(sold for $330.0)

1567, Liege Bishopric, Gerard van Groesbeeck. Rare Silver Thaler Coin. aXF!

Mint Year: 1567 Denomination: Thaler State: Bishoprick of Liege (Belgium) Ruler (Prince-Bishop): Gerard van Groesbeck Reference: Davenport 8415, Delmonte 451, KM-. Very Rare! Condition: Some wear on the weakly struck high parts, scattered circulation marks and hairlines, otherwise about XF for this early and crudely struck type! Weight: 28.93gm Diameter: 41mm Material: Silver

Obverse: Plummed tournament helmet on shield with arms of the Prince-Bishop. Legend: GERAR * A * GROISB * EPS * LEO * D * BVL * CO * LOS Reverse: Crown above double-headed imperial eagle. Titles of Emperor Maximilian II of Habsburg and date (1567) in legend. Legend: MAXIMIL * II * ROMA * IM * SEM * AVGVS * I567

The Prince-Bishopric of Liege was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries in present Belgium, which was ruled by the Bishop of Liege as a prince within the Holy Roman Empire. The ecclesiastical domain of the bishop was much larger than the domain which he controlled as a prince. The Prince-Bishopric belonged from 1500 on to the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle. Its territory included most of the present Belgian provinces of Liege and Limburg, and some exclaves in other parts of Belgium and the Netherlands. It briefly became a republic (the Liege Republic) from 1789 to 1791, before reverting to a Prince-Bishopric in 1791. The role of Prince-Bishop permanently ended when the state was annexed by France in 1795. In 1815 it became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and in 1830 it was within the part of that kingdom which split off to become Belgium. The bishopric of Liege was never part of the Dutch Seventeen Provinces or the Spanish and Austrian Southern Netherlands, but from the 16th century onwards, its politics were strongly influenced by the dukes of Burgundy and later the Habsburgs, under the sovereignty of the family de la Marck (Dutch van der Marck). In 1559, its 1636 parishes were grouped in eight archdeaconries, and twenty-eight councils, chrétientés (deaneries). The most important cities (bonnes villes) of the bishopric were: Liege, Beringen, Bilzen, Borgloon, Bree, Châtelet, Ciney, Couvin, Dinant, Fosses-la-Ville, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Huy, Maaseik, Peer, Sint-Truiden, Stokkem, Thuin, Tongeren, Verviers, Visé and Waremme. The city of Maastricht fell under the joint jurisdiction of the Prince-Bishop of Liege and the Duke of Brabant (later the Estates-General of the United Provinces). The second city of the prince-bishopric thus kept its status aparte throughout the ancien regime.

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Gerard van Groesbeeck (1517–1580) was a Belgian Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.

Gerard van Groesbeeck was born in the château of Curingen, Hasselt in 1517. He was related to the barons of Groesbeek, Guelders.

As a young man, he became a canon of Aachen Cathedral. He was also a canon, and later the dean of the cathedral chapter of St. Lambert's Cathedral, Liège. He became the coadjutor bishop of Robert of Berghes, Prince-Bishop of Liège in March 1562. He became the administrator of the Prince-Bishopric on April 11, 1564.

On June 5, 1564, he was elected Prince-Bishop of Liège; his election was preconized by Pope Pius IV on February 23, 1565. He was consecrated as a bishop by Gregoire Silvius, titular bishop of Tagaste, in the Cistercian Abbey of Herckenrode on May 20, 1565. As Prince-Bishop, he was not successful in implementing the decrees of the Council of Trent in the Prince-Bishopric. He succeeded in preventing Protestantism from spreading into the Prince-Bishopric. In 1567, he crushed revolts in Hasselt, Maaseik, and Maastricht. In 1576, he became Prince-Abbot of Stavelot. He and the Estates of Liège declared the Prince-Bishopric a neutral state in 1577.

Pope Gregory XIII made him a cardinal priest in the consistory of February 21, 1578. He never traveled to Rome to receive the red hat or a titular church.