Georgstaler
When George Taler be Taler coins referred that the counts of Mansfeld smote since 1521 and whose house patron St. George show. Since the talers were said to have a protective power for riders and soldiers because of the depiction of George, they were very popular as protective amulets , which is why they were also minted in a similar form by other mints and finally even manufactured and sold as amulet pendants in a wide variety of metals.
history
From 1521 onwards, the Counts of Mansfeld had silver taler coins struck, with the image of the patron saint, St. George, on the front, as a knight on horseback and the count's coat of arms on the other.
As a result of the imposing depiction of the soldier and rider patron St. George, these thalers were very popular as protective amulets. People liked to have them with them and often provided them with holes or handles so that they could be carried around the neck. In a superstitious way, they were also assigned supernatural properties, such as protection against the evil eye , against illness and injury, as well as against danger to life and limb. They found particular distribution in the Thirty Years' War .
In a coin lexicon, Karl Christoph Schmieder reported about it in 1811:
" As luck would have it, an officer was once hit by a bullet while meeting, but not wounded, because it ricocheted off such a Georgenthaler, which he had sewn in with him as an emergency penny." The matter became known and, how cheap, the success was attributed to the Patrono Comitum et Dominorum (the patron of the county and its masters). It was believed confidently that a Georgsthaler would secure against blows, blows and gunshots, and would probably also protect against a dangerous fall with a horse. From that time on every officer wanted to be provided with it and a George was an essential part of his equipage. Due to the frequent demand, the thalers became so rare that you had to pay for the piece with 20 to 30 Reichstalers. "
So it happened that the Mansfeld mint was ultimately no longer able to meet the demand and the thaler was also minted at other mints, but without the coat of arms of the Counts of Mansfeld. This mainly happened at the end of the 17th century in Kremnitz, which was Hungarian at the time . Here the medalist Hermann Roth von Rothenfels (1654–1726) created the thaler with a contemporary Baroque depiction of St. George. Instead of the coat of arms, the back is now adorned with a scene from the New Testament, namely Christ sleeping on a sailing ship in a storm. In this new form, the Georgstaler became the most popular protective amulet for soldiers. Every fighter wanted to carry such a pious coin with them as a good luck charm, which is why it was soon traded at 20 or 30 times its value and became almost unaffordable. The Turkish Wars in particular now boosted their popularity.
The high demand - even among the lower military ranks and among the people - led to the fact that the Georgstaler of the Kremnitzer pattern was mainly gagged and punched, in a wide variety of sizes, strengths and metals, also as amulet pendants. Because they are cheaper to buy, these are even more widespread than the silver coins of the same appearance.
From the end of the 17th century to the end of the 19th century, the Kremnitzer Georgstaler - as a coin or as a pendant - was the most popular soldier amulet in Central Europe, which is why these pieces are often excavated as archaeological finds. They were once an integral part of every sutler range and were worn across denominations.
The medals were also used as protective amulets for riders in general and seafarers because of the ship scene depicted.
front
The obverse shows St. George as a knight, on horseback, fighting the dragon.
The inscription reads: S. GEORGIUS EQUITUM PATRONUS. ( St. Georg patron saint of riders )
back
The reverse shows a sailing ship with Christ sleeping in the storm.
The inscription here is: IN TEMPESTATE SECURITAS. ( Safety in the storm )
Trailer
On the occasion of the 100-year membership of the County of Mansfeld in the Kingdom of Prussia , the Berlin Mint minted a silver three-mark piece in 1915, which is also known as the "Mansfeld blessing thaler" because it bears the inscription "SEGEN DES MANSFELDER MINING" . The face of this coin takes up the famous depiction of St. George from the original Mansfeld Georgstaler.
Web links
- Website about the Georgstalern
- Georgstaler at Numispedia
- Hartmann, Large Art Lexicon
- Meyers Großes Konversationslexikon , Volume 7. Leipzig 1907, p. 617
literature
- Friedrich Günther: The Harz. Velhagen & Klasing, Bielefeld et al. 1901, p. 116 ( Land und Menschen 9, ZDB -ID 500786-0 ), scan of the section .
- Walter Hartinger: Religion and Custom. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1992, ISBN 3-534-10900-7 , p. 96 Text on the Georgstaler as a soldier's amulet .
- Oskar Hovorka, Adolf Kronfeld (ed.): Comparative folk medicine. Volume 1. Strecker & Schroeder, Stuttgart 1908, p. 21 Scan of the entry .
- Yearbook of the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau. Bd. 34, 1993, ISSN 0448-1348 , p. 85 Scan of the place about the Georgstaler .
- EM Kronfeld : The war in superstition and popular belief. Cultural-historical contributions. Schmidt, Munich 1915, p. 92 and 101 text excerpts on the Georgstalers .
- Friedrich von Schroetter (Ed.): Dictionary of coinage. De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1930, pp. 219 and 220 (2nd unchanged edition. Ibid. 1970, ISBN 3-11-001227-8 scan of the relevant entry “Georgstaler” ).
