(sold for $34.0)

1582, Royal France, Henry III. Silver 1/8 Ecu Coin. (Cleaned VF) Rennes mint!

Mint Place: Rennes (9) Denomination: 1/8 Ecu    References: Ciani 1440. Dupl. 1134.  Condition: Cleaned/polished VF with minor remaining deposits! Mint Year: 1582 (date barely recognizable as most of it is out of the planchet!) Diameter: 24mm Weight: 4.86gm Material: Silver

Obverse: Cross with terminated by lis symbols. Legend: + HENRICVS. III  . D. G. FRANC. ET. ... 158Z

Reverse: Crowned shield with arms of the Kingdoms of France and Navarre. Fractional value (V-III = 8) at sides. Legend: SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTVM . (privy mark) . (mint mark: 9) .

Henry III (19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589; born Alexandre Édouard de France, Polish: Henryk Walezy, Lithuanian: Henrikas Valua) was King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1575 and King of France from 1574 until his death. He was the last French monarch of the House of Valois.

As the fourth son of King Henry II of France, he was not expected to inherit the French throne and thus was a good candidate for the vacant throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he was elected King/Grand Duke in 1573. During his brief rule, he signed the Henrician Articles into law, recognizing the Polish nobility's right to freely elect their monarch. Aged 22, Henry abandoned Poland-Lithuania upon inheriting the French throne when his brother, Charles IX, died without issue.

France was at the time plagued by the Wars of Religion, and Henry's authority was undermined by violent political parties funded by foreign powers: the Catholic League (supported by Spain), the Protestant Huguenots(supported by England and the Dutch) and the Malcontents, led by Henry's own brother, the Duke of Alençon, which was a party of Catholic and Protestant aristocrats who jointly opposed the absolutist ambitions of the king. Henry III was himself a politique, arguing that a strong and religiously tolerant monarchy would save France from collapse.

After the death of Henry's younger brother Francis, Duke of Anjou, and when it became apparent that Henry would not produce an heir, the Wars of Religion developed into a succession crisis, the War of the Three Henrys. Henry III's legitimate heir was his distant cousin Henry, King of Navarre, a Protestant. The Catholic League, led by Henry I, Duke of Guise, sought to exclude Protestants from the succession and championed the Catholic Charles, Cardinal of Bourbon, as Henry III's heir.

In 1589, Jacques Clément, a Catholic fanatic, murdered Henry III. He was succeeded by the King of Navarre who, as Henry IV, assumed the throne of France after converting to Catholicism, as the first French king of the House of Bourbon.