European Medals from 1513 to 1788
Netherlands, The Dutch Republic. Medal (Silver, 56mm, 54.59 g 12), on the Dutch victories of 1602: the taking of Grave, the defeat of the Spanish cavalry near Maastricht, the destruction of a Spanish galley-fleet in the Straits of Dover. By G. van Bylaer, 1602. (rose)GRAVIA CAPTA.TVRMIS EQVIT. VII CÆSIS. (= Grave taken, seven cavalry squadrons killed ) Below an arm and hand holding a laurel wreath and a palm branch, which emerges from clouds containing the name of Jehovah, a labeled map of Grave and the surrounding countryside. Rev. (rose)TRIREM VI DEPRESS. FRACT.FVGASTISQ’.A°.CIƒ. Iƒ.CII.OR.F.P.F.F. (= six galleys sunk, wrecked and put to flight in the year 1602. The States of the United Provinces ordered this to be struck. ) On the left, view of the cavalry actions between Tongeren and Maastricht; on the right, the naval actions off the Goodwin Sands. Eimer 76. MI I, pp. 179-180, 180. Van Loon I, p. 555. Rare. A splendid, beautifully toned example. Extremely fine. Among the victories commemorated by this medal was the naval battle in which the English Sir Robert Mansell defeated, with the help of the Dutch admiral Jan Adriaanszoon Cant, a fleet of Spanish galleys under Federico Spinola. Known as the Battle of the Narrow Seas, the combined Anglo-Dutch action resulted in a tremendous defeat for the Spanish and the effective end of the usefulness of galleys for naval warfare. Spinola was himself killed two years later in an abortive attempt to break through the Dutch blockade of Sluis.