Locumtenenstaler
The Locumtenenstaler , also governor Taler called, is a Gedenkprägung with the bust of the Saxon Elector Frederick the Wise (1486-1525), whose inscription on the front with " Imperique locumtenens generalis " ( Latin for Reich Governor General ends). This title was awarded to Friedrich by King Maximilian I in 1507. The governor was minted as a coin ( commemorative coin ) and medal (Schautaler).
Coins and medals of Frederick III.
Frederick's sole coinage is rare. According to Paul Arnold, the long-time director of the Münzkabinett in Dresden , these are just two different types of commemorative coins and one-sided lion pennies .
- The commemorative coins that were minted in honor of the governorship in Nuremberg include:
- 1507: Gulden , ( Taler ), ¼ Gulden (Taler), Schreckenberger , Groschen
- 1510: ¼ guilder (thaler)
- 1517: ¼ Gulden (Taler), Schreckenberger
- Without year: Gulden (Taler), ½ Gulden (Taler), ¼ Gulden (Taler), ⅛ Gulden (Taler), Schreckenberger
The Schautaler (not commemorative coins) in thaler and double-thaler weights, which were minted for governor dignity, are medals, although they are often referred to as guldengroschen . They were designed according to a design by Lucas Cranach the Elder and are among the most beautiful German show thalers of the Renaissance .
The other type of commemorative coin (from 1522) with the image of the face (likeness) of Friedrich with a cap, which is also known as a Schautaler, is not a Locumtenenstaler. It was probably minted in the Zwickau mint or in Nuremberg. The Schautaler served as a template for the obverse of the commemorative coin for the 400th anniversary of the Reformation in 1917 from the Muldenhütten mint with the bust of Frederick the Wise (1486–1552), which is one of the rarest coins today.
Description of the Locumtenenstaler
The Locumtenenstaler was minted in variants with minor differences in the coin inscription and in the height of the relief with and without the year and without the mint master's mark .
The Schautaler shown here has a high medal-typical relief, while other Locumtenenstalers were minted with the usual relief height of the guldengroschen and are commemorative coins.
The following description refers to the picture (see picture above).
The silver coin has a diameter of 49 millimeters, weighs 28.76 grams and was minted in Hall . In catalogs, Dresden is also considered likely as a mint after the stamps were later sent to Saxony. Originally, duplicates were supposed to be minted with the stamps of this broad show thaler .
The die cut was based on a template by Lucas Cranach the Elder, who came to the Electoral Saxon court in Wittenberg in 1504 and made the designs for the governor's coins and medals. Ulrich Ursenthaler the Elder, who has been working at the Hall mint since 1508, cut the stamps for this magnificent Renaissance coinage.
front
The obverse shows the armored bust of the Elector with a wire hood in an arched circle. " IHS : MARIA " can be read on the harness .
- A wire hood is “a so-called dome , actually an under hood for taming long hair and at the same time for fastening the beret , which often appears in male private portraits of this time [...]. It should be understood here as a neat variant of bareheadedness, as a sign of a humble attitude. "
The inscription reads:
FRID (ericus) DVX SAX (oniae) ELECT (or). IMPER (ii) QVE. LOCVM: TENE (n) S: GENERA (lis) interrupted by the coats of arms: Kurwappen, Saxony , Thuringia and Meissen .
- Translation: Friedrich, Duke of Saxony, Elector and Reich Governor General.
back
On the back there is a nimbated one-headed imperial eagle with the Habsburg - Burgundian coat of arms on its chest .
The inscription reads:
MAXIMILIANVS - ROMANORVM - REX. SEMPER. AUGVST (us) .
- Translation: Maximilian, Roman king , always a member of the empire.
