I will start the show off with this one.... Friedrich II "The Great" 1740-86 Friedrich Der Grosse was King of Pruessen, who was one of the greatest captains of history. He fought two successfull Wars vs the Holy Roman Empire/ French Empire and the Russian Empire. Prussia would eventually unify all the German States in 1871/ after routing the French in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. AV Friedrich d'or 1777-A Berlin Mint Friedrich and top Generals at the Battle of Leuthen 1757
James II of England otherwise known in Ireland as “shamus o’cacha” loosely translated as James the shit
Willem V "The Insane" 1350-89 Wilhelm V was Herzog zu Bayern/ Count of Hainault/ Holland At a banquet, one of his "Knights" made a crude joke about William/ who got up and struck off his head with his sword. My coin shows him with that sword....
The Sasanian king Shapur II (309-379 AD) is shown on this obol: He waged a series of punitive wars against his Arab neighbors, killing many and capturing many more. Captives had their shoulders pierced, so that a string or thong could be inserted to drag them along or rope them together. The Arabs therefore gave Shapur the nickname Dhu al-Aktaf, "The Shoulder-Piercer".
Basil II "Bulgar Slayer" 975-1025/ Byzantine Emperor AV Histamenon/ Constantinople Mint Basil got his nickname for his cruelty towards his enemies. One such event, the Battle of Kleidion (29th. July 1014) in which his General Nikephoros Xiphias defeated a Bulgar Army under King Samuel and his son/ Gabriel. Both escaped, however 15K POWS were taken. Basil then ordered 99 from every 100 POWS blinded/ thus the spared ones could lead the unfortunates POWS back to their homeland.
Great idea for a thread. Unfortunately for me, the mediaeval rulers have the best names and they are before my period. Still, here's a contribution. Germany HESSE Philipp der Grossmütige (the Magnanimous or Generous) 1/2 Taler 1564 A friend of Luther, Philipp was one of the first German princes to become Protestant and founded the first Evangelical university at Marburg. As a leader of the the Protestant Schmalkaldische League, he was defeated by Emperor Charles V at the battle of Mühlberg in 1547, captured and imprisoned for 5 years.
Charles the Bold (Karel de Stoute) AV Florin d'or de Bourgogne ND Anvers Mint mm "hand" Karel de Stoute 1467-77 He ended up "sliced and diced" by the Swiss at the Battle of Nancy in 1477
Cool coin. I wonder if the "fat man" nickname is only used by coin collectors. My wife's late grandparents grew up in NE China in the early Republican Era, and apparently Yuan Shikai's nickname was 袁大頭 (Yuan Da Tou = Big-headed Yuan). Probably both for his large head and his delusions of grandeur in declaring himself the new Emperor.
Here's my attempt at a contribution: Ivan IV "The Terrible", silver wire money. (1535-38?) I haven't been able to make out enough of the text to figure out the exact variety.
William the Conqueror. PAXS penny of Sudbury. The moneyer is PVLFRIC. These coins invariably appear a bit mushy in detail. Sudbury was a small one moneyer mint, and the reading is sometimes confused with Southwark, i.e. coins of Southwark can be incorrectly attributed to Sudbury due to the mint reading SVD or SVDB.