmalkaldic War) in 1546. His cousin Maurice, of the cadet branch of the house of Wettin, also co-Duke of Saxony since 1541, nonetheless betrayed him and rejoined the Emperor, who had promised him the Electoral seat in return (Maurice was only Duke, the Electorate was held by the elder line of the family). In 1547, the Schmalkaldic League was defeated, John Frederick captured, and his lands given to Maurice.
However Maurice rapidly betrayed the Emperor and set John Frederick free in 1552, but he did not regain the electorate that by now belonged to the younger Albertine branch of the house of Wettin.
The coats of arms on the coins are that of the Arch-Marshall of the Empire --the title of the Duke of Saxony in the Electoral College -- with the crossed-swords, and that of the house of Ascania, which was adopted by the house of Wettin. They were often combined as shown below.
Collection : Holy Roman Empire