Token - Louis XIV - États de Bourgogne - Naissance du dauphin

Token - Louis XIV - États de Bourgogne - Naissance du dauphin - obverseToken - Louis XIV - États de Bourgogne - Naissance du dauphin - reverse

© Quiquengrogne

Features

Location France
King Louis XIII (1610-1643)
Type Commemorative medals › Institution medal
Year 1639
Composition Brass
Weight 7 g
Diameter 28 mm
Shape Round
Orientation Coin alignment ↑↓
Number
N#
175288
References Feu# 9789
Félix-Bienaimé Feuardent; 1904. Jetons et méreaux depuis Louis IX jusqu'à la fin du Consulat de Bonaparte / Tome 1. Grandes administrations de l'état de la ville de Paris; corporations, etc.; noblesse et villes de l'Ile-de-France. Rollin et Feuardent, Paris, France.
And 3 more volumes.

Obverse

Arms of Burgundy in a crown formed of two branches of laurel.Automatically translated

Script: Latin

Lettering: • BVRGVNDIÆ COMITIA •

Unabridged legend: Burgundiae Comitia.

Reverse

Above a rural landscape (church, trees, etc.) and on a bed of clouds, a dolphin, among the stars, putting to flight a three-headed hydra; date in exergue.Automatically translated

Script: Latin

Lettering:
• OCCIDENT • HOC • ORIENTE • MALA •
• 1639 •

Unabridged legend: Occident hoc oriente mala.

Comments

This token celebrates the birth on September 5, 1638 of the young Louis Dieudonné, future Louis XIV, symbolized here by a dauphin (princely symbol) among the stars.

"At last, Louis XIII has a son. At the opening of the Estates of 1639, the Prince de Condé announced that it had pleased God to bless the Queen with the birth of Mgr le Dauphin. The young prince, who became Louis XIV, was given the name Dieu-Donné.
Burgundy depicted him in the clouds among twelve stars, in the terrible form of a dolphin putting to flight a three-headed hydra, and wrote around this scene: OCCIDENT HOC ORIENTE MALA: "Voici le Dauphin, nos maux vont finir" ("Here is the Dauphin, our evils will end"). Burgundy was unhappy, and had to be given some hope.
some hope. But there were six armies on standby: one was destined to attack the Netherlands; another was looking at Luxembourg; another was in Italy; and three were occupying Piedmont, Languedoc and the borders of Champage. We had to support them. President Machaut may have said: "A prince born in arms is a testimony that God watches over us", but we had to contribute to the costs of the war.

You desire peace," exclaimed the prince as he opened the States; "we can only obtain it by continuing the war.
- But it can only be continued if you grant the king the 400,000 livres he is asking for," resumed the head of the Parlement. Perfidy ruins the cardinal's intentions; there are not two kings of France and Navarre; there is only one who wants to protect your borders, who has reduced his enemies to the point of misery where they are. Burgundy has reason to praise the king's kindness; war and other inconveniences have not dented the Burgundians' freedom."

In essence, this was true; the letter of the Code was intact; but if the revocation of the Edict of 1630 left our States standing, they were entwined by powerful influences, and our Elected Officials garroted on their seats. They reviewed their franchises; they counted their titles, they copied them, they displayed them in paintings, they tied them to their desks, just as, on the eve of the capture of Tyre, the gods were tied to the altars. All in vain! Alexander was already the victor.

Be that as it may, the appearance on our medals of the words: COMITIA BURGUNDIAE, which we find on the reverse of this one and will see almost constantly from now on, coincides with the attempts to ruin the States and the revocation of the edict that breached them: it is a protest against the past and the future. Until the Revolution, when it was engraved on gold, silver and bronze, it was circulated throughout the province, which, no longer having the reality, was content with the image: Imagine gaudet.

Let's complete the president's speech: "Of all the princes of the world, the king is the only one who marches at the head of his troops; he knows that the French never fight better than under the king's eyes. The king throws himself into battle at the risk of perishing; contribute to his generous undertakings; Burgundy is on the border of the enemies of his glory, who want to possess our monarchy in spite of heaven and earth. Let's reverse the misfortunes of war on those who wanted to attack us!

After these eloquent efforts on the king's behalf, the speaker turned to Richelieu and Condé: "Since the king entrusted the conduct of his affairs to Mgr le Cardinal, with what genius has he not governed! Have justice and finances ever been better administered? Other provinces envy Burgundy its tireless governor, present everywhere. To command in his absence, he has left us his son, for whom heaven has shown itself to be so liberal: he is one of the most beautiful subjects in which God shows the majesty of his gifts. His courage is worthy of his rank, his conduct knows how to do without experience, and the greatest minds admire him."

Let's not forget that we're talking about the future victor of Rocroy. This speech had its effect; in addition to the usual free gift, the States voted, for the needs of France, the 400,000 livres that the king had requested.

This is what was happening in Dijon in April 1639.

Claude Rossignol, Des libertés de la Bourgogne, d'après les jetons de ses États (1851).Automatically translated

See also

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Date VG F VF XF AU UNC
1639 

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