Coronation Medal of Edward VI

312, Lot: 26. Estimate $50000. Sold for $30000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TUDOR. Edward VI. 1547-1553. AR Medal (59mm, 50.36 g, 3h). Commemorating the King’s Coronation and his Assumption of the Title “Supreme Head of the Church of England”. By Henry Bayse (or Basse), chief engraver. Dated 22 February 1547 (in Roman numerals) and 1547 (in Greek alpha-numerals). EDVARDVS SEX TVS D G ANGLIÆ F RANCIÆ (ET) HIBER • REX • FIDEI DEFENS •/ET • IN • TERRIS ANGLICA • E HIB ER • ECCLESI • CA PVT • SVPREMVM (Edward the Sixth, by the Grace of God, king of England, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, and on Earth, supreme head of the Church of England and Ireland), bust left, wearing a jeweled cap, ermine robe and jeweled collar; crowned E R across field; crowned Tudor rose above; crowned harp to left; crowned portcullis to right; crowned lis below; quadrate stops before EDVARDVS, SEXTVS, D, G, and ANGLIÆ / CORONATVS EST/• WESMONASTERII • Anno/M D XLVII die XX Februa/rii REGNI sui Primo Ætatis X/אידוארדוס/הששי ג מלך/ באמונה/ובעדת אנגליאי חיבירניאי ראש /ΕΔΟΥΑΡΔΟΣ ΕΧΤΟΣ TPIΣ/ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ ΠΡΟΣΤΑ/ΤΗΣ ΕΝ ΤΗ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ/ΑΓΓΛΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΙΒΕΡΝΙΑΣ/ΑΚΡΗ Η ΚΕΦΑΛΗ/ΣΤΕΦΑΝΩΘΕΙΣ ΕΤΕΙ/X(H in Π)ΔΔΔΔΠI in twelve lines; E, flanked by quadrate and pellet, and R, flanked by pellet and quadrate; above, flanking crown above three rosettes across field; star before CORONATVS and אידוארדוס ; star after ΙΒΕΡΝΙΑΣ; two stars after ΚΕΦΑΛΗ; quadrate before M, D, XLVII, die, Februa, and REGNI; quadrates flanking X in Latin date, and Greek date; all within wreath. MI (Hawkins) 2 and pl. III, 11; R. Bishop, “Lucerna Pedibus meis verbum est,” Spink Auction Insider (Spring 2010), 6 (this medal); Eimer –. Good VF, toned, evidence of attempted piercing for wearing. Extremely rare.

From the Clearwater Collection. Ex Peus 381 (2 November 2004), lot 2198.

Following the death of Henry VIII on 28 January 1547, the throne passed to his young son and heir Edward. The new King was the son of Henry by his third wife, Jane Seymour. The need for a Tudor male heir had prompted Henry to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon (so that he could wed his second, Anne Boleyn) and set in motion what would become known as the English Reformation. During the brief reign of Edward VI the Reformation would be advanced much further than Henry had been prepared to tolerate. The regency council, led by the Edward's uncle, the Lord Protector, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, was avowedly Protestant. The champion of reform was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. Exploiting the young king's enthusiasm for the cause and his position as Supreme Head of the Church a comprehensive series of reforms were implemented with the intent of purifying England from the perceived corruption of the Roman Church. Edward VI's untimely death in 1553 would cause a major set back to the Protestant party as his elder Catholic sister Mary swiftly succeed him and attempt to reverse the tide in the flames of the Counter Reformation. Cranmer was burnt at the stake in Oxford in 21 March 1556