Medal of Bravery (Nassau)

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The Duchy of Nassau's medal of bravery was donated by decree on August 9, 1807 by Duke Friedrich August von Nassau on the occasion of the Fourth Coalition War on the French side. The medal was awarded to honor NCOs and teams in gold and silver . Officers were excluded from the award.

history

The intention to donate the Medal of Bravery is mentioned for the first time in a decree of March 19, 1807 by Friedrich August. It also mentions the commissioning of the Mainz engraver Johann Lindenschmidt with the production of the necessary stamps and a first tranche of medals. The first eleven gold and 50 silver badges were probably made in June 1807. From 1810 on, the further coins were struck in the Nassau Mint Direction Ehrenbreitstein.

On August 19, 1807, the statutes for the Medal of Valor were issued. For the campaign against Prussia, Nassau soldiers received four gold and 28 silver medals in 1807 and one gold and one silver for their achievements in the Austrian campaign during the Fifth Coalition War . There were 17 gold and 102 silver awards for the longest campaign of the Nassau military from 1808 to 1813 in Spain . In addition, the flags of the 2nd regiment were each awarded a gold medal for the battles at Medellín and Mesa de Ibor. For the battles at Quatre-Bras and Waterloo , in which the Nassauer now took part against Napoleon, there were 17 gold and 115 silver medals. The 2nd Infantry Regiment, which was subordinate to the Netherlands at that time, was not taken into account, but was given Dutch awards.

In 1816 the government commissioned engraver Philipp Zollmann to produce new medal stamps with the image of the new Duke Wilhelm . The minting took place at the ducal mint of Limburg. In 1849 a new coinage was adapted to the now ruling Duke Adolph . The exact circumstances of its design and manufacture are unknown.

The last time the bravery medal was awarded in the form of ten silver editions in 1849 on the occasion of the campaigns in Baden and for the battle near Eckernförde as part of the Schleswig-Holstein survey . The Nassau Medal of Bravery was awarded a total of 297 times, 41 times in gold and 256 times in silver. Ten soldiers received the medal in both versions. 385 medals, 64 gold and 321 silver medals were made. The first version (Friedrich August) was struck eight times, and one each for the other two.

A commission of officers decided on the award. The achievements for which the medal of bravery was to be awarded had to be confirmed by several witnesses.

Appearance and wearing style

Until 1816, the round medal with a diameter of 35 millimeters shows the portrait of the founder, turned to the right, with the inscription FRIEDRICH I. HERZOG ZU NASSAU and the inscription LINDENSCHMIDT F. on the lower edge . A laurel wreath on the reverse bears the two-line inscription DER TAPFERkeit . Under the inscription there are three crossed flags on top of each other . The gold version weighed 17 grams, the silver 14 grams.

From 1818 on the front of the medal shows the right-facing half-length portrait of Duke Wilhelm I (in small letters on the lower edge: ZOLLMANN) with the corresponding inscription. The medal now weighed 22.5 grams in gold and 22 grams in silver. From 1849 she carried the portrait of Duke Adolph with the adapted legend and the small note CZ at the bottom.

The award was worn on the left side of the chest on a 37 millimeter wide lemon yellow ribbon with 2.5 millimeter wide dark blue stripes at a distance of one millimeter from the edge.

The first versions of the medal had a bracket to which the ribbon was attached, the later versions had a ball eyelet.

Others

The award was also linked to a lifelong pension. Holders of the silver medal also received half of their salary or their disability pension, holders of the gold medal the corresponding full amount.

Since the medals were really made of gold or silver and were therefore of great value for the time, it was illegal to sell or gamble them away.

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