Explanation
The dignity of imperial vicar appears in Saxony for the first time from 1507 on coins of the Saxon Elector Frederick the Wise in the form of "Imperique locumtenens generalis". They are therefore the first vicariate coins of Electoral Saxony. The rank of governor was Friedrich III. transferred by King Maximilian I on August 8, 1507 at the Diet of Constance and was valid for the time of the king's absence. After Maximilian of his in the Feb. 4, 1508 Trent made choice for Roman emperors had returned, went out from his position as permanent representative of the king. However, he was granted honorary permission to continue to hold the title of Reich Governor General until the death of Emperor Maximilian I (1519).
Friedrich III. has the Locumtenenstaler, the so-called counterfeit coins, minted according to his personal ideas. After he had received the title of governor from the emperor, he commissioned Lucas Cranach the Elder to design models in the same year. Until 1519 he had four die cutters work with his likeness to produce the dies for the coins and medals: Hans Krug the Elder, Lorenz Werder, Ulrich Usenthaler the Elder and then from 1513 to 1519 the goldsmith and stamp cutter Hans Krafft the Elder , who worked in Nuremberg , who made die cuts for governor medals with high relief on the basis of the various pairs of dies.
The coin privilege of King Maximilian I for Elector Friedrich III.
In this document u. a. contain which coin denominations Friedrich III. can have minted in the absence of the king which inscription they should bear and what the design of the front and back of the silver coins should represent. It is also stipulated that gold coins must correspond to “ the Rhenish guilder in terms of weight and fineness ” and “the silver coins must correspond to their real value”.
The coin design and the inscription is prescribed in the coin privilege as follows:
“On one side, an eagle with the coat of arms of Austria and Burgundy on its chest and the legend of Maximilian [...] should be seen; on the other side […] the electoral coat of arms ”with his title and the title of governor awarded to him. A note from the person in charge of the certificate that Maximilian's submission was violated. The guldengroschen that was actually minted differs from the original mainly in that Friedrich used his bust instead of the prescribed electoral coat of arms, although compliance with this document was ordered when the following penalties were threatened:
"[Maximilian] orders, under threat of royal disgrace and a fine of 50 marks of soldered gold, the observance of this document and the acceptance of the named coins as common types in the empire."
The considerable deviation of the Locumtenenstaler from the stipulated coin design remained without consequences. Maximilian allowed Friedrich to continue to hold the title of governor on his return honoris causa until his death.
Köhler's historical explanation (from 1730)
In Johann David Köhler's historical explanation the Locumtenenstaler appears as “Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, a remarkable and highly valued silver contrafect coin [= conterfect coin] with the words IHS MARIa on the collar”.
In the description on the back, the scholar explains why the imperial eagle was depicted as a one-headed and not as a double-headed eagle, as is common with imperial coins:
"Because Maximilian only ROMANORUM REX [lat. for Roman king ] is mentioned in the translated title, only a single-headed eagle is depicted on the coin; in the [other] cited coin from A. 1517, however, it is called ROMANORUM IMPERATOR [lat. for Roman Emperor ], therefore a two-headed eagle was placed on it. "
Köhler explains the words IHS MARIA on the elector's armor by saying that “the elector [...] had the words [...] put on the medals that he [sent] to the Cardinals in Rome and [...] [ that with this symbol he [had] wanted to show his zealous persistence with the Roman Church . "
The Schautaler, according to Köhler, is “actually not a proper thaler, whether [he] weighs the local two Loth [thaler weight = 29.23 g] quite accurately, but it is [...] a contrafect coin or a show piece that is not current [circulatory], but used by the elector only as gifts, as a gracious penny [= medal with the portrait of a prince given away by the prince to his favorites ], as they [are] then also of much loftier and more delicate characters, as [ the] electoral thalers. "
See also
literature
- Walther Haupt: Saxon coinage . German Science Publishing House, Berlin 1974
- Walther Haupt: Saxon coinage . Panel. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaft, Berlin 1974, plate 54
- Paul Arnold: The Saxon thaler currency from 1500 to 1763 . In: Swiss Numismatic Review , Volume 59, 1980
- Klaus Keilitz: The Saxon Coins 1500–1547 . H. Gietl, Regenstauf 2010
- Johann David Köhler: Historical coin amusement , Nuremberg 1730
- Carl Christoph Schmieder: Addendum to the concise dictionary of entire coinage ... Halle / Berlin 1815, p. 117/118: "Locumtenensthaler" and one with the cross (CCSN) is not, however, a Locumtenensthaler
- Friedrich von Schrötter (Ed.) With N. Bauer, K. Regling, A. Suhle, R. Vasmer, J. Wilcke: Dictionary of coinage . de Gruyter, Berlin 1970 (reprint of the original edition from 1930)
- Heinz Fengler, Gerd Gierow, Willy Unger: transpress Lexicon Numismatics . Berlin 1976
- Michael Lilienthal: Complete Thaler Cabinet, that is: Historical-Critical Description […] . Königsberg / Leipzig 1747, p. 168/170, No. 486/487/488 "A strange Thaler [...]"
