- Museum number
- 2002,0721.1
- Title
- Object: Negotiations for Peace 1709
- Description
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Struck bronze medal. (whole)
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King Louis XIV of France standing right in front of his throne; before him a female figure representing France stands left, showing him the miseries of his subjects, symbolized by three prostrate figures surrounding the King. (obverse)
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Louis XIV standing right, consulting an astrologer who stands left holding a staff in left, pointing with right to the symbol of Mars (War), at the highest point in the sky, while Mercury (Peace) is just above the horizon; behind him, a table with a globe. (reverse)
- Production date
- 1709
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 43 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Medallic Illustrations 2, published in 1885, states:
At the time Hawkins was writing (1885) no surviving example of this medal was known.
France, drained in every way by the long and severe war, ruined in her finances, and starvation dominant throughout the land, was still further harassed in the winter of 1709 by one of the hardest frosts ever known, which destroyed her vines and left her corn-lands bare. Louis XIV, touched by so much misery, determined, at great sacrifices, to obtain peace, and renewed his overtures at the Hague. He appointed to the mission Rouillé, a President of the Parliament at Paris, and later on De Torcy, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. The negotiations on the part of Holland were carried on by Heinsius, and on that of England by the Duke of Marlborough and Lord Townshend. Although the terms offered by Louis XIV were most liberal, they were not considered ample enough by the Allies, and as the war party was in the ascendant at the Hague, their demands became week by week harder and harder. At length France, though exhausted in her resources, yet feeling that she had submitted to sufficient sacrifices, determined to make one supreme effort, and, having declared null and void the offers she had made, girded herself to renew the contest, even though with a bankrupt Treasury and with starving armies. The reverse of this medal points to the attitude of the war party at the Hague, and the inscription on the edge tells Louis XIV that the sacrifices which he offered to make were only a payment for the favours which he had received during his long reign.
See Van Loon, Gerard, ‘Histoire Métallique des XVII. Provinces des Pays-Bas’, 5 vol. La Haye, 1732-1837 (fol) [There is also an edition in Dutch, but with different paging], Thesaurus Numismatum Modernorum hujus Seculi, &c., Norinbergiæ, 898.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
- Commemoration of: Negotiations for Peace, 1709
- Acquisition date
- 2002
- Department
- Coins and Medals
- Registration number
- 2002,0721.1
- C&M catalogue number
-
MB2 (Medallic Illustrations 2) (352) (187)
