Vierlander (common silver of the four lands)
Established 1433 ・ silver ・ 15th century ・ The Burgundian Low Countries (this piece from the reign of Charles the Bold)
In October 1433, by the coinage ordinance of Philip the Good, a silver coin common to the four lands of Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut and Holland was brought in. In Dutch the stuiver, in French the patard. Because it passed in four lands it was called the vierlander, the coin of the four lands, and was fixed at a conversion of two Flemish groten = three Brabant groten. This piece is a double groot of the reign of Charles the Bold, carrying that system on. Later ages sometimes speak of it by analogy with the euro, but the motive at the time was practical: to take the friction out of trade within the region, to stop the competition in debasement, and to bind the finances of the duke's lands together. Because it was practical it took root — the first full monetary unification of the Low Countries.