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Claim coat of arms on coins

Coats of arms initially referred to individuals and families. Later, many family coats of arms were transferred to their dominions. Such naturalised coats of arms (country coat of arms) were retained when the sovereigns of the dominion changed. When larger territories were created by merging individual lordships, their coats of arms were also combined to form multi-field coats of arms.
Claim coats of arms are coats of arms of territories to which a spiritual or material claim is made, although these territories are not or not completely in the possession of the sovereign. In addition to property and family coats of arms, claim coats of arms could also appear in the overall coat of arms of a territory or its sovereign.

England's claim on France
In 1340, King Edward III of England made a claim to the French throne. He therefore included the French lilies in his coat of arms. England also temporarily dominated large areas of France during the Hundred Years' War (from 1337 onwards). But in 1558, Queen Mary Tudor lost Calais, the last English possession on the mainland. However, the claim remained valid. The French Revolution abolished the kingdom in 1792. In the subsequent peace negotiations with England, France demanded that England renounce the claim on the French throne. However, it was not until 1801 that the reigning English King George III officially renounced his claim to the French kingdom. At the same time, Great Britain (England and Scotland) merged with Ireland to form the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland".

George III. of Braunschweig-Hannover, King of Great Britain, 1760-1820.
Guinea 1786.     Ø 25 mm, 8,38 g.   Seaby 3728 ; Friedberg 355.
Obv.:   GEORGIVS·III - DEI·GRATIA·   Lauded bust to the right.
Rev.:   M·B·F·ET·H·REX·F·D·B·ET·L·D·S·R·I·A·T·ET·E 17-86
Magnae Britanniae, Franciae ET Hiberniae REX Fidei Defensor, Brunsvicensis ET Luneburgensis Dux,
Sacri Romani Imperii Archi Thesaurarius ET Elector
"King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, Duke of Braunschweig and
Lüneburg, Arch-Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire"
Crowned quartered coat of arms:
England & Scotland | France | Ireland | Braunschweig (2 lions) -
Lüneburg, Lower Saxony (Guelph steed) & arch-treasurer shield (imperial crown in heart coat of arms).

Henry VIII had acquired the title "Fidei Defensor" ("Defender of the Faith"). It is still led by Queen Elizabeth II. Braunschweig-Lüneburg became an electorate in 1692 and provided the "arch-treasurer" from 1710 onwards.

When Elector George Louis of Brunswick-Calenberg-Hanover became King George I of Great Britain in 1714, he immediately adopted all the English titles even on coins of his homeland, including the claim to France, both in the legend and in the coat of arms.


Georg I., King of Great Britain (1714-27) and Elector of Hannover (1698-1727).
Thaler 1717, Clausthal.   Ø 42 mm, 29,03 g.   Müseler 10.6.1/5c; Welter 2237; Dav.2070.
Yield from the Harz mines.
Obv.:   GEORGIUS D G MAGnae BRITanniae FRanciae ET HIBerniae REX Fidei Defensor 17 - 17
Lion and unicorn hold the crowned, squared coat of arms, surrounded by the British Order of the Garter:
HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE   "shamed be whoever thinks ill of it"
below it is an old English motto (French was spoken at court):
DIEU ET MON DROIT   "God and my right"
Rev.:   BRUNsvicensis ET LUNeburgensis DUX Sacri Romani Imperii ARCHITHESaurarius ET ELector
Guelph steed to the left on the ground,   below: H.C.B. (mintmaster H. C. Bonhorst).
On the edge:   DAS ¤ LAND ¤ DIE ¤ FRUCHTE ¤ BRINGT ¤ IM ¤ HARTZ ¤ DER ¤ THALER ¤ KLINGT

Auch alle frühere Könige von Grossbritannien haben es nicht versäumt, auf Münzen den traditionellen Anspruch auf Frankreich anzuzeigen, z.B.:


Charles II, King of Great Britain (1660-1685): Crown 1679
Ø 38 mm, c.30 g.     S.3358; ESC.56; Dav.3776
Obv.:   CAROLVS·II·DEI·GRATIA   -  laureate draped bust to the right.
Rev.:   MAGnae BRitanniae FRAnciae ET HIBiberniae REX 16 - 79   -  crowned cruciform coat of arms (England, Scotland, France and Ireland), interlinked Cs in angles.
Legend: "Charles II, King of Great Britain, France and Ieland"
Scotland, whose coat of arms is show, has already been incorporated into Great Britain.

