Louis II – The Last Sovereign Quarter Shields

Victory: Louis II. King of Navarre, Louis XIII. King of France

Type: Silver Quarter Shield

Year: 1620

Mint: Donapaleu Mint

Border: Irregular

Edge Engraving: ————–

Metal: Silver, 917 thousandths or 11 fineness

Diameter: 29 mm

Weight: This piece weighs 9.43 gr.

Quantity: Unknown in 1620, 50,707 copies were produced in 1619

Coinage: By hammer

Mintmaster: Jean Pierre Massalin (1612-1621)

Recorder: Unknown

Front:

Obverse Words: LVDOVICVS.XIII.DGFRANC.ET.NAVAR.REX

Front Description: Greek cross topped with lily flowers. Image of five dots in the center of the cross. Texture around the cross.

Frontispiece: Louis XIII, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre

Back:

Back Words: GRATIA.DEI.SVM.ID.Q.SVM.1620M

Reverse Description: The halved coat of arms of France and Navarre under a single crown. Four dots appear above the crown. On both sides of the coat of arms is a Roman numeral II. This indicated that the coin was a quarter silver escudo. The year of minting was 1620. The mint mark is the hallmark of the mintmaster, Jean Pierre Massalin.

Backstage Talk: GRATIA DEI SVM ID QVOD SVM. I am what I am by the grace of God. Image text of the coinage of Navarre established by Henry II of Labrite.

—-

The coin presented at the beginning of this entry brings me bittersweet feelings. On the one hand, I absolutely love the coins of Donapaleuco. The fact that the small town of Donapaleuco, in the span of barely a century (1579-1672), has minted so many beautiful silver coins seems to me to be truly memorable.

The quarter shield in this entry is not the most beautiful, most gallant or most fascinating coin ever minted in Donapaleu, and we should probably classify it as of medium quality. However, the quarter shields from Donapaleu of 1620 are not the rarest coins to come by.

Donapaleu is a small town today, with less than two thousand inhabitants. It was even smaller during the 16th and 17th centuries, with probably around 500 inhabitants. Henry II first gathered the general estates of the Kingdom of Navarre that remained under his control in Donapaleu on 23 August 1523, and the Chancellery of Navarre (the highest courts) was based there from 1524. We can therefore say that it was the last capital of the sovereign Kingdom of Navarre.

Ancient Church of Saint Paul – seat of the Estates General and Chancellery of the Kingdom of Navarre – Reformed church during the reigns of Joan III and Henry III

Henry II of Sangótzar established the mint of the Kingdom of Navarre in Donapaleu in 1527, but neither Henry himself (1517-1555) nor his daughter Joanna (1555-1572) minted any coins in Donapaleu (at least we do not have any traces of any minting in Donapaleu during these years). Henry III (1572-1610), their successor, was the one who reopened the mint in 1579. And we say reopened, because Donapaleu had already had a mint during the reign of Charles II (1349-1387) King of Navarre.

The location of the mint opened by Henry III is well known. The former mint occupied the site currently located at 14 Rue du Palais de Justice. However, its main entrance did not face this side of the street.

The present-day facade of the Donapalaeuc Mint, which was located at 14 Rue du Palais de Justice – In the past, this street was called the King's Street, the main street of Donapalaeuc – Google maps photo

If you walk along the Rue de la Monnaie (the street of the mint), located between numbers 14 and 16 of the Courthouse, you will reach the main entrance of the former mint. The mint had its main entrance at number 2 of the current Rue de la Monnaie.

Rue de la Monnaie From the street, the entrance to the mint can be seen on the left Main – Website of the Commune of Donapaleu

The front of the Mint and the main entrance on the side in 1995 – Photographer Garikoitz Estornes Zubizarreta – Auñamendi Basque learning

During this last period, the Donapaleu mint minted coins for over 93 years. It was closed for good in 1672, during the reign of Louis III of Navarre, or the Sun King Louis XIV of France. During these times, around a hundred people would have worked at the mint, no small feat for a town with around five hundred inhabitants.

The coins were hammered in Donapaleu until 1652, but from this year onwards, and for almost twenty years, the last beautiful coins, In the section dedicated to the Bayonne Mint As we have seen, they were made using a flywheel press equipped with the latest technology of the time.

