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Pope Clement VII (Giulio de Medici), 1523-1534
Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese), 1534-1549
Alessandro de Medici, Duke of Florence 1531-36
Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma 1547-1586
Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan 1521-1535
Andrea Doria

Three sovereigns from the House of Gonzaga
Francesco II Gonzaga, 1484-1519     Federico II Gonzaga, 1519-1540     Ferrante Gonzaga


 

Pope Clement VII (Giulio de Medici), 1523-1534
on coins
Pope Clement was born in 1478 as Giulio de Medici. He was a nephew of Lorenzo il Magnifico and of Pope Leo X., who advanced his career: in 1513 he became archbishop and soon after cardinal of Florence. He tried to become pope right after the death of Leo X, but he had to wait another two years until Adrian VI had died. While cardinal, he supported the emperor, but being irresolute and fickle he turned to France once he had been elected Pope. In 1527 the emperor's troups besieged the city (Sacco di Roma) and Clement was held prisoner at the castle of Sant'Angelo for seven months. The peace treaty of Barcelona in 1529 led to the emperor's coronation in Bologna (the last imperial coronation by a pope) in 1530. In exchange for his coronation, the emperor helped win back Florence for the Pope's nephew (or more likely his son) Alessandro de Medici.
Clement appeared to his contemporaries primarily as a Renaissance prince preoccupied with Italian politics, the patronage and enjoyment of Renaissance culture, and the advancement of his family. Clement did not show any understanding for the protestant movement in Germany. He fought all attempts to reform the Catholic Church and he did not make any concessions to the emperor in the question of the council. However, he took Charles interests into consideration when he refused to allow Henry VIII to divorce his wife Katharine of Aragón, who was Charles' aunt.


Doppio carlino, anno X, Rome.   Dies from Benvenuto Cellini.   Ø 28mm, 5,36g.
Berman 841; CNI 60; Muntoni 43
Obv.:   CLEMENS·VII·PONTifex·MAXimus
mantled bust left; collar panels contain portraits of Sts. Peter and Paul.
Rev.:   (anno) X   QVARE – DVBITASTI     "Why did you have doubts?"
Christ standing left, lifting St. Peter above the waves.

 

Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese), 1534-1549
He was born in 1468. His extensive learning and culture, as well as his sister Giulia's love affair with Pope Alexander VI, assured his rapid rise at the Roman court. A cardinal from the age of 25, he was elected pope in 1534, after a compromise had been reached between the French and the imperial parties. Pope Paul III wavered in his support of Charles V and Francis I, always endeavouring to advance his family's interests.
Paul cut Parma and Piacenza from the papal dominions to give them as duchies to his son Pier Luigi. His grandson Ottavio not only married Charles' daughter Margaret but also received Urbino. In 1538, Paul travelled to Nice in an attempt to bring Charles V and Francis I together. Paul summoned the Council of Trent (1545-63), long demanded by Charles V, who wanted to reintegrate the Protestants. Paul helped the emperor to suppress the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League until Charles' victory in 1547. The Council was then transferred to Bologna and suspended in 1549. Paul supported the new Jesuit order as well as the Counter-Reformation. He was the last important patron of the Renaissance arts.


Bronze medal, anno XVI (1549).     Dies from A. Cesati   Ø 42mm   Börner 459, Spink 498
on granting the counties Parma and Piacenza to his son Pier Luigi Farnese.
Obv.:   PAVLVS III PONT MAX AN XVI     Bust to the right
Rev.:   FEPNH(Eta) ZH(Eta)NOS | EY[F]PAINEI   "The peace of Zeus pours well (the earth)"
Eagle and nude Ganymed pouring a lily shrub with a jug on the shoulder.
On this medal, the pope makes use of a classical story that must have been offensive at the time: according to Homer, the gods made the young boy Ganymed Zeus's cupbearer because of his beauty. In later reports, it was an eagle or Zeus himself who abducted the boy; others talk of a love affair as cause for the abduction.



Doppio fiorino di camera.       Ø 25mm , 6,3g
Obv.:   PAVLVS III PONT MAX     bearded head to the left
Rev.:   ·SANCTVS·PETRVS - (mm.) - ALMA·ROMA     St. Peter on a boat
Mintmaster (mm.) Giacomo Balducci
Martinori (Annali della Zecca di Roma, Paolo III, Roma 1917) declared rightly: "Perhaps this double ducat of Paul III surpasses all other coins with papal effigies". The coin was attributed to Benvenuto Cellini for some time but is now ascribed to Leone Leoni beyond all doubt. He manufactured the die in 1539 while his arch-rival Cellini was in prison because of some old offence.

