This medal is a part of my French medals collection
Visit my
page with the offers, please.
You will find many interesting items related to this subject.
If you are
interested in other medals, related to this subject, click here, please.
This contemporary French medaille has been minted to commemorate the piedfort du franc of king HENRY III, 1551 - 1589.
This medal
has been designed minted in 500 pieces (100 in silver, 400 in bronze).
This one has the number 158/500 on the reverse.
Henry III (19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589;
born Alexandre Édouard de
France, Polish:
Henryk Walezy,
Lithuanian: Henrikas Valua)
was King of France from 1574 until his death and also
King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1575.A piedfort
(French pronunciation: pee-ay-for or pyay-for; English
pronunciation: peed-fert or peed-fort) is an unusually thick coin, often exactly twice the normal weight and thickness of
other coins of the same diameter and pattern. Piedforts are not normally
circulated, and are only struck for presentation purposes by mint officials (such as patterns), or for collectors,
dignitaries, and other VIPs.
Piedfort is commonly misspelled as "piefort".
A Huguenot
(/ˈhjuːɡənɒt/
or /huːɡəˈnoʊ/;
French: [yɡno], [yɡəno]) is a member of a French Protestant denomination with
origins in the 16th or 17th centuries. Historically, Huguenots were French
Protestants inspired by the writings of John Calvin (Jean Calvin
in French) in the 1530s, who became known by that originally derisive
designation by the end of the 16th century. The majority of Huguenots endorsed
the Reformed tradition of
Protestantism.
av.
Henry IV
rv.
The cross composed of 4 fleur de lis
diameter
– 61 mm, (2⅜”)
weight
– 283.40 gr, (10.00 oz)
metal – bronze, authentic patina
As the fourth son of King Henry II of France, he was
not expected to inherit the French throne and thus was a good candidate for the
vacant throne of the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth, where he was elected King/Grand Duke in 1573. During
his brief rule, he signed the Henrician Articles into
law, recognizing the Polish nobility's right
to freely elect their
monarch. Aged 22, Henry abandoned Poland upon inheriting the French throne when
his brother, Charles IX, died without
issue.
France
was at the time plagued by the Wars of Religion, and
Henry's authority was undermined by violent political parties funded by foreign
powers: the Catholic League (supported
by Spain and the Pope),
the Protestant Huguenots (supported
by England and the
Dutch) and the Malcontents, led by
Henry's own brother, the Duke of Alençon, which was
a party of Catholic and Protestant aristocrats who jointly opposed the absolutist ambitions
of the king. Henry III was himself a politique, arguing that a strong
and religiously tolerant monarchy would save France from collapse.
After
the death of Henry's younger brother Francis, Duke of Anjou,
and when it became apparent that Henry would not produce an heir, the Wars of
Religion developed into a succession crisis, the War of the Three Henrys.
Henry III's legitimate heir was his distant cousin, King Henry III of Navarre, a
Protestant. The Catholic League, led by Henry I, Duke of Guise,
sought to exclude Protestants from the succession and championed the Catholic Charles, Cardinal of Bourbon,
as Henry III's heir.
In
1589, Jacques Clément, a
Catholic fanatic, murdered Henry III. He was succeeded by the King of Navarre
who, as Henry IV, assumed the
throne of France after converting to Catholicism, as the first French king of
the House of Bourbon.