The Siege of Jülich

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1250. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $6000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GERMANY, Jülich-Berg. AR Zwanzig Stüber Klippe (7.49 g). Siege issue. Dated 1621. (five pellets) 16 Z1(four pellets)/• IN GVL:/BE LE/G across field, Large FP monogram; all within shield; five shield stamps around, each consisting of large FP monogram, flanked by 16 Z1 above and 4 S below / Blank. Cf. Brause-Mansfeld, pl. XIII, 2; Noss 526; Mailliet 16. VF, areas of toning. Overstruck on uncertain undertype, possibly a sixteenth-century Dicke of Strassburg. Very rare.

Ex J.D. Lasser Collection; Münz Zentrum 62 (4 November 1987), lot 3999; Georg Baum Collection (Künker 116, 27 September 2006), lot 4549.

When the last duke of Jülich-Kleves-Berg died in 1609, a controversy over his territory broke out. The Elector of Brandenburg and the Count of Neuburg entered an agreement in which they would split the territory between themselves. Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II was not happy with these terms. He sent Archduke Leopold V, his cousin, to serve as the administrator of the disputed duchy. Leopold set up his headquarters in the fortress at Jülich, which was handed over to him by Baron Johann von Reuschenberg. The fortress, now under the control of the Holy Roman Empire, was besieged in 1610 by a large force composed of nations hostile to the Habsburgs. This siege prompted Leopold and Johann von Reuschenberg to abandon Jülich. After the siege, the Count of Neuburg and Elector of Brandenburg put into effect their original plan to split the territory of Jülich-Kleves-Berg. They put the Dutchman Frederik Pithan in control of the fortress at Jülich. This, in effect, meant that the United Provinces controlled the fortress. In 1621, when the Dutch ceasefire with Spain expired, Spain invaded the United Provinces and besieged the Jülich fortress. After a costly siege, Spain took the fortress.