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Great grandfathers of Charles V
 

Emperor Frederick III (emperor 1452-1493)
After the death of Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg in 1437, the Roman-German crown had fallen to his son-in-law King Albrecht II of Habsburg, who died just one year later. After his death, his grand cousin Duke Frederick was elected successor as King Frederick III. The new head of the House of Habsburg also became guardian of both Duke Sigmund of Tyrol and the later King Ladislaus V of Hungary and Bohemia. In 1452 Frederick was crowned Emperor (last coronation by the Pope in Rome).
Born in 1415, Frederick experienced the longest reign in the HRR, married a Portuguese king's daughter and had his son Maximilian elected and crowned as successor in the empire while he was still alive.


Cast medal attributed to Bertoldo di Giavanni.     Ø 56 mm, 64 g.
Domanig (1896) 1; Hill (1930) 912; Scher (1994) 40; Winter 13/1.
Specimen exhibited in the Coin Cabinet, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (Recast around 1711-19)
Obv.:   FREdERIGVS TERCIVS - ROMANORVM IMPERATOR SEMPER / AVGVSTVS
Bust to the left, with hat and coat with fur collar.
Rev.:   On the bridge (Ponte St. Angelo): on the left Pope Paul II with tiara on horseback and on the right Frederick with a cloak on horseback, both surrounded by cardinals on horseback and soldiers with lances.
Inscription on the bridge:
CXXII EqVITES - CREΛviT KΛLEN / DIs IΛNVΛRIis - MCCCCLXIX   q = retrograde P
"He created 122 knights (equites) on 1 January 1469"
Putti hold garlands at the sides, a boat under the bridge arch.
The specimen shown in 'The Currency of Fame' p.128 bears a spelling mistake (SENPER instead of SEMPER), which was corrected in later casts.
At the end of 1468, Emperor Frederick III travelled to Rome to ask Pope Paul II for support in the fight against the Turks. On this occasion, the solemn appointment to knighthood depicted took place. Bertoldo di Giavanni must have been in the Medici entourage when Emperor Frederick arrived in Rome and must have received from them the commission for the medal [Scher].


Double ducat 1513, Hall     Ø 22 mm, 7,14 g.   Winter 18.
Eject coin*).     Mintmaster Beheim. Die cutter Ulrich Ursentaler.
On the transfer of the bones of Frederick III from Wiener Neustadt to the definitive tomb
in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, completed in 1513.
*)   Eject coins were thrown among the people during the celebrations or the procession to the new burial site.
Obv.:   ᛫FREDERICIᏪ⚛TERCII᛫RONANORV   -   Head with clasp crown.
Rev.:   Text between sun and arabesque:
IMPERART᛫ / ARCHIDVX᛫ /AVSTRIE᛫SE / PVLTVRA᛫A᛫ / ᛫M᛫D᛫X᛫I᛫I᛫I᛫


Ducat 1513, Hall.     Ø 19 mm, 3,44 g.   Egg S.46 & 56; Winter 19.
Eject coin.     Mintmaster Beheim. Die cutter Ulrich Ursentaler.
On the transfer of the bones of Frederick III to the tomb in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.
Obv.:   FREDERICIᏪ⚛TERCII᛫RO   -   Head with clasp crown.
Rev.:   Text between sun and arabesque:
IMPERART / ARCHIDVC /AVSTRIE᛫SE / PVLTVRA᛫A᛫ / ᛫M᛫D᛫X᛫I᛫I᛫I᛫


Silver coin 1513, Hall     Ø 19 mm, 3,01 g.   Domanig 3; Egg p.46 & 57; Winter 20/1.
Eject coin.     Dies by U. Ursenthaler.
On the burial in the mausoleum of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, on 18 October 1513.
Obv.:   ANNO᛫MDXIII - XVIII᛫OCTO   read from the right bottom upwards.
Half-length portrait of Frederick III, right, mitre crown with infula.
Rev.:   FRIDERICI / III᛫RO᛫IMP: / ARCHID᛫AVST / SEPVLTVRA
winged head on top, two branches below.


Cast medal 1531, Joachimsthal (Bohemia).    Ø 42 mm.  Habich II,1 1921; Coll.Lana 555; Katz 151a.
Obv.: ·:·DIVI·FRIDRICHVS·3·PAT:ET·MAXIMILIANVS·FILI:IMPER:ROMANI·(+)  (+) = Cross + crescent.
Staggered bust portraits of Emperor Frederick III with clasp crown and Maximilian I with beret to the right.
Rev.:   ·NOBILISS:AC·ILLVSTRISS:DOMVS·AVSTRIACAE·INSIGNIA·ANNO·1·5·31
Crowned coat of arms with putti as shield holders.

Ref.:
• Georg F. Hill :  A Corpus of Italian Medals of the Renaissance before Cellini, London 1930
• Ed.: Stephen K. Scher :  The Currency of Fame: Portrait Medals of the Renaissance, Frick Collection 1994
• Exhibition Berlin / New York :  The Renaissance Portrait: From Donatello to Bellini, Met Publication 2011
• Heinz Winter :  Die Medaillen und Schaumünzen der Kaiser und Könige aus dem Haus Habsburg im
    Münzkabinett des Historischen Museums Wien, vol.1: Friedrich II. und Maximilian I., ÖAW Vienna 2013

Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy (reigned 1467-1477)
He was born in Dijon in 1433 in a side line of the House of Valois. His father, who had founded the Order of the Golden Fleece, bequeathed him in 1465 a widely scattered dominion which, in addition to Burgundy, included lands between Luxembourg and the North Sea, some of which were in the Holy Roman Empire and some of which were in fief to the French Crown.
1473 failed negotiations with Emperor Frederick III for the marriage of their two hereditary children and for a royal coronation sought by Charles. In 1474/75, Charles unsuccessfully laid siege to the city of Neuss. Then he occupied the Duchy of Lorraine to join his lands. In 1476, however, he was defeated by Swiss confederates at Grandson. Charles the Bold finally lost his life in the Battle of Nancy against René II of Lorraine in 1477. After his death, his heiress daughter Maria married the future Emperor Maximilian I, a grandfather of Charles V.


Medal, n. d. (1474),  original bronze cast by Giovanni Candida.     Ø 39,5 mm, 25,42 g.
Armand I p.40 n.1; Hill 828; Kress 223; Börner 317.
Obv.:   DVX KAROLVS - BVRGVNDVS   -   belaboured head, antique design.
Rev.:   IE LAI EMPRINS / BIEN EN AVIENGNE   "Je l'ai emprins, bien en aviengne"
"I have dared / May good come of it", the motto of Charles the Bold.
In the centre a ram; to the left and right of it a fire steel, in it incus AVREVM (left) and VELLVS (right) "Golden Fleece"; all surrounded by sparks of fire and framed in a laurel wreath.

More about the Order of the Golden Fleece on coins and medals

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