Geuzen Medals - An Early Political Geuzen Medal By An Unknown Medal Maker

An Early Political Geuzen Medal By An Unknown Medal Maker

Morillon writes on July 7, 1566, to Granvelle that he got angry at Jonghelinck “because he had broken his first Geuzen medal“ (it is likely that Morillon means that Jonghelinck had broken his mould), but he expected that Jonghelinck could reproduce (his mould), even though he made only a very small profit on his first version. It is (yet) unknown who is the medal maker of the cast silver, gilt, Geuzen medal with collectors reference vL.I 85/84.4 and the qualification “very rare” shown next.

The text is nearly identical to the Jonghelinck medal with the exception that “1566” is now put in the text, but note that there are now hollow points inserted between the words. The medal is slightly bigger and “fuller” then the former one. On the reverse there is no beggars bag or sack but two nobles shaking hands. The left noble has a beggars bowl and flask on his hip. Between the feet of the nobles is a monogram, most likely "VLG”, probably meaning "Vive le Geux", but it could also refer to the medal maker. Maybe this medal is also shaped by Jonghelinck or a befriended or cooperating medal maker; there is reasonable similarity in style and production method and the monogram does not bar the assumption. Dating the medal is more difficult, because “1566” in the text is not decisive (on the former medal “1566“ was found on the cut of the neck of Philip II, so being much more decisive). One of the nobles already retains beggars’ bowl and flask, but the other noble does not yet wear a Geuzen medal on a ribbon, which we will find on a Geuzen medal of 1572, to be discussed later. On the other hand people in 1566 began to revolt extremely, the so called “beeldenstorm” or Protestant iconoclasm, starting August 16 in Steenvoorde. The king, Margareta, the Consultá and the high nobility are furious, recollecting what happened 30 years earlier in Münster, Genève and Augsburg and 10 years earlier in Scotland, for that reason definitely no concessions. The majority of the lower nobility is also shocked and the “Compromis” is disbanded, most nobles swear their loyalty to the king again. A medal with a mixed character, King and reverse Geus, is then unthinkable. For those reasons the best guess is that this medal dates from early summer 1566, to be more specific after July 7 and before the end of August.

Van der Meer (see references) presents another geuzen medal, this time in gold, where it is said that this one belonged to Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn. This medal is nearly identical to Jonghelinck's medal, but it has points (not hollow ones) inserted between the words of the text. The authenticity of that medal is not to be discussed, a question mark could only arise around it to be worn by the Count of Hoorne, who was executed on command of the duke of Alba in 1568. Maybe this third medal is also cast by Jonghelinck or a befriended or cooperating medal maker. To give a fair impression of this last medal a picture of an illustration in Van der Meer's article is given.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam possesses a piece of tapisserie. It shows the famous maiden Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer of Haarlem during the siege of that city in 1572-73 (if you visit the website of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, go to "collection" and search for "geuzenpenning", the tapisserie will be one of three "hits"). We see Kenau, assisted by two other armed maidens, wearing a geuzen medal on a ribbon around her neck. Even the effigie of the Spanish king is being suggested.