Donapaleus, however, throughout this entire century, had a unique and original coin design for the Kingdom of Navarre, different from both the mints of the previous century and from the mints of the other French kingdoms (in the latter case from 1589 onwards). For example, if we look at a quarter shield from the Bayonne mint of the same period:

Quarter shield of Louis XIII minted in 1619 at the Baiona mint – 29.5 mm, 8.51 gr – LL Jehan de la Lande, mintmaster – SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTVM

Although the obverses of the coins are very similar, we can see that the Donapaleu coins feature the coat of arms of Navarre and the coin motto of the Labritars on the reverse (GRATIA DEI SVM ID QVOD SVM).

Gradually, these distinctive features were eliminated, but they did not disappear completely. For example, in the last year of the mint, on the silver shields already minted by the press, SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTVM appears as a motto, but the coat of arms of Navarre remained firm until the end of the mint.

One of the last excellent specimens struck at the Donapaleu mint – Louis XIV's hidden tie, 1672 – 27.17gr. 39mm – Mintmaster Francois de Noir (Star) – Engraver (Sun) unknown, some say Jean Warin himself

Louis XIV's turban, minted in 1675 at the Bayonne mint – 27.18g. 38.7mm – Mintmaster Michael Porchery (clover) – Engraver Jean Boisnet (Star)

However, while the Austrian kings maintained the ordinal number corresponding to the Navarrese monarchy in the coins minted at the Pamplona mint during the Navarrese period, as soon as the King of Navarre became King of France in 1589, he began to use the ordinal of the French kings on all his coins, including those minted in Lower Navarre.

Silver quarter coin minted in the first half of 1589 at the Donapaleu mint – 9.53gr

HENRICVS.II.DGREX.NAVARRE – letter R, Roger de Vergez or letter B, mintmaster Bertrand de la Lande

GRATIA.DEI.SVM.ID.Q.SVM 1589 – C crescent or moon

The coat of arms of Navarre on the left and the Bourbon lilies on the right

Henry III used the II ordinal corresponding to the lordship of Bearn in all his coins minted in Donapalace until 1589. In the Pau and Morlaas Bearn mints, however, in 1588 and 1589 he used the III ordinal corresponding to the kingdom of Navarre.

Silver quarter coin minted in the last month of 1589 at the Donapaleu mint – 8.82gr – 30mm

HENRICVS.4.DGFRAN.E.NAVAR.REX

GRATIA.DEI.SVM.ID.Q.SVM 1589 – B star, Bertrand de La Lande mintmaster, C star or moon

The fleur-de-lis of the French kingdom on the left and the coat of arms of Navarre on the right

The ordinal 4, which belonged to the French monarchy, is already shown on the coins of December 1589. However, the motto GRATIA.DEI.SVM.ID.Q.SVM was maintained on all coins of Donapaleu and Bearn until 1652.

As a reminder, we can show one of the coins that was minted at the Pamplona mint during the same period, a 50 real coin created by casting (a coin of honor, distributed as a gift by the king among his nobles and assistants):

Magnificent and huge 50 Reales coin of Philip VI of Navarre (Philip IV of Spain) 1652 – 73mm 186.60gr silver – Museum of Navarre

PHILIPPVS+VI+D+GRACIA

NAVARRE+REX+YEAR+1652

I have already mentioned that the silver quarter of 1620 evokes bittersweet feelings in me, and the sweet ones are already clear. As for the savory ones, we will show them with the following token. This was also minted in 1620, but not in Donapalace, but in Paris, and is a token created for the use of the assistants and servants of King Louis. The tokens, although they had the appearance and shape of coins, did not have monetary value, but were a kind of counting and knowledge tokens distributed by important personages among their assistants, administrators and members of their household.

LVDOVICVS.XIII.FRANCORVM.ET.NAVARAE.REX. – DISCITE.IVSTITIAM.MONITI.1620

27.1mm – Approximately 7 grams – Silver

Learn Justice from this reminder and be enlightened.

A hand emerging from the clouds of heaven holds a flaming sword with a shining star; on the right are several figures standing before the sword. In the background is a city and a mountain range.

