DOI article:
Taradaj, Paulina: Quo non augustior alter: a few remarks on the series of small medals issued to commemorate the maneuvers of the Saxon armies at Mühlberg in 1730
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49247#0201
QUO NON A UGUSTIOR ALTER. A FEW REMARKS ON THE SERIES...
It is also worth noticing that Augustus II is referred to as Rex Regum on one
of the medals; as we know, this was the title of the Achaemenid kings. In Mercure
de France (June 1730), we can find an interesting passage in which the splendor
of Darius I’s army is brought up as a comparison to the Saxon troops gathered in
Mühlberg.38
Summing up, these specimens seem like typical medals of king’s glory.39 40 However,
is there any possibility that these are so-called satirical medals, commissioned not
by the king himself but by Augustus Il’s political opponents, most likely in this
case to mock Augustus’ extravagance? Comparing the maneuvers at Mühlberg to
the lesser triumph cannot serve as sufficient evidence of these medals’ unofficial
nature, especially when we take into account the pathos of the inscription from, for
example, the medal executed by Vestner referred to earlier. That said, the inscription
noted above gives us a hint: Campus noster apertus dulcis quietis in pugna certus
tot hominum cohorte refertus. It is an inscription in rhyme.
As Aristotle wrote in his Poetics, each genre of poetry requires its own structure
(meter). The meter that was used in poetry mocking other people’s deeds was called
iamb eion F To the best of my knowledge, official medals commissioned by the
Dresden royal court did not have inscriptions in rhyme. However, satirical medals
commenting on the current political, economic, and religious situation in the German
territories occupied an important place in Christian Wermuth’s rich collection of
medals. Some of these had a characteristic form: besides being smaller in size, they
had playful inscriptions that were often in verse,41 and they were usually written
in German.
We can say that these medals fit this pattern. Five more medals were added to
the series,42 and these were partially provided with inscriptions written in German.
Instead of a triumphant commander, the hero here is a Saxon soldier, described in the
inscriptions on the obverses as a member of the Life Guard Regiment, the personal
guard of the king, or of Mars himself: de cohorte regis and martis satelles.43
38 ANONYM 1730: 381. (https://babcl.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015080105276;view=l up;scq=340)
(accessed January 10, 2019)
39 Cf. MORKA 1986: 157-158.
401 base this observation on the work of Paulina Buchwald-Pelcowa, who analyzed the phenomenon of
satire in literature during the Polish-Saxon personal union (1697-1763) and the reign of Stanisław Leszczyński
(1704-1709, 1733-1736); see: BUCHWALD-PELCOWA 1969: 12.
41 Usually on the reverses but sometimes on both sides of the medal.
42 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 395, nos. 30004-30007; HUTTEN-CZAPSK1 1891: 274, no. 8839, Inv. no. MNK
VlI-MdP-874.
43 It is also possible that this term refers to a special unit of grand musketeers consisting of Poles who were
recruited into the Saxon army. This unit was formed in 1729 to secure the succession of Augustus Il’s son (Frederick
August II) to the Polish throne; sec: BARTOSZEWICZ 1861: 13; STASZEWSKI 1982: 470.
.1.97
It is also worth noticing that Augustus II is referred to as Rex Regum on one
of the medals; as we know, this was the title of the Achaemenid kings. In Mercure
de France (June 1730), we can find an interesting passage in which the splendor
of Darius I’s army is brought up as a comparison to the Saxon troops gathered in
Mühlberg.38
Summing up, these specimens seem like typical medals of king’s glory.39 40 However,
is there any possibility that these are so-called satirical medals, commissioned not
by the king himself but by Augustus Il’s political opponents, most likely in this
case to mock Augustus’ extravagance? Comparing the maneuvers at Mühlberg to
the lesser triumph cannot serve as sufficient evidence of these medals’ unofficial
nature, especially when we take into account the pathos of the inscription from, for
example, the medal executed by Vestner referred to earlier. That said, the inscription
noted above gives us a hint: Campus noster apertus dulcis quietis in pugna certus
tot hominum cohorte refertus. It is an inscription in rhyme.
As Aristotle wrote in his Poetics, each genre of poetry requires its own structure
(meter). The meter that was used in poetry mocking other people’s deeds was called
iamb eion F To the best of my knowledge, official medals commissioned by the
Dresden royal court did not have inscriptions in rhyme. However, satirical medals
commenting on the current political, economic, and religious situation in the German
territories occupied an important place in Christian Wermuth’s rich collection of
medals. Some of these had a characteristic form: besides being smaller in size, they
had playful inscriptions that were often in verse,41 and they were usually written
in German.
We can say that these medals fit this pattern. Five more medals were added to
the series,42 and these were partially provided with inscriptions written in German.
Instead of a triumphant commander, the hero here is a Saxon soldier, described in the
inscriptions on the obverses as a member of the Life Guard Regiment, the personal
guard of the king, or of Mars himself: de cohorte regis and martis satelles.43
38 ANONYM 1730: 381. (https://babcl.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015080105276;view=l up;scq=340)
(accessed January 10, 2019)
39 Cf. MORKA 1986: 157-158.
401 base this observation on the work of Paulina Buchwald-Pelcowa, who analyzed the phenomenon of
satire in literature during the Polish-Saxon personal union (1697-1763) and the reign of Stanisław Leszczyński
(1704-1709, 1733-1736); see: BUCHWALD-PELCOWA 1969: 12.
41 Usually on the reverses but sometimes on both sides of the medal.
42 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 395, nos. 30004-30007; HUTTEN-CZAPSK1 1891: 274, no. 8839, Inv. no. MNK
VlI-MdP-874.
43 It is also possible that this term refers to a special unit of grand musketeers consisting of Poles who were
recruited into the Saxon army. This unit was formed in 1729 to secure the succession of Augustus Il’s son (Frederick
August II) to the Polish throne; sec: BARTOSZEWICZ 1861: 13; STASZEWSKI 1982: 470.
.1.97