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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;chrisild, post: 1101798, member: 39&quot;]Aachen is not only in the same state (and fairly close to) where I live <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> but the city also had a very important position and &quot;rank&quot; for centuries: It was the main residence of Charlemagne in the 8th/9th century, and until the 16th century Aachen was also the place where most kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were crowned. Charlemagne considered his empire to be the successor to the ancient Roman Empire, and many later kings/emperors emphasized this continuity by referring to Charlemagne and Aachen. That is also why you would find Charlemagne depicted on a coin from the 16th century.</p><p><br /></p><p>The name of that 16c emperor is Maximilian, by the way - the &quot;s&quot; at the end is the genitive case (as in &quot;Maximilian&#039;s&quot;). One side note regarding the &quot;AACHEN 1571 GULDENTALER&quot; you show us: According to the description (German is easy to read for me, hehe) this is a 19c fantasy piece. The others are apparently authentic.</p><p><br /></p><p>Where on the coins is the city&#039;s name? Well, Aachen had and has different names in different languages. In German (and in English) it is Aachen, in French is is Aix-la-Chapelle, in Dutch it&#039;s Aken, in Spanish Aquisgrán, Italian Aquisgrana ... and the latter two are basically the same as the Latin word that can be found on the pieces. Both the Celtic &quot;ahha&quot; and the Roman &quot;aquae/aquis&quot; refer to the hot springs there.</p><p><br /></p><p>You may have noticed that Aachen is &quot;on the edge&quot; of Germany. In fact, the nearest cities in the west are Dutch and Belgian. But today the borders are rather state lines, and Aachen is one of the major cities in the (Aachen-Liège-Maastricht) &quot;Euregio&quot;. Here is another map that shows where the city is; the insert shows the state of North Rhine Westphalia: <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Aachen_in_AC_%282009%29.svg/275px-Aachen_in_AC_%282009%29.svg.png" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Aachen_in_AC_%282009%29.svg/275px-Aachen_in_AC_%282009%29.svg.png" rel="nofollow">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Aachen_in_AC_(2009).svg/275px-Aachen_in_AC_(2009).svg.png</a></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;PS&quot; - In case anybody wonders why Aachen was a state or country of its own - Aachen was a Free City between the 12th and the late 18th century. (Then, in 1793 and formally in 1797, the city became part of France. After that, between 1815 and 1946, it was part of Prussia. Since 1946 it has been part of North Rhine Westphalia.) Being a Free City meant that it was not part of any kingdom, duchy etc. but had only the king/emperor of the Holy Roman Empire above it. Quite a few cities which had that status expressed that by using the imperial eagle in the CoA, and so did Aachen.</p><p><br /></p><p>Christian[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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