A Superb Propaganda Medal of Prince James
STUART. James II. 1685-1688. AR Medal (50mm, 44.20 g, 12h). Birth of Prince James. Dated 1688 (in Roman numerals). INFANTEMQUE VIDENT, APPORRECTUMQUE DRACONEM, Aglauros opening the basket and discovering Erichthonius with his dragon tail, roses and thistles below, two women fleeing in terror to right / TAMEN NASCATUR OPORTET, withered rosebush with two flowers, young sucker to left; in exergue, MDCLXXXVIII. MI I, 631/53; Eimer –. Richly toned. Superb EF.
James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 1688 – 1 January 1766), the only son of James II and Mary of Modena, was heir to the English, Scottish and Irish thrones until the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when his Catholic father was deposed and exiled. His Protestant half-sister Mary II and her husband William III succeeded to the throne, while the Act of Settlement 1701 formally excluded Catholics from the succession. Prince James thereafter claimed the thrones until his death. His birth, five years after his mother's previous pregnancy and following nine unsuccessful pregnancies, was unexpected and immediately controversial. As Mary had suffered repeated miscarriages and infant deaths, and the child would be raised Catholic, rumours quickly spread that he was not the Queen's son. Numerous medals were issued in response, some supporting his legitimacy and others questioning it. This medal belongs firmly to the latter group. Its imagery draws on the classical story of Erichthonius. Pallas entrusted a basket to the three daughters of Cecrops, forbidding them to open it. When they disobeyed, Erichthonius emerged: a monstrous child, said to be the offspring of Vulcan and not born of a woman. The three daughters represent England, Scotland and Ireland, while the roses and thistles reinforce the British association. Erichthonius's unnatural birth alludes to the accusation that Prince James was not of royal blood. The reverse develops the same idea. The rosebush represents James II and Mary of Modena, while the young shoot growing at some distance from the parent plant suggests an uncertain origin, implying that the new prince may have sprung from another stock.
