Louis XIV Medal - Capture of Tournai and Courtrai
Iosephus
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Louis XIV
1667
Bronze, 88.3 mm Ø, 285 g
Obverse: Bust of Louis XIV facing right, wearing wig and armor, with cravat tied in a bow. Around, LVDOVICVS · MAGNVS · / · REX · CHRISTIANISS · (Louis the Great, Most Christian King).
Reverse: Louis standing, dressed as a Roman general, being crowned by a flying figure of Fame; kneeling personifications of the cities of Tournai and Courtrai kneel and present keys. On the right, a river god standing and holding a jug labeled LISA from which water flows; on the left, a river god reclining on a jug labeled SCALDIS . Around, CIVITAS · TORNACENSIS · / ET · CVRTRACENCIS (The Cities of Tournai and Courtrai). On banner on ground, M·DC·LXVII· .
In 1667, Louis XIV embarked on the War of Devolution to assert his claim to the Spanish Netherlands. With the Treaty of Pyrenees between France and Spain, King Philip IV of Spain was required to not only cede territories to France, but was also required to consent to the marriage of his daughter, Maria Theresa of Spain, to Louis XIV. Maria Theresa renounced all rights to her father's inheritance, and dowry of 500,0000 gold écus was promised. Upon the death of Philip in 1665, Louis immediately laid claim to parts of the Spanish Netherlands, asserting that his wife's claims to her father's properties had devolved to her since the promised dowry had never been paid. Furthermore, Maria Theresa was a result of Philip's first marriage, whereas the Spanish heir, Charles II, was a result of Philip's second marriage. Queen Mariana of Spain, running the government for her underage son, did not agree with these claims.
After raising new troops, Louis deployed them in the spring of 1667 to invade territories in the Spanish Netherlands, which was not prepared for war and was not expectant of reinforcements from Spain. The French forces crossed the border on May 24 and began to take several cities. Among these was Tournai, located near the river Scheldt (called the Scaldis in ancient times), which the main French forces reached and surrounded on June 21. The city surrendered shortly thereafter, and the French entered it on June 25. Additionally, the city of Courtrai, near the river Lys, was attacked and subsequently conquered on July 18. As France continued its march, a Triple Alliance formed consisting of England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic on the side of Spain. The war ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, signed on May 2, 1668, and the cities of Tournai and Courtrai were among twelve that France retained its claims to following this treaty.
1667
Bronze, 88.3 mm Ø, 285 g
Obverse: Bust of Louis XIV facing right, wearing wig and armor, with cravat tied in a bow. Around, LVDOVICVS · MAGNVS · / · REX · CHRISTIANISS · (Louis the Great, Most Christian King).
Reverse: Louis standing, dressed as a Roman general, being crowned by a flying figure of Fame; kneeling personifications of the cities of Tournai and Courtrai kneel and present keys. On the right, a river god standing and holding a jug labeled LISA from which water flows; on the left, a river god reclining on a jug labeled SCALDIS . Around, CIVITAS · TORNACENSIS · / ET · CVRTRACENCIS (The Cities of Tournai and Courtrai). On banner on ground, M·DC·LXVII· .
In 1667, Louis XIV embarked on the War of Devolution to assert his claim to the Spanish Netherlands. With the Treaty of Pyrenees between France and Spain, King Philip IV of Spain was required to not only cede territories to France, but was also required to consent to the marriage of his daughter, Maria Theresa of Spain, to Louis XIV. Maria Theresa renounced all rights to her father's inheritance, and dowry of 500,0000 gold écus was promised. Upon the death of Philip in 1665, Louis immediately laid claim to parts of the Spanish Netherlands, asserting that his wife's claims to her father's properties had devolved to her since the promised dowry had never been paid. Furthermore, Maria Theresa was a result of Philip's first marriage, whereas the Spanish heir, Charles II, was a result of Philip's second marriage. Queen Mariana of Spain, running the government for her underage son, did not agree with these claims.
