More Powerful Through One Superior

Sale: Triton XII, Lot: 918. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 5 January 2009.  Sold For $675. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

AUSTRIA, Holy Roman Empire. Leopold I. Emperor, 1658-1705. AR Medal (33mm, 10.02 g, 7h). Engraved by H. F. (Hieronymus Federer?). Dated 1664. SIC VNITIS NON PAVEO in banner, crowned eagle standing left on globe with wings diplayed, holding bundle of arrows in its right talons / QVO SVPERIORE POTENTIOR • 1664 • (rosette) •, Radiate sun with IHS acronym rising over crescent with horns down. Schulman, Pax 253; Wellenheim 7198. Superb EF, toned.

This medal, issued by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, celebrates the treaty with the Ottoman Turks after the Battle of Saint Gotthard on 1 August 1664. By the 1660s, the Austrians and Ottomans had been in conflict for well over a century. In 1529, during the reign of Charles V, the powerful Ottoman sultan Suleyman pushed into Austrian territory and besieged Vienna. Although the Ottomans were ultimately unsuccessful in taking Austria, they held onto much of their Hungarian acquisitions. In 1663, the Ottomans renewed their battle with the Hapsburgs, declaring war after finding that the Austrians supported a rebellion within Ottoman territory. The Turks amassed their forces by the Raba River, which separates Hungary from Austria. To defend against them, Leopold formed a coalition of Christian nations, including even his enemies: the Protestant German princes and the French. The outcome of the battle was decisive. The coalition, although outnumbered by the enemy, faced the Ottomans near the monastery of St. Gotthard and prevented them from entering Austria. As a result, the Turks were forced to retreat back into Hungary. After the battle, Leopold ended his campaign, refusing to chase the Ottomans into their territory. Instead, he negotiated the Peace of Vasvár. This treaty recognized the Ottomans’ ownership of Hungary, and it also stipulated that Austria pay war reparations to the Turks -- a surprising inclusion, considering that the Austrians, at that moment, had the more powerful military. Despite the terms of the treaty, this medal seems to depict the event as a major Austrian victory. On the obverse, the Austrian eagle is perched on top of the world, while the reverse depicts a streaming sun (as Jesus) overcoming the crescent of the Ottoman Empire. The legend further reinforces the role of religion in the victory: QVO SVPERIORE POTENTIOR, “more powerful through one superior.”