Taler for the capture of Gotha (1567)

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Taler from 1567 for the capture of Gotha from the Dresden mint (diameter 40 mm, 28.62 g)

The guldengroschen , referred to as a thaler on the capture of Gotha , is a commemorative coin minted in 1567 by the Saxon Elector August (1553–1586) with a demonstratively large Kurschild on the front and nine lines of writing on the back. The inscription contains the execution of the Reich commissioned by the Emperor and carried out by Elector August . Occasion of stamping the termination of the last was disturbing the peace force Grumbach Handel .

Coin-historical connections

The Schmalkaldic War ended on May 19, 1547 with the Wittenberg surrender . The Ernestines lost their electoral dignity to the Albertines . This also resulted in the final coin separation . The new Albertine Elector Moritz  (1541–1547–1553) only minted in his own name. After Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous  (1532–1547–1554) died as a “born elector” (natus elector), his eldest son Johann Friedrich II. (The middle) had given himself up in the years 1566/1567, the false hope of electoral dignity and to be able to regain the lost Courland. The Frankish imperial knight Wilhelm von Grumbach, who was in breach of the peace, encouraged him to realize his own plans.

The Albertine Elector August of Saxony besieged Gotha and Grimmenstein Castle on behalf of Emperor Maximilian II  (1564–1576) . The result was the looting and destruction of the city. The Grimmenstein was razed to the ground .

Gotha was handed over on April 13, 1567 to Elector August, who had besieged the city and the castle as executor of the imperial ban since December 24, 1566. The imperial ban was also imposed on December 12, 1566 because of the Grumbachian Handel against Duke Johann Friedrich the Middle.

After the Elector August had taken Gotha, he had a commemorative coin with a demonstratively large Kurschild and nine-line inscription minted in larger numbers (based on the first type).

As compensation for war costs , he received the offices of Weida , Arnshaugk , Ziegenrück and Sachsenburg from the emperor . Duke Johann Friedrich the Middle remained in Habsburg custody until his death . On May 9, 1595 he died in captivity at Steyr Castle .

Tentzel's explanation

The polyhistor Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel.

After the thaler was issued on the capture of Gotha, the cruel execution of the "enemies of the Reich" became known. Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel explains in his Saxonia Numismatica the punishment of the "outlawed and besieged" enemies. The punishment described originally comes from a, according to Tentzel, “complete description of this Gotha War” which was discovered in Strasbourg in the following year (1568).

Grumbach and Chancellor Brück were accordingly

“ Divided into living quarters . Wilhelm von Stein beheaded / then divided into four . Brandenstein beheaded / Beyer hanged . David Baumgartner von Augspurg / as one of the culprits of the riot / beheaded. The farmer's boy / whom they had abused in their magic / was hanged. Before that, however, Hertzog Johann Friedrich was taken away as a prisoner. Which Luckius briefly pulls together from Langueti's extensive story . "

It seems, according to Tentzel,

"[...] For no other reason, Chur-Prince August put the bare sign with the Creutz-wise laid Chur-Schwerdtern on these thalers / to indicate / that he would now more than ever be Chur-Prince [...]."

The obverse shows the demonstratively large Kurschild as a coin image. The elector did not use the otherwise usual ducal-Saxon coat of arms.

Köhler's explanations of the main characters in the episode

Johann David Köhler dealt extensively with the three main characters of "this tragedy" in his weekly Historical Coin Amusement . These are Duke Johann Friedrich the Middle, Knight Wilhelm von Grumbach and the Saxon-Gotha Chancellor Christian Brück.

The following can be added from his extensive historical explanations:

Chancellor Christian Brück

"Immediately after the bored elector, Joh. Friedrichs zu Sachsen A. passed away in 1554," said Köhler, "[was] accepted by his three ruling sons [...] zum Rath and Cantzler [...]".

After the capture of Gotha, Christian Brück was convicted of breach of the peace on April 18, 1567, after having been “embarrassedly questioned” on April 14 . The cruel execution took place on the day of the sentencing. It "was cut into 4 pieces and divided up." Brück's corpse, divided into four, was "put on the streets near the Leine mill towards Waltershausen ".

Knight Wilhelm von Grumbach

The "courageous main rebel " Wilhelm von Grumbach, after the counts one to four mentioned by Köhler, " excited the margravial war ", had the bishop of Würzburg Melchior Zobel shot in Würzburg, attacked and sacked the city of Würzburg with 800 men Elector August of Saxony “striving for life and limb”.

Grumbach was quartered with Chancellor Christian Brück and Wilhelm von Stein on April 18, 1567 on the market square of Gotha .

Duke Johann Friedrich the Middle

Duke Frederick the Middle was arrested because, out of “obstinacy and presumptuousness”, he persistently granted the outlawed “Grumbach and his comrades” residence and shelter. Gotha and Grimmenstein Castle were besieged and handed over from December 24th, 1566 to April 13th of the following year.

In a handwritten note, the captured Duke Friedrich complained that "through unfaithful people pracktiken dey [sic] fortress Grimstein and Gottaw one cause had to be given up".

Until his death in 1595, Elector August was the guardian of the two sons of the Duke, who was in imperial custody. Princes Johann Casimir and Johann Ernst were probably happy that they were reinstated in their father's estates. You have renounced any extravagance.

Coin description

The guldengroschen, known as the "Taler on the capture of Gotha", comes in three variants:

  • with the year on the back (often)
  • with the year on both sides (not so often)
  • as a valley cliff (very rare)

There is a fourfold thick thaler of the first variant , which is extremely rare.

Elector August had the guldengroschen minted in the Dresden mint under mint master Hans Biener (1556–1601), the first mint master of the newly established Dresden mint in 1556 .

