King, the friend of God, everywhere in France, except at
Calais, which is a strong place.)
(Chronogram : vrviicwiMHvirvocLrviLiv == 1451.)
Rev. A floriate cross, with a crowned fleur-de-lis in each angle,
enclosed in a quatrefoil panel ; around are four scrolls, with
crowns over them, each inscribed d e s i r e : svis . Above the
whole a panel with a crowned it as on the other side.
Leg. in two concentric circles.
DOR . FIN . SVIS . EXTRAIT . DE . DVCAS .
ET . FV . FAIT . PESANT . VIII . OARAS :
EN . LAN . QVE . VERRAS . MOI . TOVRNANT ;
LES . LETRES . DE . NOMBRE . PRENANT .
(I am composed of fine ducat gold, and was made to weigh
8 carats, in the year which you will see on turning me [over]
and taking the numeral letters.)
3-2. Trésor, Méd. Franç. Pl. ii. 1.
Bibl. Paris, AT. Extremely rare.
4. E x p u l s i o n o f t h e E n g l i s h f r o m F r a n c e . 1451.
Shield of France, crowned, between two rose branches, within
a circle of twelve cusps. Leg. Same as the last.
Rev. A floriate cross, with a crowned fleur-de-lis in each
angle, within a circle of twelve cusps. Leg. Same as the last,
excepting that it reads in the second line t r o i s . g a r a s .
2. Trésor, Méd. Franç. Pl. i. 2.
Bibl. Paris, N . Æ. Extremely rare.
These two curious pieces are, perhaps, the earliest French
medals known. They seem to have been struck by Charles
VII. as pièces de plaisir, and are here placed as recording the
expulsion of the English from every part of France, except
Calais and its dependencies, which took place in the year 1451,
when Aquitaine was abandoned. As Holinshed says, “ Thus
weere the Englishmen cleerelie displaced, and lost the possession
of all the countries, townes, castels, and places within the
realme of France; so that onelie Calis, Hammes, and Guines,
with the marches thereof remained in their hands, of all those
their dominions and seigniories which they sometime held in
the parties beyond the seas.”
Six other medals of Charles VII. are known, of very similar
workmanship ; one of them bearing a chronogram of the year
1455 and two of 1460. (See Trésor, Méd. Franç. Pl. i. ii. ; Van
Mieris, I. 70, 72.) In these there are general allusions to the
French King’s success against his enemies. A dissertation on
the whole series has been published by M. Vallet de Viriville
in the “ Annuaire de la Société française de Numismatique et
d’Archéologie, 1867,” p. 210, with engravings of all the types.
5. L o r d D u d l e y . C o u n t e r . Before 1460.
A shield of arms ; 1 and 4, two lions passant, Somery ;
2 and 3, a cross flory, Dudley. Leg. + d o d e l e i . d o d e l e i .
DODELEI.
Rev. A grating of four perpendicular and three transverse
bars ; the badge of the Dudley family. Leg. + d o d e l e i .
d o d e l e i . d o d e l e i . The words of the legend on both sides are
divided by crosses and stars.
1-1.
MB. electrotype from Gotha, iR. Extremely rare.
John Sutton, fourth Baron Dudley, born 1401, served in the
French wars under Henry V., at whose funeral he carried the
standard. In 1427 he was constituted Lieutenant of Ireland
for two years, and in 1436 was Governor of the Castle of
Calais. He was summoned to the Parliament which met at
Reading in 1440, in which year he was created Baron of
Dudley. Being a stout Lancastrian, Dudley was present at the
first battle of St. Albans in 1455, and was afterwards wounded
at Bloreheath in 1459. For these services he obtained the
Stewardship of the Manor of Montgomery and other places,
and was elected a Knight of the Garter. He continued in
favour with the Court during the reigns of Edward IV. and
Richard III., and lived to that of Henry VII., dying on the
30th September, 1487. The Arms of Somery were derived
from Margaret, sister and coheir of John de Somery, Baron of
Dudley, who was married to Sir John Sutton, and whose son