Whurenkarrentaler

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Double show thaler of the city of Magdeburg from 1622, so-called harlot thaler ( copper engraving from Johann David Köhler's coin amusement from 1750)

Hurenkarrentaler (also Venustaler ) is the popular name for a Schautaler of the city of Magdeburg from 1622, which was coined to commemorate the founding of the city. The people saw prostitutes in the depiction of the undressed goddesses on the back of the thaler and a disgraceful cart in the cart they were standing on.

Coin description

The commemorative coin comes as 1, 1½, 2 and 3 times thaler, also as a cliff and in gold as ten ducats weighing 31 to 34 grams. The diameter of the simple silver show coin is around 50.5 millimeters and weighs 31 grams. Single and multiple coins have almost the same diameter.

front

Emperor Otto I galloping to the right on a meadow of flowers in armor holds the scepter in his right . In the section are the coats of arms of Burgundy, Braunschweig and Saxony, in between the split mint master mark H - S of the mint master Henning Schreiber and on the outside on the sides the split year 16 - 22.

  • Inscription:
In the legend Otto I is referred to as the founder of the city of Magdeburg.
OTTO ∙ I ∙ IMP (erator): AV (gustus): MA - GDEB (urgensis): CIVIT (atis): FVNDAT (or)
Otto I, emperor, builder of the city of Magdeburg

Otto I the Great, depicted on the front, was King of Eastern Franconia and Duke of Saxony since 936 , King of Italy since 951 and Roman-German Emperor since 962 .

back

(Description using Köhler, Schildmacher, Künker etc.)

Venus with the myrtle wreath stands on a flat four-wheeled cart pulled by two pigeons and two swans . She holds three smaller balls in her right hand and one larger ball in her left. There is a torch in the right breast and an arrow in the left. To the right of her are three graces , closing a circle. In the background on the left you can see the cityscape with the castle . In the section there is an ornate tablet with four lines of writing:

"Venus, the heydnian goddess tenderly,
was simply embedded here.
Now, thank God, the divine word
Hegegen is planted in this place."

The inscription means "that the place was a refuge of paganism and lust before Emperor Otto I made it a Christian city , completely committed to custom and morality."

In the city before the time of Otto I, one saw in the name of the city a castle of the maid Venus, which gave the name to the city built by the Romans in pagan times , while Magdeburg is now a stronghold for the divine word.

The year 16-22 is divided by the tablet.

Coin history

In 1567, Emperor Maximilian II (1564–1574) granted the city of Magdeburg the right to mint coins , but this was not exercised until 1570.

After Magdeburg had overcome the tipper and wipper inflation in 1622 and the inferior tipper coins from 1619 to 1622 had been melted down, the city minted full-fledged coins again . The large showpieces in gold and silver to commemorate the founding of the city were given as gifts from the city to princes, notables and deserving citizens.

The commemorative coin with the popular name Hurenkarrentaler is named after the coin image on the reverse, on which a carriage with naked women can be seen, who were probably viewed as prostitutes who were harnessed to a carriage as punishment in Magdeburg until the 18th century. which they had to drag through the city to their shame:

“In the name of the city one saw a castle of the maid Venus. I do not want to omit a position from FW Hoffmann, Gesch. d. City of Magdeburg III (1850) p. 381, as the custom described there may have prompted this coin to be named. It says: Dissolute women were harnessed in front of and next to a light wagon similar to a miller's cart, and hung with batons and bells. So they had to drag him from the town hall to the apartments of the mayor and market judge and were beaten if they did not step up cheerfully. The custom lasted until the 18th century. "

- Friedrich von Schrötter : Description of the modern coins of the archbishopric and the city of Magdeburg

Köhler's historical explanation (1750)

In his coin amusement, Johann David Köhler dealt with the image of the harlot's thaler on the back.

In Johann David Köhler's “Historischer Münz-Amustigung” from 1750, the commemorative coin is depicted as a “very rare double Schauthaler from the city of Magdeburg from 1622”. His "historical explanation" deals with the picture on the back of the harlot thaler:

“A Roman temple of whores could have no place under such a compassionate and chaste people, who abhorred sex and adultery extremely and punished them with the greatest severity.” Köhler accuses the client of the Schautaler, he “should have had concerns about this discipline and to present heydnish horror, faked to honor-loving Germans, with such a cheeky and horny appearance on the same, in that he has caused that thalers, beaten on all sorts of incidents and therefore with certain assumptions, can be counted under the disgraceful names of the whore's arrest.

