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      Contemporaries in the Holy Roman Empire      


Ulric I ,  Duke of Württemberg 1498-1519 & 1534-1550
*1487. Ulric was declared of age in 1503. At the time he had not yet received any education whatsoever. He succeeded his uncle, who had been removed from office in 1498 and his own father was mentally ill. The dukedom had only been aquired for the House of Württemberg in 1495 by an intelligent and paragon relative, Eberhard "in the Beard".
Being greatly in debt, Ulric raised taxes on foods. When he tried to hide this by reducing standard weight, he was confronted with "Poor Conrad's" uprising (1514). In 1515 he coveted his equerry's wife, so he stabbed him to death. He was outlawed in 1516. The Swabian League exiled him in 1519 after he had attacked and annexed the imperial town of Reutlingen. The emperor reimbursed the league's costs and took over Ulric's duchy in 1520. Ulric tried to reconquer his estates during the peasants' uprising in 1525, but the attempt failed and Ulric sought refuge with Philip of Hesse, having become a protestant in the meantime. In 1534 Ulric was restored by Philip and his Schmalkaldic League. Württemberg had been imperial fief since 1495 but became hereditary Austrian fief in the Peace Treaty of Kaaden. Ulric now ruthlessly seized church estates. He was in danger of being dismissed from office because of violation of his feudal duties but he died before a sentence was passed.


1/8 Guldiner n.d.(1501), Stuttgart.     Ø 24mm   Klein/Raff 43 ; Ebner 47 ; Schulten 3678
Obv.:   +VLRICVS◦DVX◦IN◦WIRTemberga◦ET◦TECK
bust of the 14 years old duke in armour to the right
Rev.:   +MONETA◦NOva◦ARGENTEA◦STVGA'rdia
shield :   Württemberg (3 stag horns), Teck (rhombic), Markgröningen (imperial flag), Montbéliard (2 fishes).



Dicken (1/3 Guldiner) n.d. (1507), Stuttgart.     Ø 30mm   Schulten 3674
Obv.:   ¤ULRICVS·DVX· - WIRTEMBERga
Effigy of the 20 years old duke, at the bottom arms of Teck.
Rev.:   MONETA·N - OVA·STVGARdia
Patron saint Ulric with crosier, bible and fish, at the bottom the arms of Württemberg.
The portrait is in the Renaissance style while the legend and the reverse look gothic.



Guldiner, 1537.     Ø 42mm     Ebner 145   Schulten 3670   Dav.9962
Obv.:   ¤D.G.VLricus·DVX·WIRTemberga:ET:TECK·COmes:MOns:BELLigardus:Z
"by the grace of God duke of Würtemberg and Teck, count of Montbéliard"
Rev.:   ¤DA·GLORIAM·DEO·OMNIPOTENTI·     "Give glory to omnipotent God"
shield :   Württemberg (3 stag horns), Teck (rhombic), Markgröningen (imperial flag), Montbéliard (2 fishes).
The date I - ·5·3· - 7 around and above the shield.
At the bottom of the shield is a countermark with the imperial eagle.
Emperor Charles V had ordered to countermark these Ulric thalers in oder to make known their reduced silver content and reduced value to everyone.
Montbéliard, situated in Franche-Comté, came to the house of Württemberg by marriage in 1409. It remained there until 1793. Würtemberg aquired Teck in the course of the 14th century. Ulric's predecessor was Eberhard V ("in the beard"), who had become 'Duke of Würtemberg and Teck' in 1495.
The empire's flag of attack, a one-headed black eagle on golden ground, was integrated into the duchee's coat of arms in 1495. The imperial city of Markgröningen had been invested with this flag. The town fell to Württemberg in 1336.

From 1520 to 1534 Ulric was dethroned and during this period Emperor Charles V and his brother Ferdinand were entitled to mint in occupied Württemberg.

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