Emperor Maximilian's various claims
Maximilian, King of the Holy Roman Empire, had himself proclaimed "elected Roman Emperor" by the Bishop of Gurk, Matthäus Lang, in Trento Cathedral on 4 February 1508. The Venetians denied Maximilian I passage through their territory on his way to Rome for the imperial coronation. It is generally assumed that the proclamation of the emperor in Trento was a consequence of the refusal of passage. However, the negotiations on a passage to Rome and its refusal by Venice took place after the proclamation of the emperor at Trento. [Luschin v. Ebengreuth, 1903]
To commemorate the proclamation of the emperor at Trento, Maximilian had the most extravagant of his showpieces minted in Hall: a double Guldiner with a diameter of 53 mm. He then sent his envoy Lucca de Rainaldis to Venice again on 9 December 1508 and had the Doge presented with a gold and the members of the Signoria with silver piece of this medal. In 1509, the emperor had about 100 more pieces minted, now with the date. In 1517, further pieces were minted in Antwerp. [Egg, p.39]


Doppelschauguldiner 1509, Hall.   Ø 53 mm, 61,15 g.   Egg p.156/13; M./T.82var; Dav.282A
Obv.:   ¤MAXIMILIAИVS·DEI·GRA·ROM·IMP.SEMP:AVG·ARCHIDVX·AVSTRIE.
The emperor riding to the right, wearing armour and crowned, with the imperial flag in his right hand and the date 1509 below. The Blanket of the tournament horse is decorated with the imperial eagle and the Burgundian fire irons. The emperor's modest motto appears on the lower border:
HALT MAS IИ ALИ DIИG   "Hold moderation in all things"
Rev.:   ¤PLVRIVMQ·EVROPE·PROVIИCIAR'.REX·ET·PRIИCEPS·POTEИTISIM
"King over most European countries and most powerful prince" (!)
The crowned imperial coat of arms (double-headed eagle), surrounded by the chain of the Golden Fleece, surrounded by 7 crowned coats of arms (from left): Old-Hungary, Aragón/Naples, Dalmatia (3 lion heads), Portugal, Bohemia, England and Austria. In the outer circle 19 further coats of arms of the Austrian and Habsburg hereditary lands (from bottom to right): Zeeland, Luxembourg, Limburg, Artois, Lorraine, Holland, Brabant, Flanders, Burgundy, Old Austria (5 eagles), Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol, Swabia (3 lions), Habsburg, Carniola, Upper Alsace, Austria ob der Enns and Cilli (in Slovenia).
6 of these 27 coats of arms are claim coats of arms.

Emperor Maximilian must have been delighted when the first example of this double thaler was presented to him. He had certainly personally ordered the use of a large number of coats of arms, without bothering to check in detail whether he was entitled to these various countries and provinces. The King of England was hardly delighted when he found his coat of arms on one of Maximilian's coinages. Neither Aragon (Maximilian's son had married there) nor Portugal (his mother was a Portuguese princess) belong to the empire. A double marriage and inheritance treaty had just been concluded with Bohemia and Hungary in 1506. Finally, there was the Duchy of Lorraine, which had been briefly occupied by his father-in-law, Charles the Bold of Burgundy, but no longer belonged to Maximilian.

The unusual coat of arms group of the above coinage was used as front page of theological writings from Strasbourgin 1512: At the top the enthroned emperor and his grandsons, below the dedication to Maximilian I. For reasons of symmetry, the coat of arms of Pfirt (2 fish) was added.   [Exhibit no.923 of the Maximilian exhibition, Wetzlar 2002]

Probably for the first time, a large number of coats of arms have appeared on a coin in order to emphasize the power of a sovereign. Later, coats of arms were combined to form multi-field coats of arms, e.g. in the following thaler of Emperor Rudolf II.

