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Author Topic: Medal of the Day: Charles Edward Stuart & Henry Benedict Stuart.  (Read 247 times)

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Offline Callimachus

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I recently added this medal to my British coins Gallery
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=4762

While not a Roman coin, or even an ancient coin, it does have a connection to Rome: It was minted there.

For about 60 years after King James II was forced to leave England (1688), His supporters - known as Jacobites - worked to restore him and his Roman Catholic descendants to the British throne. From their court of exile in France and later in Italy, the Stuarts sometimes commissioned people to design and strike medals. These were for propaganda purposes, and to give to their supporters & sympathizers. The two children on this medal are grandsons of King James II. Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788) is better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie who landed in Scotland in 1745 and tried (unsuccessfully) to reclaim the throne. His younger brother, Henry Benedict Stuart (1725-1807, had a career in the Roman Catholic Church, eventually becoming a Cardinal.

Description:
Legitimacy of Jacobite Succession, ca 1737-40. Bronze Medal attributed to Ermenegildo Hamerani.

Obverse: HVNC SALTEM EVERSO IVVENEM [svccvrrere sæclo]  /  Bust of Charles Edward Stuart as an adolescent (about age 16 or 17), in armor and wearing ermine mantle. Wolf & Twins on bust truncation.

Reverse: TRIPLICIS SPES TERTIA GENTIS  /  Bust of Henry Benedict Stuart as a child (about age 11 or 12), in armor.

44.80 gm., 45 mm.

MI ii 493/35; Eimer 544A; Woolf 47:1.

Translations:

Obverse: A quote from Virgil, of which only the first 4 words appear on the medal: HVNC SALTEM EVERSO IVVENEM which translates as “At Least Permit This Youth . . . “  But Virgil continues with the words “svccvrrere sæclo” which are not on the medal.  The meaning of the entire quote is usually given as “At least permit this youth to repair the ruins of the age.”

Reverse:
The Third Hope of a Triple Nation. (James II was dead at this time, but the boy's father James Francis Stuart was still alive and the claimant to the throne. So Henry was the 3rd in line - the "Third Hope."  The "Triple Nation" refers to England, Scotland, & Wales (or perhaps at this time England, Scotland & Ireland.))

The Wolf & Twins on the truncation of the obverse bust indicate this medal was struck in Rome. (See second photo below.)



 

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