DOI Artikel:
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 Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49247#0202
PAULINA TARADAJ
198
In the first version, the medal with the image of the soldier and the inscription de
cohorte Regis on the obverse is used with a reverse on which we can see the same
soldier and the following inscription: tuetur et ornat (Guards and adorns)!4 On
the second version, we can see on the reverse a long, 18-line inscription in verse: ich
BIN / EIN GLIED / AUS KÖNIGS LEIB / DES TRÖST ICH MICH / OHN SCHERTZEN / VON
IHM ICH UN= / GESCHIEDEN BLEIB / IN TODTES NÖTHEN / UND SCHMERTZEN / WEN
ICH GLEICH / STERB SO STERB / ICH HIER / EIN GUTHES / DENCKMAHL / KAN ICH MIR
/ durch / Tapferkeit / erwerben44 45 (7 ’m a member of the royal guard, this is my
solace, I’m not kidding; Iwon ’tabandon him [i.e. the king] even if I’m in agony, when
I die, I’ll die here, and I can courageously leave behind a good image).
The third variant is the medal that Wohlfahrt’s catalog does not mention. The
reverse on this medal has an inscription that is a version of the one above: vons /
KÖNIGS / LEIB-GUARD / BIN EIN GLIED, / ICH GANTZ UND GAR / VON HERTZEN, / VON
IHM MICH / NIEMAHLS ETWAS SCHEID / ZU FELD / IN TODTES SCHMERTZEN, / NICHT
MEHR ALS EINMAHL / STERB ICH HIER, / EIN GUTES / DENCKMAL / KAN ICH MIR, / DURCH
/ Tapferkeit / EBWERBEN- / . * ,46 (7 wholeheartedly serve in the royal guard, in the
battlefield, and even in agony I will not for a second abandon the king, and because
I cannot die more than once here, the least I can do is demonstrate my courage so as
to leave behind a good image) (Pl. 1, Fig. 5, Cat. 5).
The next version, the fourth, includes the die mentioned above with the inscription
tuetur et ornat and a die with an inscription in 12 lines: ihrem Könige / zur zier
/ DIENT DIE GARD / DER CHEVALIER / DEM HERRN / ZUM SCHUTZ / DEM FEIND / ZUM
/ schrecken / und zum / Trutz47 (The guard of the knights adorns the king, and
over him stands guard, his foe it does bombard).
The fifth and last medal in the series has a soldier with a saber at his left-hand
side, a musket on his left shoulder, and the following inscription: martis satelles.
The following ten lines are on the reverse: dem / Könige / zur lust / spiehl ich
MIT / FEUER-BALLEN / IM ERNSTE / LASS ICH SIE / AUCH AUF DIE / FEINDE / FALLEN48
(7 play with fireballs to the king’s delight, in earnest do I throw them at the foe with
all my might),49
In terms of their execution and general compositional outline, these medals by
Christian Wermuth create a cohesive and harmonious group of 11 medals, made out
44 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 395, no. 30004.
45 Ibidem: 395, no. 30005.
46 HUTTEN-CZAPSKI 1891: 274, no. 8839, Inv. no. MNK VlI-MdP-874.
47 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 395, no. 30006.
48 Ibidem: 395, no. 30007.
49 For assistance in translating this inscription, 1 would like to express my deepest gratitude to Ms. Anna
Fabiankowitsch and Dr. Heinz Winter from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
198
In the first version, the medal with the image of the soldier and the inscription de
cohorte Regis on the obverse is used with a reverse on which we can see the same
soldier and the following inscription: tuetur et ornat (Guards and adorns)!4 On
the second version, we can see on the reverse a long, 18-line inscription in verse: ich
BIN / EIN GLIED / AUS KÖNIGS LEIB / DES TRÖST ICH MICH / OHN SCHERTZEN / VON
IHM ICH UN= / GESCHIEDEN BLEIB / IN TODTES NÖTHEN / UND SCHMERTZEN / WEN
ICH GLEICH / STERB SO STERB / ICH HIER / EIN GUTHES / DENCKMAHL / KAN ICH MIR
/ durch / Tapferkeit / erwerben44 45 (7 ’m a member of the royal guard, this is my
solace, I’m not kidding; Iwon ’tabandon him [i.e. the king] even if I’m in agony, when
I die, I’ll die here, and I can courageously leave behind a good image).
The third variant is the medal that Wohlfahrt’s catalog does not mention. The
reverse on this medal has an inscription that is a version of the one above: vons /
KÖNIGS / LEIB-GUARD / BIN EIN GLIED, / ICH GANTZ UND GAR / VON HERTZEN, / VON
IHM MICH / NIEMAHLS ETWAS SCHEID / ZU FELD / IN TODTES SCHMERTZEN, / NICHT
MEHR ALS EINMAHL / STERB ICH HIER, / EIN GUTES / DENCKMAL / KAN ICH MIR, / DURCH
/ Tapferkeit / EBWERBEN- / . * ,46 (7 wholeheartedly serve in the royal guard, in the
battlefield, and even in agony I will not for a second abandon the king, and because
I cannot die more than once here, the least I can do is demonstrate my courage so as
to leave behind a good image) (Pl. 1, Fig. 5, Cat. 5).
The next version, the fourth, includes the die mentioned above with the inscription
tuetur et ornat and a die with an inscription in 12 lines: ihrem Könige / zur zier
/ DIENT DIE GARD / DER CHEVALIER / DEM HERRN / ZUM SCHUTZ / DEM FEIND / ZUM
/ schrecken / und zum / Trutz47 (The guard of the knights adorns the king, and
over him stands guard, his foe it does bombard).
The fifth and last medal in the series has a soldier with a saber at his left-hand
side, a musket on his left shoulder, and the following inscription: martis satelles.
The following ten lines are on the reverse: dem / Könige / zur lust / spiehl ich
MIT / FEUER-BALLEN / IM ERNSTE / LASS ICH SIE / AUCH AUF DIE / FEINDE / FALLEN48
(7 play with fireballs to the king’s delight, in earnest do I throw them at the foe with
all my might),49
In terms of their execution and general compositional outline, these medals by
Christian Wermuth create a cohesive and harmonious group of 11 medals, made out
44 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 395, no. 30004.
45 Ibidem: 395, no. 30005.
46 HUTTEN-CZAPSKI 1891: 274, no. 8839, Inv. no. MNK VlI-MdP-874.
47 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 395, no. 30006.
48 Ibidem: 395, no. 30007.
49 For assistance in translating this inscription, 1 would like to express my deepest gratitude to Ms. Anna
Fabiankowitsch and Dr. Heinz Winter from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.