temp. HANOVER. Charles Edward Stuart ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ (the Young Pretender), with Henry Benedict Stuart. 1720-1788 and 1725-1807, respectively. AR Medal (42mm, 39.06 g, 12h). The Legitimacy of the Jacobite Succession. By O. Hamerani. Dated 1720
in Roman numerals [though struck circa 1731]. MICAT · INTER · OMNES (
he shines in the midst of all...), armored and draped bust of Charles right, wearing ermine mantle; star before / ALTER · AB · ILLO (
...and the next after him), armored and draped bust of Henry left. Edge: | DIE · XXXI · DECEMBR · MDCCXX · EXTVLIT · | OS · SACRVM · COELO (
on the 31st of December, he produced his sacred countenance from Heaven, –adapted from Virgil). MI 492/34; Eimer 521. EF, toned, a few light marks.
The fourth and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Henry Benedict Stuart was the younger son of the Old Pretender, James “III and VIII,” and brother of the Young Pretender, Charles “III.” Created the Duke of York by his father, he remained removed from the politics of the Jacobite movement, and was made Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati in Italy where he spent his life in exile. Upon his elder brother’s death in 1788, those within his camp as well as the movement styled him as Henry IX of England and Ireland and Henry I of Scotland. He never referred to himself publicly in this manner, however, and the papacy did not recognize him as the legitimate heir to the respective thrones. Dying childless in 1807, the Jacobite line of succession then passed to Henry’s nearest blood relative (the great-great-great-grandson of Charles I), Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia.
