(sold for $15.0)

1616, Waldeck (County), Christian & Wolrad. Silver 3 Kreuzer (Groschen) Coin.

Mint Year: 1616? Condition: About XF! Mint place: Wildungen Reference: Kayser 154, KM-52. Denomination: 3 Kreuzer (Groschen) Diameter: 20mm Weight: 1.21gm   Material: Silver

Obverse: Winged and plummed tournament helmet on shield with arms of Waldeck. Legend: CHR... ...WAL (privy mark: three mint-hooks in saltire)

Reverse: Imperial crown above double-headed nimbate eagle with value (3) on chest. Legend: MATHI . I . D : G . R . IM . S . AU . 1616?

The County of Waldeck (later the Principality of Waldeck and Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire and its successors from the late 12th century until 1929. In 1349 the county gained Imperial immediacy and in 1712 was raised to the rank of Principality. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 it was a constituent state of its successors: the Confederation of the Rhine, the German Confederation, the North German Confederation, the German Empire and, until 1929, the Weimar Republic. It comprised territories in present-day Hesse and Lower Saxony, (Germany).

Christian, Count of Waldeck (25 December 1585 in Eisenberg – 31 December 1637 in Waldeck), was Count of Waldeck-Wildungen and also imperial chamberlain.

Christian was the son of Count Josias I of Waldeck-Eisenberg (1554-1588) and his wife Marie of Barby (1563-1619). He was guardian for his nephew Simon Louis (1627-1631) and later for his nephew's son Simon Philip (1636-1637) in the County of Lippe.

 

He loved the arts and sciences, and was kind to all scholars. He loved the Word of God and diligently supported churches, schools and hospitals provided and promised that he would eagerly stay with the Protestant religion. But after all, he could not resist the insistence of the clergy, and in 1630 he gave the order to apply extreme measures eradicate the 'vice that is magic'

 

   

— Klettenberg, Eichler, p. 123

 

Christian died in 1637 and was succeeded as Count of Waldeck-Wildungen by his son Philip VII. His younger son John became Count of Waldeck-Landau as John II.

Christian I, Count of Waldeck was responsible for the particularly violent series of witch trials in Wildungen, which began in 1629. Until 1632, the trials cost the lives of 29 victims, including Elisabeth Kotzenberg, the wife of Günther Samuel, who was Christian's secretary. She was tortured and died at City Hall on 3 July 1630.

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