Replica of Albrecht von Wallenstein ducat standard

Ducat of the imperial generalissimo and admiral of the North and Baltic seas

Albrecht Wenceslas Eusebius of Wallenstein (b. 1583 – d.1634), was born into a poor branch of an old noble Protestant family (professing religion of so-called Czech brethren). After being excluded from studies he joined in 1604 the imperial army and converted to Catholicism. During the rebellion of the estates be associated himself with the cause of the Habsburg house; he handed over the Moravian estates treasure-chest to future Emperor Ferdinand II and for this deed was raised to nobility. His military skills earned him eventually ownership of large territories, high titles and major privileges  (1624 – imperial count palatine, 1625 –imperial generalissimo, 1627 – duke of Friedland, mintage privilege, order of the Golden Fleece, 1628 – admiral of the North and Baltic seas, duke of Sagan, 1629 – duke of Mecklenburg, 1631 – duke of Glogau. He used his mintage privilage and struck his coins in mints in the town of Jičín and Zaháň. Because of a limited source of metal, the ducat coinage of duke Albrecht was primarily of representative and prestigious nature.