Individual evidence
- ↑ Friedrich von Schrötter…: Dictionary of Coin Studies …, p. 358
- ^ Numismatischer Verein zu Dresden e. V. (Ed.): Dresden Numismatic Hefte , No. 1, 1996, p. 20. Genealogy: 1507 Reichsgeneralstatthalter
- ↑ Heinz Fengler, ...: transpress Lexikon Numismatics ..., p. 203
- ^ Paul Arnold: Walther Haupt and his "Saxon Coin Studies" . In: Numismatik Hefte , Dresden No. 20, 1986, p. 57
- ^ Paul Arnold: Walther Haupt and his "Saxon Coin Studies" . In: Numismatic Hefte , Dresden No. 20, 1986, p. 57: Schautaler
- ↑ acsearch: One of the most beautiful German show thalers of the Renaissance (here gold-plated), referred to as a "double guldengroschen", is a show thaler (medal)
- ^ Paul Arnold: Walther Haupt and his "Saxon Coin Studies" . In: Numismatik Hefte , Dresden No. 20, 1986, p. 57: Schautaler or medals
- ^ Acsearch: Mint Hall or Dresden after the stamps were later sent to Saxony. (Note on this: The Dresden mint was not established by Elector August until 1556. The “wide guldengroschen” is a medal).
- ^ Paul Arnold: The Saxon Thaler Currency from 1500 to 1763 , Swiss Numismatic Rundschau, Volume 59, 1980, p. 59 (based on P. Grotemeyer: The governor medals of the Elector Friedrich the Wise in Munich Yearbook of Fine Arts, 3rd part XXI, 1970 Pp. 143–166)
- ↑ Künker Auction 2016, No. 271, p. 142: Die cutter in the Hall mint since 1508 (guaranteed)
- ↑ Berthold Hinz: The portraits of the three last Ernestine-Saxon electors. In: Readings of History ..., ed. by Jens Flemming u. a. Kassel: Kassel University Press, 2004, pp. 199–220.
- ^ Johann David Köler: Historische Münzbelustigung , Nuremberg 1730, p. 257
- ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde ..., p. 167
- ^ District Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt ...: "Martin Luther, Treasures of the Reformation", sandstone publisher. In it p. 62: Medal (so-called governor's thaler) on the general governor of Frederick the Wise who was appointed in 1507
- ^ Johann David Koeler: Historische Münzbelustigung , Nuremberg 1730, p. 246
- ^ District Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt ...: Martin Luther, Schätze der Reformation . Sandstone publisher. P. 62: Medalists
- ↑ acsearch: Guldengroschen, commemorative coin for the governorship
- ^ The Reichstag in Constance 1507 (PDF) edited by Dietmar Heil. Reichstag files, middle row, 1.1. Reich governor's office, Elector Friedrich of Saxony, p. 3, no. 736
- ^ Carl Christoph Schmieder: Concise dictionary of the entire coinage . Halle / Berlin 1811, p. 99
- ↑ Note: IHS MARIA is not on all show talers
- ^ Johann David Köhler: Historical coin amusement . Nuremberg 1730, pp. 257-264