Description

Charles II. 1660-1685. Silver Medal 1681, 27.61 g. Earl of Shaftesbury, Acquittal of High Treason. By G. Bower. Bust draped. ANTONIO COMITI DE SHAFTESBVRY. On truncation: G B. F. Rv. View of London and the Tower seen from the south bank of Thames; above sun piercing clouds. LÆTAMVR. In exergue: 24 NOV 1681. Plain edge. 40.8 mm. Eimer 261. MI i 583/259. Vorzüglich / Extremely Fine. Leicht gereinigt / Lightly cleaned.

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (22 July 1621 - 21 January 1683), was an English statesman and philanthropist. He held senior political office under both the Commonwealth of England and Charles II, serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1661 to 1672 and Lord Chancellor from 1672 to 1673.

During the Exclusion Crisis, Shaftesbury headed the movement to bar the Catholic heir, James II, from the royal succession, which is often seen as the origin of the Whig party. He was also a patron of the political philosopher John Locke, with whom Shaftesbury collaborated with in writing the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina in 1669.

His sponsorship of the Exclusion Bill in 1679 led to two years of political struggle, but ultimately ended in defeat. During the subsequent Tory reaction in 1681, Shaftesbury was arrested for high treason, a prosecution dropped several months later. Fearing re-arrest and execution, in 1682 he went into exile in Amsterdam, where he died in January 1683.