1808 AD., German States, French occupation, Kingdom of Westphalia, Jerome Bonaparte, Cassel mint, 1 Pfenning, KM 81.
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German States, French occupation, Kingdom of Westphalia, Jerome Bonaparte (1807-1813), Cassel (Kassel) mint, 1808 AD.,
1 Pfenning (ø 21 mm / 3,13 g), copper, 2,87 ? g theor. mint weight, mintage ? , axis coin alignment ↑↓ (180°), plain edge,
Obv.: HN / C , crowned HN -monogram (for "Hieronymus Napoleon") at center, mint mark C (Cassel) below.
Rev.: I / PFENNING / SCHEIDE- / MÜNTZ· / 1808· , 5-line inscription with denomination and date.
KM 81 .
Year / Mint Mark / Mintage / Details
1808 / C / ?
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 1813. From 1816 onward, he bore the title of Prince of Montfort. After 1848, when his nephew, Louis Napoleon, became President of the French Second Republic, he served in several official roles, including Marshal of France from 1850 onward, and President of the Senate in 1852.
Napoleon made his brother King of Westphalia, the short-lived realm (1807–13), created, by Napoleon, from the several states and principalities in northwestern Germany (in the former thousand-year old Holy Roman Empire). It was later reorganized by Napoleon into the Confederation of the Rhine and then after his defeat, the Allies were to reorganise the German states into a German Confederation with Austrian leadership, largely overriding prior claim of lesser states.
The Napoleonic realm of Westphalia had its capital in Kassel (then: Cassel). Jérôme was married, as arranged by Napoleon, to HRH Princess Catharina of Württemberg, the daughter of Frederick I, King of Württemberg. However, Jérôme's expensive habits earned him the contempt of Napoleon. His court incurred expenses comparable to Napoleon's court (which oversaw a vastly larger and more important realm), and Napoleon refused to support Jérôme financially. In 1813, when his Kingdom was being threatened from the east by the advancing allied Prussian and Russian armies. He led a small force to challenge their invasion. Following a clash with an enemy detachment, he made camp with his army, hoping for reinforcements from the French army in the west. However, before reinforcements arrived the main allied force captured the capital Kassel. The Kingdom of Westphalia was declared dissolved and Jérôme's kingship ended. He then fled to join his wife, the former queen, in France.
More on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jérôme_Bonaparte
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a kingdom in Germany, with a population of 2.6 million, that existed from 1807 to 1813. It included territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire and was ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte. It was named after Westphalia, but this was a misnomer since the kingdom had little territory in common with that area.
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