Description

Charles I. 1625-1649. Silver Medal 1633, 3.20 g. Baptism of Prince James, Duke of York. By N. Briot. Prince's arms within garnished shield with ducal coronet. NON . SIC . MILLE . COHORTES . Rv. Inscription in six lines: IACOBVS , DVX . EBOR : NAT ' . 15 : OCT : BAPTIZ : 24. NOVE : 1633. Plain edge. 29.6 mm. Eimer 126B. MI i 268/65. Gutes sehr schön / Good Very Fine. Felder geglättet / Fields chased.

Purchased from S & B, Amersham, May 1992, lot M91.

James II and VII (14 October 1633 - 16 September 1701) was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685, until he was deposed in the 1688 Glorious Revolution. The last Catholic monarch of England, Scotland, and Ireland, his reign is now remembered primarily for conflicts over religion. However, it also involved struggles over the principles of absolutism and the divine right of kings, with his deposition ending a century of political and civil strife by confirming the primacy of the English Parliament over the Crown.

James, second surviving son of King Charles I and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France, was born at St James's Palace in London on 14 October 1633. Later that same year, he was baptized by William Laud, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury.

There were at least three pairs of dies used in striking these pieces, which were liberally distributed upon the occasion.