MODERN COINS
A SPECIAL COLLECTION OF DUTCH AND DUTCH RELATED MEDALS
The Dutch Republic. Medal (Silver, 57mm, 57.44 g 12), commemorating the Battle of the Zuiderzee of 1573, by Caspar Wyntges, 1615. (rosette stops) INQVISITIO INQVIRENDO NIMIS SEDVLO SE IPSAM PERDIT (= the Inquisition <the Spanish Flagship> by inquiring too deeply, lost herself ) Scene of the sea battle on the Zuiderzee: the Spanish ships have crosses on their mainmasts while the Dutch ones are plain. Rev. 11.OCTOBER.1573. / DOOR.LOVTER.GHEWELT / VAN.MENICH.HELT / DER VRYE WESTVRIISCHE.NATIE / WERF BOSSOV.GEVELT / DIT.HIER. / TOT.LOFTEREN.VAN / GODS GRATIE /.1615. (= only by the strength of many a hero of the free west Frisian nation was Bossu overthrown ) Nine lines of a laudatory poem by C. Thamson. Sandwich A2. Van Loon I, pp. 167-168. A wonderfully sharp, clear and toned medal. Good extremely fine. From the Zaar collection, Classical Numismatic Group 87, 18 May 2011, 2178. The Battle on the Zuiderzee was fought off Hoorn between a much superior Spanish fleet and a more lightly equipped, but more maneuverable, Dutch one. The Dutch were initially beaten back by heavy Spanish gunfire, but on 11 October the wind changed and the Dutch forces prevailed. In fact, the Spanish flagship, the Inquisition, ran aground and was boarded and captured. Among the prisoners was Maximilien de Hénin-Liétard, Count of Boussu (1542-1578), the Walloon commander of the Spanish forces. Freed by a provision of the Pacification of Ghent in 1576, he then became commander of the rebel forces; while he lost the Battle of Gembloux (January 1578), at the Battle of Rijmenam in July he regained all his losses. Falling ill, Boussu died at his family home in Antwerp on 21 December.