This Jeton tells us about the end of the organization and sovereignty of Bearn and the last sovereign Basque territory, Lower Navarre. This loss, in fact, occurred in 1620 during the reign of Louis II of Navarre (Louis XIII of France) and not in 1607, during the reign of Louis' father, Henri III (Henri IV of France). There are some errors… otherwise take a look at the following historical map:

In 1607, Henry IV, King of France and Henry III, King of Navarre, united all the French feudal territories under their control (Albret, Foix, Bigorre, Armagnac, Rodez, Perigord, Limoges, Vendôme, Alençon, Beaumont, etc.) into the possession of the French crown. He expressly excluded the Kingdom of Navarre (Lower Navarre) and the Lordship of Bearn.

After 1607, Lower Navarre and Bearn continued their sovereign path, both forming part of the Kingdom of Navarre, but each had its own institutions, in the form of a federation (it must be said, however, that the capital and most of the political and economic weight were in the Bearn territories). As they were sovereign territories, the Edict of Nantes of 1598, which was valid throughout the Kingdom of France, did not apply to these parts of the Kingdom of Navarre. In Bearn in particular, the Huguenots had absolute power since the time of Queen Joan III, but not so much in Lower Navarre.

After the open and tolerant King Henry (Le bon Roi Henri), his son Louis took over the throne in 1610 after Henry was assassinated by Ravaillac. Louis, raised in an atmosphere of Jesuit counter-reformation, did not develop the same character as his father. He began a policy of re-establishing the Catholic religion, and as part of this policy, he decided to enforce the Edict of Nantes in Bearn and Lower Navarre.

The Huguenots of Bearn stubbornly refused the Edict of Nantes, and wished to continue in their original form. Consequently, in 1620, the young King Louis XIII, against the advice of his Council, began to implement the Edict of Bearn. In September, he left the city of Poitiers and, leading his army, began to besiege the fortresses of Bearn. On October 15, the royalist entered Pau and received the reluctant allegiance of the Bearn. Catholicism was restored and the ecclesiastical properties confiscated by the Huguenots were returned to their former owners.

The back of this coin is related to this passage, the city and mountain range depicted in it are Pau and the Pyrenees, and the King's arm carries the straight sword of God, facing the Biarritz people who surrender.

Thus, King Louis abolished the institutions of Lower Navarre and Bearn, and annexed both territories to the Kingdom of France. After the disappearance of the Navarrese chancellery, which was located in Donapala, and the courts of Bearn, their place was given to a new common institution called the Parliament of Navarre (this Parliament was a high court, located in Pau, built according to French custom).

DISCITE.IVSTITIAM.MONITI …. Through my example, learn to know justice … if it has the appearance of historical goring..

And finally, a curiosity, if I look at historical maps from the 16th century, both in Spanish and French, I have not found any reference to the kingdom of Navarre, composed of Lower Navarre and Bearn, which remained independent throughout the century. Furthermore, the Higanote kingdom was officially the only one in southern Europe for at least half a century.

Map showing the historical evolution of Spain during the reign of King Philip II.

If we look at the perspective of those who live outside the Pyrenees, I find a similar landscape in this case. However, some people were clear that Bearn was not part of the Kingdom of France at the end of the 15th century. Although the following map is not entirely accurate, since the Kingdom of Navarre and the Lordship of Bearn were under different royal families until 1479, it reflects the situation between this last year and 1512.

Historical map of the territories that were part of the Kingdom of France – 1477 – Wikipedia

Bibliography:

Les frappes monétaires en Béarn et Basse-Navarre d'après les comptes conservées aux Archives départementales des Basses-Pyrénées - Francoise Dumas 1959 - link

MINT OF NAVARRE AND BEARN – WIKIPEDIA – link

Histoire monétaire du BéarN – Jules Adrien Blanchet – 1893 – link

MONNAIES DE FRANCE, DE NAVARRE ET DU BÈARN – Jean Claude Ungar – 2010

GENERAL CATALOGUE OF THE NAVARRE COIN – Ricardo Ros Arrogante – 2013 – Altaffaylla Publishing House

THE COIN IN NAVARRA – NAVARRA MUSEUM – EXPOSITION FROM MAY 31 TO NOV 25 2001. Miguel Ibáñez Artica link

THE COIN OF NAVARRE IN THE MODERN AGE. DOCUMENTARY PROBLEMS. TYPES AND LEGENDS – Jose Maria de Francisco Olmos – 2000 – link

KINGDOM OF FRANCE –Wikipedia – link

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