Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Westphalia. Since it was ruled by the Bonaparte family, it had a similar style to other Bonaparte coat of arms. Notably, to the top left of the centre of the coat of arms, is the Westphalian steed - a white horse on a red field.
HISTORY AND ETYMOLOGY
Etymology (thank you jokinen)
On the etymology of Westphalia, it was one of the four lands of the Duchy of Saxony that existed until 1180. Phalia seems to refer to plains, so Westphalia were the western plains and Eastphalia the eastern plains.
Creation at the Peace of Tilsit
After suffering a defeat against the French Empire in the Battle of Friedland, the Prussian Empire was forced to sign a treaty to cede land to Napoleon's empire in order to maintain peace. Thus, the initial Duchy of Magdeburg, the Brunswick-Lüneburg territories of Hanover and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and the Electorate of Hesse merged to form the new Kingdom of Westphalia under the Peace of Tilsit.
Peace of Tilsit
Development
Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon I's first brother, was the monarch ruling over the kingdom. He wrote a constitution on 7 December 1807, becoming the first German monarchy with a constitution that was modern. There was a capitalist system under the Napoleonic Code, and Westphalia used the metric system. The rights of freedom of speech were indifferent prior to the Napoleonic conquest - it remained curtailed, with censorship controlling all over the kingdom. The state was a part of the Confederation of the Rhine.
In 1810, Westphalia gained land after the départements North and Lower Elbe had to be ceded to the French Empire.
King Jérôme Bonaparte
Fall
A high amount of people was conscripted to serve in Napoleon's army in their conquests against the Sixth Coalition, in which they were used for both military and financial support. Eventually, after the turning point where the Russians structured a comeback, the Kingdom of Westphalia was surrounded by the Coalition forces. The final battle was the Battle of Leipzig, in which the treaty decided that France would not gain control east of the Rhine.
Battle of Leipzig
CURRENCY AND COINS
Starting from the second year of the foundation of Westphalia, it used the Westphalian frank and the Westphalian thaler as legal currency. Each frank was divided into 100 Centime and each thaler was divided into 36 Mariengroschen which was further divided into 8 Pfennig per Mariengroschen. The frank was tied with the French franc while the thaler remained of the same value prior to French occupation.
There are four different types of mint marks that can be found on the coins. They are:
- B - minted in Brunswick.
- C,C. on the reverse side - minted in Cassel.
- C,C. - on the obverse side - minted in Clausthal.
- F - minted in Cassel.
There are also mintmaster marks where:
- C and eagle head - approved in Cassel.
- J and horse head - approved in Cassel or Paris.
The mint official's initials can be found with the sign of F - this means the mint official was Dietrich Henrich Fulda of Cassel.
On the obverse of the franks and thalers, either the Napoleonic symbol, the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Westphalia, or the effigy of Jérôme Bonaparte could be found.
Obverse 1 - monogram (1 Centime)
Obverse 2 - coat of arms (1/6 Thaler)
Obverse 3 - effigy (2 Franken)
Kingdom of Westphalia