After raising new troops, Louis deployed them in the spring of 1667 to invade territories in the Spanish Netherlands, which was not prepared for war and was not expectant of reinforcements from Spain. The French forces crossed the border on May 24 and began to take several cities. Among these was Tournai, located near the river Scheldt (called the Scaldis in ancient times), which the main French forces reached and surrounded on June 21. The city surrendered shortly thereafter, and the French entered it on June 25. Additionally, the city of Courtrai, near the river Lys, was attacked and subsequently conquered on July 18. As France continued its march, a Triple Alliance formed consisting of England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic on the side of Spain. The war ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, signed on May 2, 1668, and the cities of Tournai and Courtrai were among twelve that France retained its claims to following this treaty.
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Comments
Talk about hockey pucks!
Amazing surfaces. Design, too, of course.
Talk about hockey pucks!
Amazing surfaces. Design, too, of course.
After making that comment, I decided to look up what the actual diameter of a standard hockey puck is.
It appears that is 3 inches, or 76 mm.
So this piece is bigger than a hockey puck in diameter, though almost certainly not as thick.
Wow.
Was this an auction purchase or private sale?
Having a few coins from this era bopping around in my collection, it is always fun to see the difference between stuff struck for circulation and presentation medals such as these.
Taler Custom Set
Ancient Custom Set
World Collection
British Collection
German States Collection
Talk about hockey pucks!
Amazing surfaces. Design, too, of course.
After making that comment, I decided to look up what the actual diameter of a standard hockey puck is.
It appears that is 3 inches, or 76 mm.
So this piece is bigger than a hockey puck in diameter, though almost certainly not as thick.
Wow.
Mercifully, it's only about 5.5 mm in thickness, else it would be extremely heavy!
Virtus Collection - Renaissance and Baroque Medals
Was this an auction purchase or private sale?
This was an auction purchase. For better or worse, most of my purchases tend to come from auctions.
Virtus Collection - Renaissance and Baroque Medals
You're surely not going to sit there and tell us that the thought of using it as a drink coaster didn't fleetingly cross your mind.
C'mon, tell us the truth, now.
You're surely not going to sit there and tell us that the thought of using it as a drink coaster didn't fleetingly cros your mind.
Virtus Collection - Renaissance and Baroque Medals
You didn't mention it but this is a contemporary issue? I have a couple of 18th century issues that I believe were officially produced in the 20th century (paid little for them so no big deal), I like these early issues but haven't handled enough to be comfortable in judging when they were produced, etc.
Congrats.
You didn't mention it but this is a contemporary issue? I have a couple of 18th century issues that I believe were officially produced in the 20th century (paid little for them so no big deal), I like these early issues but haven't handled enough to be comfortable in judging when they were produced, etc.
Ah, the thorny issue of dating a medal. I'll preface everything else I'm about to say by saying "I don't know."
I believe this piece to be possibly a contemporary or at least an early strike. There are no edge marks on this piece, so it was certainly struck before the Paris Mint began using them in the 19th century. When researching the piece, I found other examples of this reverse design mated to a different obverse. Some of those specimens had edge marks, indicating they were struck in the 19th century. Those pieces also were from two different reverse dies than this one. This piece contains a prominent and large die crack in the center of the reverse, and shows a large rim cud forming on the upper part of the obverse. From this, and the other observed specimens, I surmise that both of these dies eventually reached a terminal state where they were no longer deemed worthy of use. While the reverse would need to be remade, a different obverse die was simply pressed into service for the obverse. So, I believe this to be struck from the original two dies. Dating any more than that is mostly conjecture, but it would not be surprising for large dies (especially with such a busy design as the reverse) to break relatively early. I felt the piece good enough to consider it an early strike. Luckily, I find it to be an interesting design and the medal has wonderfully glossy surfaces, so I'll still enjoy it if I'm proven wrong.
Virtus Collection - Renaissance and Baroque Medals
While my knowledge of this series is pretty sketchy, I do know that the lack of the edge mark alone pushes it back quite a way so that's great to hear. The die flaws combined with the evidence of different dies used to produce the other medals you found would seem to cinch an early date. Great work to validate the date!
On the few pieces I have (not of this design) all have the "bronze" or whatever on the edge and the finish seemed fairly new (no toning, marks, etc) and not as "rich" as one would expect with a couple century old original. They also had to be pretty cheap, since they fell into the "ooh shiny thing" category vs a "core" collection, so there wasn't much risk in any case.
Do enjoy seeing your picking and writeups - gives the rest of us something to aim toward. Thanks again for sharing!
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