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1620, Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, Frederick Ulrich. Silver 1/12 Thaler Coin. VF+

Mint Year: 1620 Reference: KM-160 ($110 in VF!) Denomination: 1/12 Thaler (12 Kreuzer)  Condition: Some deposits and dark toning, otherwise VF+ Diameter: 27mm Weight: 2.56gm Material: Silver

Obverse: Quartered coat-of-arms of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. Legend: . LABORE . CONUMIMUR . Reverse: Crown above double-headed eagle with fractional thaler / kreuzer value (12) inside. Titles of Emperor Ferdinand II around. Legend: FERDI . 2 . D . G . R . I . S. 16 - 20 .

The title "Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg" (German: Herzog zu Braunschweig und Lüneburg) was held, from 1235, by various members of the Welf family who ruled several small territories in northwest Germany. These holdings did not have all of the formal characteristics of a state, being neither compact nor indivisible. When several sons of a Duke competed for power, the lands were often divided between them; when a branch of the family lost power or became extinct, the lands were reallocated among surviving members of the family; different dukes might also exchange territories. The territories were named after notable towns where the dukes had (or had had at one time) their residences, e.g. Calenberg, Celle, Göttingen, Grubenhagen, Lüneburg, Wolfenbüttel. The unifying element of all these territories was that they were ruled by male-line descendants of Duke Otto I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, nephew of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV.

Frederick Ulrich (German Friedrich Ulrich, 5 April 1591 – 11 August 1634), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, was prince of Wolfenbüttel from 1613 until his death.

Frederick Ulrich was a son of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He studied at the universities of Helmstedt and Tübingen,   and became ruling duke after the death of his father in 1613. In 1615,   Frederick Ulrich got involved in a war with the City of Brunswick, which was reluctant to recognize his overlordship.

Between 1616 and 1622, he was de facto deposed by his mother, Elizabeth, with the help of her brother, King Christian IV of Denmark, because of his alcoholism; government business was led by Anton von Streithorst, who nearly ruined the state by minting coins from cheap metals and thus causing inflation.   Because of the bad situation of the state, Christian had Frederick   Ulrich take control of the government again. With the help of the   states' nobility, he managed to regain control; the members of the   Streithorst government fled the state.

Because of Frederick Ulrich's indecision and weakness, Brunswick was heavily ransacked during the Thirty Years' War — both by the Catholic forces of Tilly and Pappenheim and by the Protestant forces of Christian of Denmark and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. The duke lost most of his territory during this time. He died after an accident in 1634.

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