1 English

Frankfurt struck small silver fractions like this throughout its centuries as a free imperial city, operating its own mint with the rights granted by the Holy Roman Emperor — a privilege the city jealously guarded until Napoleon dissolved the old imperial order in 1806 and reconstituted Frankfurt as part of the Confederation of the Rhine. The "English" denomination itself reflects Frankfurt's deep entanglement with international trade finance; the name derived from English silver coinage that had long circulated in the Rhine-Main commercial zone.