The silver taler coin minted according to the Saxon coinage standard (1558–1571) theoretically weighs 29.00 grams (the coin shown 28.62 grams), the diameter is 40 millimeters. According to the Saxon coinage system of September 27, 1558, the guldengroschen with a value of 24  groschen was minted with a silver fineness of 14  lot 8  grän = 902.78 ‰.

front

(Coin image see above)

Mascaron on the front

The front shows a demonstratively large Kurschild in a renaissance cartouche . The mint master's mark HB ( ligated ) of the mint master Hans Biener is located under the coat of arms , and a mascaron at the top .

  • Inscription: + TANDEM + BONA + CAVSA + TRIVMPHAT
    • Translation: Finally the good cause wins.

back

  • Nine lines of font: MDLXVII / GOTHA • CAPTA / SVPPLICIO • DE • PRO / SCRIPTIS • IMP (erii): HOS / TIB (us): OBSESS (is) • SVMPTO / COETERISQ (ue) • FVGATIS / AVGVSTVS • D (ux) • SAXO (niae) / ELECTOR • & c / • F (ieri) • F (ecit) •
    • Translation: When Gotha was conquered in 1567, punishment was carried out on the outlawed besieged enemies of the empire and the rest were put to flight, August, Duke of Saxony and Elector, had (this coin ) made.

See also

literature

  • Paul Arnold: The Saxon Thaler Currency from 1500 to 1763 , Swiss Numismatic Review, Volume 59, 1980
  • Julius and Albert Erbstein: The Knights of Schulthess Rechberg'sche coin and medal collection : Second section: P. 127: Taler and history
  • Julius Erbstein, Albert Erbstein: Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history when listing the Hofrath Engelhardt'schen collection , Dresden 1888, p. 68: First and second variety with history
  • Heinz Fengler, Gerd Gierow, Willy Unger: transpress Lexikon Numismatics , Berlin 1976
  • Walther Haupt : Saxon coinage . German Verl. D. Wiss., Berlin 1974, p. 224: Taler on the capture of Gotha. Zwei Arten und Talerklippe, pp. 275/279 Text and translation
  • Helmut Kahnt: The large lexicon of coins from A to Z. H. Gietl Verlag, Regenstauf 2005
  • Johann David Köhler: […] Historical Coin Amusement Twelfth Part […] , Christoph Weigels the Elder . Ä. soul. Widow, Nuremberg 1740 ( digitized by BSB digital); therein pp. 154–160: Ritter Grumbach, pp. 234–240: Johann Friedrich II., pp. 401–408: Chancellor Brück.
  • Otto F. Müller: Otto Merseburger collection including coins and medals from Saxony, sales catalog , Leipzig 1894, p. 29 .: No. 676: Vierfacher Dicktaler (nowhere else listed as quadruple thaler); No. 678 and No. 679
  • Wolfgang Steguweit : History of the Gotha Mint from the 12th to the 19th Century , Weimar 1987
  • Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel: Saxonia Numismatica or Cabinet of Medals from Gedächtniß-Müntzen and Show-Pfennigs Which the most noble Chur and Princes of Saxony stamped the Albertinian main line [...] . Christian Wermuth, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig 1705 ( digitized by BSB digital)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 224: Taler on the capture of Gotha
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Steguweit: History of the Gotha Mint ... (1987), p. 43: Taler on the capture of Gotha
  3. ^ Paul Arnold: Elector August (1553–1586) and the Saxon coinage . In numismatic notebooks. No. 20, Dresden 1986, p. 13.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Steguweit: History of the Gotha Mint ... (1987), p. 43: Torn down to the foundation walls.
  5. ↑ Julius Erbstein, Albert Erbstein: Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history (1888), p. 68
  6. ↑ Julius and Albert Erbstein: The Knights of Schulthess Rechberg'sche coin and medal collection : Second section, p. 127: Taler and history
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Steguweit: History of the Gotha Mint ... (1987), p. 44
  8. ↑ Johann Jacob Luckius: Sylloge numismatum elegantiorum , Strasbourg 1620
  9. ^ Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel: Saxonia Numismatica ... , 1st book, p. 126
  10. ^ Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel: Saxonia Numismatica ... , 1st book, p. 128
  11. ↑ Johann David Koehler's… Historical Coin Amusement, Part 12, p. 402 (51st piece from December 21, 1740)
  12. ↑ Johann David Köhler's… Historischer Münz-Amustigung 12. Part, pp. 401-408 (51st piece of December 21, 1740).
  13. ↑ Johann David Köhler's… Historischer Münz-Amustigung 12th part, pp. 152–153 (20th piece from May 18, 1740)
  14. ↑ Johann David Köhler's… Historischer Münz-Amustigung 12th part, p. 234 (30th piece of July 27, 1740)
  15. ↑ Johann David Köhler's… Historischer Münz-Amustigung 12th part, p. 235 (30th piece of July 27, 1740)
  16. ↑ Wolfgang Steguweit: History of the Gotha Mint ... (1987), p. 46
  17. ^ Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel: Saxonia Numismatica ... , 1st book (1714), p. 123 and 3rd book, Fig. Tab. 12
  18. ↑ acsearch: Taler on the capture of Gotha with the year on both sides
  19. ↑ Otto F. Müller: Otto Merseburger Collection… , (1894), p. 29 .: No. 676: Vierfacher Dicktaler, nowhere else listed.
  20. ^ Paul Arnold: The Saxon Thaler Currency from 1500 to 1763 , Swiss Numismatic Rundschau, Volume 59, 1980, p. 68
  21. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 279
  22. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 275