Medal commemorating the 400th Anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada
The Royal Mint
Category
Coins and medals
Date
1988
Materials
Silver
Measurements
5.2 mm (Depth); 632 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Llantrisant
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 773333
Summary
Silver, medal commemorating the 400th Anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, designed by Marcel Canioni, Royal Mint, Llantrisant, United Kingdom, 1988. A silver medal issued by the Royal Mint in 1988, to commemorate the four-hundredth anniversary of the Spanish Armada. On the obverse is the coat-of-arms of the Royal Mint. The reverse is a reproduction of the reverse of a Dutch silver medal produced shortly after the defeat of the Armada. It shows a pitched naval battle between English ships and the forces of the Spanish Armada with, at top, a sunburst and the name Jehovah, in Hebrew script, the legend translating as ‘He blew and they were scattered. 1588.’ The medal was issued in an edition of 2,500. It is in the original green leather-effect box, with the device of the Royal Mint on the inside of the lid. Also within the box is a printed card with the technical details of the issue, a description of the medal and the Royal Mint’s certificate of authenticity.
Full description
The medal commemorates the defeat of the Spanish Armada, sent by Philip II, King of Spain in May 1588 from La Coruna, to accompany an invasion force to be dispatched from the Netherlands to invade England. The aim was to remove the Protestant monarch Elizabeth I, in order to eliminate English interference in the troubled Spanish Netherlands, to put a stop to English piracy against Spanish shipping and to assert Philip’s claim, as the former husband of Elizabeth’s half-sister Mary I, to the throne of England. The Armada was famously defeated, as much by weather conditions, notably the wind which swept it inexorably northwards, as by the actions of the English fleet under Sir Francis Drake. The reverse of the medal, copied from a Dutch medal issued shortly after the events of the Armada, refers to “divine” intervention in the presence of Jehovah, both at the top and in the legend. The obverse is a standard design used by the Royal Mint for commemorative medal issues during this period. It features the Armorial Bearings of the Royal Mint, as confirmed on 23 April 1982 by the College of Arms. The Arms incorporate devices from the personal arms of the five principal Officers of the Mint in 1561-62: Sir Edmund Peckham, High Treasurer, cross crosslets fitchée; Thomas Stanley, Under Treasurer, stags’ heads; John Bull, Comptroller, bulls’ heads; William Humfrey, Assaymaster, fleurs de lys; John Monnes, Provost of the Moneyers, the castles. The 400th Anniversary Medal was issued in an edition of 2,500. 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: ROYAL MINT. CENTENARY MEDAL. Reverse, legend: FLAVIT. ET. DISSIPATI. SVNT. 1588. Edge: Hallmark
Makers and roles
The Royal Mint, minter Marcel Canioni, medallist
References
Hawkins, Franks and Grueber 1885: Edward Hawkins, Augustus W. Franks and Herbert A. Grueber (eds.), Medallic Illustrations of the History of Great Britain and Ireland to the death of George II, 2 vols., London 1885, vol I, pp. 145-46, no. 112. Milford Haven 1919: Admiral the Marquess of Milford Haven, British Naval Medals, London 1919, p. 5, no. 5. Eimer 2010: Christopher Eimer, British Commemorative Medals and their Values, London 2010, On the original Dutch medal: p. 36, no. 57, Pl. 5. On the 1988 anniversary medal: p. 279, no. 2160, Pl. 240. Royal Mint Annual Report 1987-88., p. 5