Geuzen Medals - Probably The First Political Geuzen Medal

Probably The First Political Geuzen Medal

Letters between Granvelle, at that time in Madrid, and his secretary Morillon in Brussels show that Jacques Jonghelinck, master medal maker with a workshop in one of the buildings of the palace complex in Brussels, in the spring of 1566 had made a mould for a small medal. Successively he cast medals in lead, tin, copper, silver or gold (specimens in tin or copper now are unknown; a very few specimens in lead are found, but because lead is inherently soft - so the medal is not "stable", its eyelet is of questionable authenticity - lacking proof that they are real originals and not later date copies). On June 15 Morillon sent a lead specimen to Granvelle with the sneer that more medals were cast in lead then in the other metals; a medal for poor people “affin peult-estre gue les Geutz demeurent en leur qualité”, something like “perhaps the quality (of the medals) being in line with the standing of the Geuzen”. Most probably such a medal, cast silver and original gilt, is shown in the next picture.

There is no absolute proof that this is the earliest type of Geuzen medal and was produced by Jacques Jonghelinck, the point being that on original paintings and prints it is through lack of details not very well possible to distinguish between this medal and the two to be discussed next. The medal is described in part I of the book by Gerard van Loon “Beschrijving der Nederlandse Historipenningen ….”, 1713–1731, and now has the collectors reference vL.I 85/84.5. It is qualified as “rare to very rare”. The medal is small, just an inch not counting the eyelet. It shows the bust of Philip II, with “1566” on its cut and the text “EN TOVT FIDELLES AV ROY” and on the reverse side a beggar's bag or sack, hands and the text, “IVSQVES A PORTER LA BESACE”. The texts mean something like “In everything loyal to the king” and “even condemned to beggars’ level”. The medal was worn on the breast with a ribbon around the neck . Morillon gives the information that Jonghelinck’s neighbouring “tourneur”, doubtless a master furniture maker, turned many small wooden bowls that ladies wore hanging from their ears (now original specimens are unknown). Authentic pictures sometimes show the nobility wearing model beggar’s bowls and flasks, fastened to the same ribbon. On the reverse side of the medal shown above, some wear is visible due to contact with breast armour.

Of this type of medals about half of the known specimens have their eyelet broken off. That is due to fashion in the late 17th and 18th century, when a medal with an eyelet did not show off beautifully in a collector’s cabinet (even nowadays museums sometimes buy early medals with an eyelet broken off, unaware of yesterday’s fashion and of complete specimens in other collections). Early in the 17th century, when it became clear that the Dutch were going to win their Eighty Years War, there was a growing demand for Geuzen medals, because now it was safe to be a geus. From that moment Jonghelinck’s medal was copied, mostly not cast but in struck silver, mostly slightly bigger to show off better and already sometimes with attached beggar’s bowls and flasks.