Fig. 1. The Copenhagen copy of the Mohács medals with Louis II and Mary, silver, cast, weight 29.66 gr, traces of loop. Bought at the Duisburg medals auctic Danzig (Gdansk) 1869. (*)
Some twenty years ago a small group of Nordic numismatists were invited by Dr. István Gedai to take part in a conference in Debrecen. On our way we saw the Hungarian National Museum, and in the numismatic exhibition my attention was drawn to the obverse of the Mohács medal, because its composition had a striking resemblance to a Danish coin issued by Frederik I in 1532.
Fig. 1. The Copenhagen copy of the Mohács medals with Louis II and Mary, silver, cast, weight 29.66 gr, traces of loop. Bought at the Duisburg medals auctic Danzig (Gdansk) 1869. (*)
The obverse of the Hungarian medal has in a face to face position the profile busts of King Louis II of the Jagellon dynasty, who was killed at the Mohács battle in 1526 and his Queen Mary (1505-58), who was a sister of Emperor Charles V. This medal should be classified in a group, where the couple is placed 'face to face' in a devoted and sentimental way, according to the classification made at a recent exhibition at The Cabinet des Médailles of the Bibliothéque Nationale de France. The exhibition had three pieces from the 16th century belonging to this group, all of them French or Italian (1). Louis and Mary, who wear rich courtly costumes, have their heads covered by stately hats, while in the background there are acanthus omaments in the renaissance style. They are posing above a line dividing the field between the figures and the inscription, which covers several horisontal lines (fig. 1). A closely related variety has only the profile bust of Queen Mary in a portico made by two pilasters with renaissance ornaments, which are united by a low arch (fig. 2).
Fig. 2. The Copenhagen copy of the Mohács medal with Mary alone. Well preserved struck copy, acquired before 1793 (Fortegnelse 1793, fol. 226, 3.)
The obverse of the Danish coins (half mark, mark, multiple in silver and presentation pieces in gold) have in principle the same composition, King Frederic I (ruled 1523-33) and his Queen Sophia (1498-1568) wear crowns (fig. 3-4). The King had his armour, which he often wears on coins, and in the background we see some acanthus omaments. The Danish coins have two rather simple renaissance pilasters surroundring the couple. This is not the case with the Hungarian parallel, but only with the medal depicting Queen Mary alone.
The reverses of the Danish coin and the Hungarian medal have nothing in common. The Hungarian medal has a cavallery scene depicting the death of the King at Mohács, and a corresponding inscription about this and other events. The Danish coin has eight coat-of-arms, of which three are crowned (the Danish and Norwegian ones as well as a coat-of-arms with a cross, probably inspired by the "Dannebrog" cross from the Danish flag). They are supported by a putto. Both obverse and reverse are among the early Danish cases of renaissance style. It should be mentioned that die varieties of the Danish coins are known, cf. the two specimens here illustrated.
Since the early years of the 20th century Danish numismatists have been looking for foreign pattems of Danish coins. The first case was presented by P. Hauberg at the 2nd International Congress at Paris, and his successor G. Galster directed often his research in this field, both in his early years and as a mature scholar (2). From later years Kirsten Bendixen should be mentioned, she discussed some cases from the early 12th century at a lecture in Budapest in 1976 (3). So this was the background for the following observations.
The two medals with a Hungarian background were published by Lajos Huszár in the standard book about Hungarian medals (4). They are attributed to the medaillist Christoph Füszl in Körmöcbánya, who was appointed as a die-engraver in 1543, but he is to have been active earlier. He died in 1561.
Fig. 3.- 4. Presentation pieces in gold (pierced, 13.56 g) and silver
(multiple 1 1/2 guilder, 42.63 g) of the Danish mark and halfmark struck 1532 with portraits of King Frederic I and his Queen Sophia of Pomerania. She was the daughter of Bogislaw X of Pomerania and the cousin of slain Hungarian king.
In the long interval between c.1200 and 1892 only this Danish coin has a portrait of the Queen together with her husband.
The medals cannot possible be as old as 1526, for both of them indicate in their obverse inscriptions that Queen Maria was the governor of Emperor Charles V in Flanders "... proces[ar] in Flan(n)[dria]" or "...iam pro cesarae Carol Vo in Flandris", a position, which she obtained in 1531, 3 January. This should consequently be the earliest possible year of the medal. And it is not quite impossible, as Füszl is known to have made Pest thalers or medals in memory of the plagues in 1530, 1531, 1534, 1535 etc. (5).
The Danish pieces are traditionally looked upon as coins, not as medals, even if the weights of the known gold pieces (nobels?) are widely diverging: 13.56 g, 15.08 g, and 17 g - the normal weight should be 14.375 g. The silver coins are traditionally known as guilders (28.5 and 29.52 g), 1 1/2 guilder (45.58 g). The half guilder has the weight of 14.98 g. G. Galster, however argned they should be regarded as denominations of mark (vide supra).
The coins were produced in the King's last year of life, after he had had his nephew and competitor to the Danish crown emprisoned, and he apparently enjoyed some peaceful months. We know of very few artists in the surrounding of the King, Martin Bussert (mentioned from 1523, died c. 1552) and (hypothetically) Jacob Binck (c. 1500-69). These two persons were focused upon by Otto Norn (1915-2004), a very competent researcher in the building and artistic history of Frederic I. (6). Jacob Binck was one of the North German "Kleinmeisters" in the 16th century, but we have no definitive proof of him having worked for Frederik I. The fact that he appears very early in the service of the king's son, Christian III (1534-59) makes it probable that the latter king had taken over Binck from his father. In his learned discussion about the decorative tiles at the castle of Gottorp, which Frederic I had rebuilt in about 1530, Norn underlines the importance of the graphics of the "Kleinmeister" as patterns for a series of reliefs at the Gottorp castle. But Norn also underlines that a coin might be among the most wides spread pattems (7).
Jacob Binck is known to have travelled a lot in his later years, entering the service of i.a. Danish, Swedish and Prussian courts, and it should suit his versatility well to have let himself be inspired by the recent Hungarian medals. But it should be underlined that we have very little definite knowledge of the names of the artists who may have been in the service of Frederic I. Bussert is known for certain, while Binck, as already mentioned, is a tempting hypothesis (8).
It is consequently my suggestion that the Mohács medals both with Louis and Mary as well as with Mary alone existed in 1532, when the coins and presentation pieces of Frederic I and Sophia were produced. In all probablility they were lying at the desk of the artist who made the patterns for the dies of the Danish coins.
How did the Mohács medals come to Denmark, to the Danish court? Maybe through the good offices of the Danish queen Sophia, whose mother Anna (1476-1503) was a daughter of the Polish king Kazimierz Jagiellonczyk (ruled 1446-92). The Hungarian king, Louis II, who was killed at Mohács, was her cousin! Wladyslaw II, the father of Louis, was king of Bohernia from 1471 and king of Hungary from 1496. Little attention has been given to this Eastern European family connection to Frederic I and Sophia, but here we may add that the family ties support the hypothesis of the Hungarian medal having served as a pattern for the Danish coin.
This is not in contradiction with the proposal by Vera Héri that the model of the portrait of Queen Mary (and of King Louis) was a stone medal by Hans Daucher, which should be dated in the year 1524 (9).
(In memoriam Ludovici Huszár, Argumentum Kiadó, Magyar numizmatikai társulat 2005 side 194-198)