 

Alessandro de Medici,   Duke of Florence 1532-1537
- son or nephew of Pope Clement VII   and   son in law of Emperor Karl V -
on coins
He was born in 1510, an illegitime son or nephew of the future Pope Clement VII. Clement, having been elected pope in 1523, installed Alessandro as co-ruler in Florence. When imperial forces sacked Rome in 1527, revolution broke out in Florence, and Alessandro fled the city. In 1529 the pope and the emperor came to terms and Charles agreed to restore the Medicis in Florence by force, so that in 1531 Alessandro returned to power. He was made duke, and in 1536 he married the emperor's natural daughter Margaret. Alessandro was a coarse and uncultured person. He lined his pockets and acted the tyrant until he was murdered by a distant cousin.


Testone, n.d.     Dies from Benvenuto Cellini.     Ø 36mm   10,04g   Morosini 1
Obv.:   ALEXANDER·MeDici· - ·Re·Publica·FLORENce·DVX·
Rev.:   ·Sanctus·COSMVS - ·Sanctus·DAMIANVS·   "Saint Kosmas - Saint Damian"
Kosmas and Damian are the Christian patrons of physicians.

 

Ottavio Farnese,   Duke of Parma 1547-1586
- grandson of Pope Paul III   and   son-in-law of emperor Charles V -
In 1545, Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese) gave his son Pier Luigi the dukedom of Parma and Piacenza, which officially belonged to the Papal State. After the assassination of Pier Luigi in 1547, Ferrante Gonzaga, governor of Mailand, occupied the dukedom in the name of Emperor Charles V. In 1552 the emperor returned it to Ottavio Farnese, son of Pier Luigi and grandson of Paul III. Ottavio had already received in marriage Charles V's daughter, Margaret of Parma, in 1538. Their son Alessandro fought at Lepanto (1571) and became governor of the Netherlands.


Bronze medal, n.d.   (I. F. Parmensis)     Ø 39mm , 13,1g   Armand I, 223, 11
Obv.:   OCTAVIVS·Farnese·PARMa·ET·PLACentia·DVX II     bust to the left.
Rev.:   Apollo and enchained Marsyas.
Piacenza was founded as the Roman city Colonia Placentia.
The satyr Marsyas found the double flute Athene had cursed and thrown away, learned to play it and engaged Apollo in a musical contest. Apollo's terms were: the winner would have carte blanche to do as he liked with the loser. Apollo used a trick to win: he could play on the back of his lyra, a stunt that Marsyas could not match with his flute. Apollo bound the satyr to a pine tree and skinned him. The satyr's blood or the tears of his many friends among the forest gods then formed the river Marsyas.

 

Andrea Doria
Commander-in-chief of the imperial fleet
Genuese, *1468, †1560. He started out as mercenary for various principals. In 1503 and 1506 he fought against the Corsican rebells on Genua's behalf, and in 1513 he fought against the Turks. In 1522 he entered service with the French and won Genua for them in 1527. After a quarrel with the French, he changed sides and served Charles V, who guaranteed him Genua's freedom. In 1528 Doria and his forces drove the French out of Genoa and were triumphantly received by the city. He renewed the constitution and exercised a predominant influence in the councils of the Genoese republic. Doria became commander-in-chief of the imperial navy. In 1532 he defeated the Turkish fleet near Patras, in 1535 he led Charles' attack on Tunis, and in 1541 he saved the imperial troups when they had undertaken to fight Algier at an unfavourable time of the year and against his advice.


Bronze medal (1541)   from Leone Leoni.     Ø 41mm   Habich 91,1
Obv.:   ANDREAS - DORIA·Pater·Patriae   "Andrea Doria, father of his country"
Bust with beard, order of the Golden Fleece and cuirass, trident at the back, dolphin below
Rev.:   Galley with rower, two men rowing in a boat and a fishman at the coast.
The Order of the Golden Fleece does not appear on some examples of the medal. It seems likely that Doria would have objected to the omission of the celebrated order, into which he had been received in 1531.
 
Leone Leoni had been given a galley sentence because he had killed the Pope's jeweller Pellegrino di Leuti in 1540. On admiral Andrea Doria's intercession, he was released in 1541. Leoni created portraits of his liberator on medals and coupled them with three different reverses: an allegory on freedom, a self-portrait surrounded by a convict's chain, and a galley with a small rowing boat in front, which is considered to be the one that took Leoni ashore. Andrea Doria is presented as ruler of the sea, with trident and dolphin in the antique way.