The scholar concludes his “Historical Declaration” with what, according to his knowledge, is the oldest name of the city: Magdeburg means “as much as a mighty castle, a solid, strong, well-defended castle with a manpower. From the old root word Mag, I like, comes from, like, fortune, power, mighty, and this brings more honor and fame to this magnificent and highly respectable city ​​than if one wants to derive from the above four naked idolatrous whore maids . "

A picture of Freia

A picture of the goddess Freia , which is supposed to correspond to the back of the Magdeburg Schautaler and, according to Friedrich Nork, was destroyed by Charlemagne , is described in his "Realwörterbuch ..." from 1843. In contrast to Köhler's “Historical Coin Amusement” from 1750, which describes the allegorical depiction of the commemorative taler for the founding of the city as “such a cheeky and horny act” with the “four naked idolatrous whore maids” and a temple of Venus before the time of Otto I “under such an honorable and capable people ”, Nork names the Nordic goddess Freia, who resembles the Venus of the Roman heaven of gods, as possible namesake of the city of Magdeburg:

"Magdeburg received from her [Freia] perhaps the name because maid meant the ancient Germans the Virgin at all. Cranz confirms the cult of freedom in that city (Sax. L. II, c. 12): […]. Strangers (Romans?) Had brought her portrait there [to Magdeburg]: She stood naked on a carriage, a myrtle wreath wrapped around her temple, on her breast a burning torch (symbol of the love flame); in her right hand she held a globe (because all beings recognize their dominion), in her left three golden apples (the well-known symbol of love). Behind her stood three unveiled girls (the Graces?) With hands clasped, each holding an apple, two swans and two pigeons were pulling the low wagon. Charlemagne destroyed this picture […]. This illustration also shows a Schauthaler from the city of Magdeburg v. J. 1622, whom the common people, who knew nothing about Venus and her graces, only called the Hurenkarrenthaler [...]. "

- Friedrich Nork : Etymological-symbolic-mythological real dictionary ...

The portrait of the goddess Freyia, also called Freia and Freya, described by Friedrich Nork, is the Scandinavian goddess of love , daughter of Niördhr and sister of Freyr.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz Fengler, ...: transpress Lexikon Numismatics ..., p. 152
  2. ↑ Künker p. 331, No. 2380: Schautaler, so-called Whurenkarrentaler, diameter 50.49 mm, weight 31 g
  3. ↑ Dreifachtaler Schautaler der Stadt Magdeburg 1612, so-called Whurenkarrentaler (tray 2/11, No. 24/193), mint master Henning Schreiber in the interactive catalog - Münzkabinett der Staatliche Museen Berlin, under map / Europe / Germany / Mint - Magdeburg
  4. ^ N. Douglas Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins , p. 510: Henning Schreiber (1614–1626)
  5. ↑ Data of Otto I. in the interactive catalog - Münzkabinett der Staatliche Museen Berlin
  6. ↑ Johann David Köhler's PPO in 1750. Historical coin amusement published weekly, Volume 22, p. 57
  7. ^ Rudolf Schildmacher: Magdeburg Coins ..., p. 4
  8. ↑ Künker p. 331
  9. ↑ Helmut Caspar: "Pack yourself you Interim" - What a Magdeburger Spotttaler and other commemorative coins tell about, (VDDM, Berlin 2000) ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vddm.de
  10. ↑ Friedrich von Schrötter…: Dictionary of Coin Studies …, p. 277
  11. ^ Rudolf Schildmacher: Magdeburger Münzen , ... p. 4, explanation of the tablet
  12. ^ Rudolf Schildmacher: Magdeburg Coins , ... p. 2
  13. ↑ Rudolf Schildmacher: Magdeburg coins , ... p. 4: City gifts
  14. ↑ Dreifachtaler Schautaler der Stadt Magdeburg 1612, so-called Hurenkarrentaler (Tray 2/11, No. 24/193) Explanation in the interactive catalog - Münzkabinett der Staatliche Museen Berlin, under Map / Europe / Germany / Mint - Magdeburg
  15. ^ Friedrich von Schrötter: Description of the modern coins of the archbishopric and the city of Magdeburg 1400–1682 , Magdeburg 1909
  16. ↑ Johann David Köhler's PPO in 1750. Historical coin amusement given weekly, Volume 22, p. 64
  17. ↑ Friedrich Nork: Etymological-symbolic-mythological real dictionary ... , first volume, Stuttgart 1843, p. 65
  18. ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th edition, 1885–1890