Mary II as Regent
attributed to John Roettiers (1631- London 1703)
Category
Coins and medals
Date
1690
Materials
Copper
Measurements
50 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Great Britain
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 773278
Summary
Copper, Queen Mary II (1662-94) as Regent, attributed to John Roettiers (1631-1703), struck United Kingdom, 1690. A struck copper medal commemorating Queen Mary II, consort of and joint monarch with King William III (1650-1702), in her capacity as Regent. The Queen shown on obverse facing right, her hair bound with a fillet, a brooch fastening her mantle at the shoulder. Latin legend reads, in translation as ’Mary II by the Grace of God Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland.’ On reverse an empty landscape with a full moon above, between clouds and stars. The legend reads: ‘Like the moon among the lesser lights’ (from Horace, Odes, I, xii, 47-48).
Full description
The medal was probably executed shortly after the passing by Parliament, on 7 May 1690, of the Regency Bill, which provided that whenever William III was absent from England, Mary would be entitled to administer the affairs of the kingdom in the name of both monarchs. The removal of King James II/VII and the installation of Mary and William as joint monarchs met a great deal of opposition, both from Jacobite factions which regarded the entire process as unlawful and unjustified, but also from many Protestants, who disliked William, seen as a Dutch interloper. Mary remained on the whole far more popular among the people than her husband. After the former King James had landed in Ireland, William had to make preparations to travel there to confront the former sovereign, which brought to the surface the problem of how the country should be ruled in the absence of one of the monarchs. At first, William argued that Mary should not be permitted to rule in her sole right, suggesting that a Council should be set up to govern in his absence. However, he eventually agreed to the Regency Act, which stated that, notwithstanding the Bill of Rights: ‘whensoever and so often as it shall happen that his Majesty shall be absent out of this realm of England it shall and may be lawful for the Queen's Majesty to exercise and administer the regal power and government of the kingdom.’ (Statutes of the Realm, 11 vols., 1810–28, VI, p. 170). In fact, the King went ahead nevertheless with setting up a Council of nine members to support and advise the queen during William’s frequent absences, which as well as his journey to Ireland in 1690, included long spells in the Netherlands during each of the following three years. The reverse of the medal suggests that Mary would shine brighter among her ministers, with the borrowed light that the Act brought. Although inexperienced at the beginning of her first Regency, Mary would prove herself an able ruler and administrator, who succeeded far better than her husband would have done in reconciling many in the country to the 1688 Revolution and its effects. Jeremy Warren 2019
Provenance
Given to the National Trust in 1993 by George Child Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (1910-1998).
Marks and inscriptions
Obverse, legend: MARIA. II. D.G. MAG. BR. FR. ET. HIB. REGINA. Reverse, legend: VELVT. INTER. IGNES. LVNA. MINORES
Makers and roles
attributed to John Roettiers (1631- London 1703), medallist
References
Hawkins, E. (ed.) Franks, A.W. and Grueber, H.A: Medallic Illustrations of the History of Great Britain and Ireland to the death of George II, 2 vols,. London, 1885, I, pp. 704-05, no. 111 Eimer 2010: Christopher Eimer, British Commemorative Medals and their Values, London 2010, p.67. no. 320