Description
Charles I, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. AR cast Parliamentary military reward [1642] by T. Rawlins (31x42mm). Cuirassed almost full-faced bust holding sword, above an arm issuing from clouds brandishing a sword, SWORD OF THE LORD AND OF GYDEON. rev. Two Houses of Parliament with King and Speaker, THE MULTITUDE OF COUNCELLORS THERE IS PEACE. (MI i 297/115; E 140v).
Good Very Fine, toned and extremely rare.
After a long but undistinguished military career fighting for the Protestant cause in Holland and Germany, the Earl of Essex was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Parliamentary army when the English Civil War broke out. These badges were issued in gold and silver and given as rewards for commendable action by various ranks in his army. Though the army was fighting against the king he is still represented on these medals for Essex swore to promote the Protestant religion, the security of the king and freedom of parliament. He thus found himself in a difficult position regarding treason but squared his action in that he was fighting, not against the king but against the king’s ‘papist and malicious advisors’! In 1642 he resigned his commission and died a year later.