Anonymous: Group portrait of mint master Clemens van Eembrugge and his companions (1581)

(Castle Huis Bergh, s-Heerenberg, The Netherlands)

A painting by an unknown 16th century German artist. This is a rare portrait of a mint-master and his companions. In the Middle Ages, the productions of coins was done in minting houses which was run by a local entrepreneur - the mint-master (Dutch: Muntmeester). This mint-master was usually appointed by the government who held the right to strike coins. Officially only the ruler of the state held the right to produce coins but he could give the right (often as a reward) to cities. The mint-master ran the mint and depended on the orders he received from the government and other people for his profits. The profit was the difference between the costs of the materials (gold, silver etc) and the face value of the coins. Another official, the warden (Dutch: Waardijn), would act as the immediate representative of the government and would check the coins produced by the mint-master for quality. Every year the mint-master had also pay a seigniorage (Dutch: Sleischat) to the government - this was a tax which the mint-master had to pay for using the right to produce coins. 

Shown here is the mint-master Clemens van Eembrugge, mint-master of Zaltbommel and of the lord of Bergh - he is the man in the middle holding a coin. Clemens came from a family of mint-masters which became the cause of problems. Clemens was one of the founders of the mint in Zaltbommel but by doing so, became a rival of the mint-master of the nearby town of Hedel, owned by the count Fredrik van den Bergh. The mint-master of Hedel was non other then his brother Anthonis van Eembrugge. Both brothers had a bad relationship with each other and now they also were direct competitors. Zaltbommel played it hard from the start: the mint-master of Hedel Anthonis van Eembrugge lived in Zaltbommel but the mayor had him kicked out of the city. the count Fredrik van den Bergh was forbidden to receive and pay merchants in Zaltbommel. The Dutch government started to notice the fight between the mint-houses and started an investigation. Combined with an investigation of counterfeit money, the trail soon pointed towards both brothers who were arrested. Anthonis received protection from his master count Fredrik van den Bergh but Clemens was less fortunate. He fled the city, was convicted in absentia, functioned as mint-master of Batenburg for a year, moved to Germany in 1583, showed up in Nijmegen als mint-master in 1584 and was back in Zaltbommel in 1587. Clemens was arrested in 1587 again as a result of counterfeiting of his brother Anthonis van Eembrugge. An investigation resulted in the discovery that Anthonis was the leader of an entire gang of counterfeiters and witnesses had claimed that Clemens had helped Anthonis. Clemens still had his conviction in absentia but local authorities protected Clemens and in the end he was allowed to leave. Clemens still was producing coins in Zaltbommel for next few years until 1591. Anthonis himself was executed by strangulation in 1591 in The Hague. Clemens is shown here with 7 companions who assisted him in producing the coins in the mint. The man on the far right is the youngest of the companions - he is wearing a jester's like suit. The function of this suit is unclear. The text at the bottom of the painting states that he, Clemens van Eembrugge, was the coin-master in Maastricht, of the lord of Bergh and in Zaltbommel and that he and his companions performed their job with honesty and with faith. Painting from 1581.