The Peace of Utrecht
John Croker (1670 - 1741)
Category
Coins and medals
Date
1713
Materials
Copper
Measurements
60 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Great Britain
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 773300
Summary
Copper, medal commemorating the Peace of Utrecht, by John Croker (1670-1741), struck London, United Kingdom, 1713. A copper medal commemorating the signing of the Treaty of the Peace of Utrecht, in the Dutch city of Utrecht on 31 March 1713, bringing to a close the War of the Spanish Succession. On the obverse is Queen Anne in profile, facing left, a laurel wreath in her hair, and with the legend ‘Anne, by the Grace of God Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland.’ The artist’s initials in the truncation. The reverse depicts Britannia seated, holding a spear and a laurel sprig, her shield at her side. To the left ships, to the right men ploughing and sowing. Legend translates: ‘They honour [peace] by laying aside their arms.’
Full description
In the decades around 1700 the European powers engaged in a series of long and attritional conflicts. The War of the Spanish Succession broke out in 1702, just five years after the signing, in September 1697, of the Peace of Ryswick, which had brought to an end the War of the Treaty of Augsburg or ‘Nine Years War’ (1688-97; see NT 773284-290; 773311). Both wars involved the same essential conflict, between France on one side and on the other a Grand Alliance consisting of Britain, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the United Provinces. At the root of both conflicts lay bitter competition between France and the Holy Roman Empire over the eventual succession to the throne of Spain, on the death of the childless Spanish monarch Charles II, as well as wider European concern about the impact that alignment of Spain with either France or the Holy Roman Empire would have on the balance of power on the Continent. Hopes of a lengthy period of peaceful coexistence following the meeting at Ryswick were disappointed since, in the event, the peace lasted only until the death in 1700 of Charles. Charles was discovered to have named as his successor Philip of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV. The result was the creation in 1701 of a new Great Alliance between the Empire, Britain and the Netherlands, in an attempt to bolster Austrian claims to the Spanish throne and to keep France within its borders. In 1702, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out, lasting until 1713 and the Peace of Utrecht. The War of the Spanish Succession involved conflict on land and at sea, within Europe but also in the Caribbean, North America and India. It was during the early stages of the war, when France was forced back within its pre-war boundaries, that the Duke of Marlborough won his famous victories at Blenheim (1704) and Ramillies (1706). Britain was the only one of the European powers with the financial resources to be able to fight both on land and at sea, and she would become the principal beneficiary of the Peace Treaty eventually negotiated by the exhausted parties and signed in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March 1713. So far as settlement of the original casus belli was concerned, Louis’ grandson Philip was confirmed as king of Spain, but renounced all claims to the throne of France. Spain was allowed to retain most of its possessions outside Europe, but forced to cede its European territories in the Netherlands and Italy. It was the Treaty of Utrecht which ceded Gibraltar to Britain in perpetuity. The Treaty confirmed Britain’s status as the leading European commercial and maritime power whilst, conversely, it marked the beginnings of the decline of the Netherlands as a major European power. Croker’s medal is strongly focussed, as is a Dutch medal by Daniel and Jan Drappentier (NT 773302), on the benefits to maritime and land-based commerce expected from the peace. Indeed, at the same time as the Peace Treaty between Britain and France was signed, the two countries also signed a Treaty of Commerce. A very similar variant medal by John Croker (NT 733301) shows Britannia standing rather than seated. 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: ANNA. D: G: MAG: BRI: FR: ET. HIB: REG: Obverse below truncation: I.C. Reverse legend: COMPOSITIS. VENERANTVR. ARMIS. Reverse in exergue: MDCCXIII.
Makers and roles
John Croker (1670 - 1741), 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, II, pp. 399-400, no. 256 Eimer 2010: Christopher Eimer, British Commemorative Medals and their Values, London 2010, p. 82, no. 458, Pl. 54