Important Hieronymus Dietrich Medal
AUSTRIA, Holy Roman Empire. Maximilian I. As Duke of Austria and Burgundy, 1477-1482. AR Medal (44mm, 24.61 g, 12h). Commemorating the Marriage of Maximilian with Maria, Duchess of Burgundy.
Hieronymus Dietrich, engraver. (rosette) MAXIMILIAN9 MAGNANIM9 ARCHIDVX AVSTRIE BVRGVNDIE & (six-rayed star stops), laureate bust of Maximilian right, wearing mantle with floral design; (six-rayed star) ETA TIS (six-rayed star) 19 across field / (rosette) MARIA KAROLI FILIA HERES BVRGVNDI BRAB CONIVGES (rosette stops), bust of Maria left, wearing hair drawn back and ornate kirtle; ; (six-rayed star) ETA TIS (six-rayed star) ZO above 14 79 across field. Katz 536a; cf. Schulten 4474. Good VF, toned. An attractive original strike commemorating an important historical union.
Ex NGSA 4 (11 December 2006), lot 348 (where it realized CHF 60,000); Sotheby’s (5 July 1994), lot 125; Wilczeck Collection (A. Hess 200, 21 May 1930), lot 14.
The union of Maria, the daughter of Charles the Bold and Duchess of Burgundy, with Maximilian, the son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III, and future Holy Roman Emperor himself, was the result of much political intrigue and resulted in the establishment of the Habsburgs as the preeminent political family in Europe. The untimely death of Charles the Bold in early 1477 left his ninteen-year-old daughter, Maria, the heiress of the sizable and far-reaching Duchy of Burgundy. Hoping to make inroads into the Burgundian Netherlands, Louis XI of France claimed the entire duchy on the grounds of the old Salic Law, which excluding females from the inheritance of a throne or fief. He proposed that Maria be betrothed to the Dauphin, an arrangement which Maria rejected. Advised by her step-mother, Margaret of York, the sister of both Edward IV and Richard III, Maria appealed to the Netherlands for assistance. In return, she was compelled to grant a number of concessions. Following her “Joyous Entry” into Ghent in February 1477, Maria signed the Great Privilege, a document laying out these concessions and one of the first steps on the road to Dutch independence. In the meantime, the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III, had begun proposing his son, Maximilian, as a possible suitor. Not wanting to ally herself with the French, Maria accepted Maximilian as her choice, marrying him in August 1477. Maximilian proved an effective husband and political ally. He stabilized the situation in the Netherlands, creating a bond between the Habsburgs and the populace. In addition, the son of Maximilian and Maria, Philip the Handsome, would marry Juana, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Their son, Charles (who was born in Ghent), would succeed Ferdinand as King of Spain in 1506, an Maximilian in 1519 as Holy Roman Emperor.