Medal     from Leone Leoni     Ø 41mm
Self-portrait Leone Leonis, surrounded by chains and manacles.
A hammer and an oper leg-iron on his back and a galley in the background.
Alternative reverse to the above medal for Andrea Doria.

 

Three sovereigns from the House of Gonzaga
Francesco II Gonzaga, 1484-1519 Marquis of Mantua
Federico II Gonzaga, 1519-1540 Marquis, 1530 Duke of Mantua
Ferrante Gonzaga,   General,   1539-1557 Count of Guastalla
 

Francesco II Gonzaga, 1484-1519 Marquis of Mantua
*1466. Francesco was a prominent condottiere, politician and Maecenas in times of great political disturbances in Italy. As condottiere he switched repeatedly between Italian and French services yet managed to keep Mantua independant. In 1490, Francesco married Isabella d'Este, who became a legendary Maecenas. She is known as "The First Lady of The Renaissance" and deliberately used the arts as a means of propaganda for the House of Gonzaga.

picture from Hess-Divo, Zürich
Testone n. d.     9,73 g.   CNI 27 ; Morosini 14
Obv.:   FRancesco·II·MaRchio·MANTVAE·   Büste
Rev.:   S.R.E. - .CONF. (Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Confalonierus)
"Gonfaloniere of the Holy Roman Church" (standard-bearer, a title which the pope could attribute to nobles)
The long center-piece mounted on the Gonzaga coat-of-arms alludes to this title, which Francesco was granted in 1510.
 

Federico II Gonzaga ,  1519-1540 Marquis, 1530 Duke of Mantua
- son of Francesco II, 1484-1519 Marquis of Mantua -
*1500. When Federico's father, an ex-ally of King Francis I, applied for the King's mercy in 1516, Federico had to attend the French court both as a guest and a hostage. In 1521, Federico was the pope's general and drove the French out of Milan. In 1523, he changed sides and became the emperor's commander-in-chief in Italy. In 1530, after Charles' coronation in Bologna, the emperor visited Mantua and made Federico Duke of Milan, granting him a hereditary patent. Ever since, the Gonzaga family headed a sovereign Italian state that was firmly integrated into the Habsburg system of alliances, as were the Medici and later the Farnese.
His mother Isabella d'Este greatly attributed to the glory and prestige of the House of Gonzaga by promoting the arts.


Doppio Ducato n. d. (vor 1530)     Ø 26 mm , 6,85 g.   Bignotti 2. Fr.526
Obv.:   ·FEDERICVS·II·Marchio·MANTVAE·IIIII   head with short beard
Rev.:   FIDES   above Mount Olympus, a spiral path leads up the mountain, an altar with a knotty bough, a bush and an oak aside the mountain.
 

Ferrante Gonzaga     General,   1539-1557 Count of Guastalla
- son of Francesco II, 1484-1519 Marquis of Mantua -
*1507. Ferrante Gonzaga was a notorious general with the Spanish army. He took part in the "Sacco di Roma" and attended Charles's V coronation in Bologna in 1530. He aquired Guastalla in 1539, which initiated a collateral branch of the Gonzaga family. In 1530, he regained Florence for the Medici. He escorted Charles V to Tunis in 1535 and to Algier in 1543. Charles V made him viceroy of Sicily (1536-46) and later governor of Milan (1546-55). In 1543, Ferrante escorted the emperor to Germany. His fearless and resolute campaign in 1544 enforced the peace treaty of Crépy. Later, he took service with Philipp II. He died in the battle of St. Quentin.


Bronze medal, about 1555,   cast from Leone Leoni.   Ø 74mm
Obv.:   FERdinandus·GONZaga·PRAEFectus·GALliae·CISALpinae - TRIBunus·MAXimus·LEGGionum·CAROLI·V·CAESaris·AVGusti
"Ferdinand Gonzaga, Prefect of Gallia Cisalpina and chief tribune of the imperial legions of Charles V"
Rev.:   Hercules fighting agaist Hydra
TV NE CEDE MALIS     "Do not yield to evil"
Ferrante Gonzaga, who had been indicted with misappropriation and corruption, ordered this medal from Leoni when he was aquitted. The picture of Heracles fighting the monster relates to this event. The medal shows Ferrante as governor of Milan and commander-in-chief of the imperial troups, and honours him with antique titles.     [Coincabinet, KHM, Vienna]




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