Ref.:
• A. Luschin v. Ebengreuth: Denkmünzen Kaiser Maximilians I. auf die Annahme des Kaisertitels
    (4. Feb.1508)   in: NZ 35(1903) 221-224   online as PDF
• Erich Egg: Die Münzen Kaiser Maximilians I., 230 p., n. d. (1971) Innsbruck

Habsburg's claim on Württemberg
When the licentious Duke Ulrich was expelled from his native Württemberg in 1519, the Habsburg Emperor Charles V. and his brother Ferdinand took over the country. In 1534 Ulrich got his land back, but only as an Austrian after-fief. Ferdinand remained "Duke of Württemberg". Ulrich's successor were able to redeem the "after-fiefdom" in 1599 and regain imperial immediacy: Emperor Rudolf II granted the duchy as an imperial fief, but retained the formal right to retain and bequeath the title of duke and the coat of arms of Württemberg. Thus the Württemberg stag bars found a place in the coat of arms of up to 16 fields on many Habsburg talers of the following period.

Emperor Rudolf II, 1576-1612.   Double thaler 1604, Hall.
Ø 46 mm, 57,18 g.   M./T.362; Dav.3004
Obv.:   RVDOLPHVS II·DeiGratia:ROManorum:IMperator:SEMper:AVgustus: GERmaniae:HVngariae:BOhemiae:REX:
Armored bust with laurel wreath, cloak and Order of the Golden Fleece, date at the shoulder.
Rev.:  NEC NON ("not less") ARCHIDVCES - Austriae·DVCes:BVRgundiae:COmites:TIROLis
Crowned, 15-field coat of arms, surrounded by the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
1st row: Old Hungary, Tyrol (eagle), Bohemia
2nd row: León, Burgundy, Austria, Castile
3rd row: Carinthia (split), Carniola (eagle), Styria (panther), Gorizia (diagonally split)
4th row: Burgau (split), Swabia (3 lions), Württemberg (3 antlers of deer),
Alsace (oblique bar and 6 crowns)
The coats of arms of León, Burgundy and Castile are a reminder of Rudolf's descent. With the exception of the coat of arms of Württemberg, the other coats of arms are the coat of arms of property. (Habsburg owned a few areas in Swabia.) The coat of arms for Württemberg can be found on coins from Rudolph's successors up to Emperor Joseph I (1705-1711).

Brandenburg's claim on Pomerania
Pomerania became a fief of the Margraves of Brandenburg in 1250. Since then, Pomerania has tried with varying degrees of success to achieve imperial immediacy. In 1476, Duke Bogislaw X of Pomerania refused the feudal sovereignty of Brandenburg, which had been recognized by his father in 1472, and in 1493 obtained an exemption from the feudal obligation from Elector John of Brandenburg. In 1497 Bogislaw traveled to Innsbruck to meet King Maximilian I, where he had Pomerania transferred to him as an imperial fiefdom. At the Diet of Worms in 1521, Bogislaw obtained the formal recognition of Pomerania as an imperial principality, despite protests from Brandenburg. It was not until 1529 that Brandenburg recognized the immediacy of Pomerania. In return, Brandenburg was guaranteed the right of hereditary succession in the event of the extinction of the Pomeranian dukes. When the last Duke of Pomerania died in 1637, Sweden refused to allow Pomerania to fall to Brandenburg.


Joachim I., "Nestor", Elector of Brandenburg, 1499-1535.
Guldengroschen 1521, Frankfurt/Oder.     Ø 41 mm, 28,5 g.   Bahrfeldt 294 ; Dav.8945
Obv.:   :IOACHIM:MARCHIO:BRANdenburgici:PRINceps:ELECTor:
"Joachim, Margrave of Brandenburg and Electort"
Effigy in electoral regalia and with electoral hat, shouldering the sceptre with his right hand.
Rev.:   :MONEta:NOva:ARGENtea:PRINcipis:ELECToris:BRANDenburgici:
"Silver money of the Elector of Brandenburg"
4-field coat of arms: Brandenburg (eagle), Pommern (griffin), Burgraviate of Nuremberg, Zollern (quartered). In the center shield the imperial scepter of Electoral Brandenburg, above the date.
When this thaler appeared in 1521, the claim to Pomerania was under dispute. After the right of succession was clarified in 1529, later electors of Brandenburg continued to recall this claim in their coat of arms.

Continuations
Part 2 :  Various claims on Jerusalem
Part 3 :  Various claims on Jülich-Kleve-Berg

Start page Varia TOUR :  on sieges in the 16th century ➜