Walking Back In Time From 1600 To Antiquity By Decades (V2.0)

Personally I think that since the bulk of us have Roman and Greek coins it is counter productive to restart since it is unlikely to have a different outcome this time. My suggestion for this was to start two threads at year 1, one going forwards and one going backwards...(we would at least find out how big the dead zone is) With this thread restarted that would be far too much going on but perhaps you should start going back from the last decade of Roman rule.

I only say that as I am sure I won't be alone in sitting on my hands for a considerable period of time waiting for the thread to progress to a specific time period of interest only for it to not to get there.

It is your game and your rules and I hope you don't think my comments rude but after 3 years of the other thread failing to reach Rome it's a frustration if we go the wrong direction by 1000 years, and for me archaic Greek is my primary interest so what chance have I?

Ok well if we go in the other direction from year 1 I would imagine 47 possible decades before we hit a wall and we still don't get to Greeks.

If we start with Archaic Greeks I am sure many early coins can't be pinned to a specific decade.

So I guess I should start a thread going from some point in late Rome backwards... everyone should have something to contribute there and it has room to run for quite a while without issues.

I'll get us started with this Double Tourois from the French region Dombes minted in 1595 AD. The obv inscription is "HD BOVRB P D DOMBES M" while the rev inscription is "DOVBLE TOVRNOIS 1595". I have it attributed as Duplessy II-2963 and Ek 28.





Please post your coins minted between 1591 and 1600 today as we will be moving back a decade at midnight!

Dutch Republic
Leicesterrijksdaalder Type 2 (seven united provinces) - Thaler sized coin
Minted in Overijssel (Transissulania) 1595
Delm 908
OBV Earl of Leicester holding sword and bundle of seven arrows
CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCU NT TRAN
REV 1595
Coat of Arms of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic
upper row (le=>r) Gelderland/Holland/West-Friesland/Zeeland
lower row (Utrecht/Friesland/Overijssel
MON.ORDIN.PROVIN.FOED.BELG.AD.LEG.IMP

Spanish Netherlands : Philippe II : 1558-1598
double liard - dubbel oord
obv:PHS.D.G.HIS.Z.REC.C.AT.86
rev : DOMINUS MIHI ADIUTO (sic).
mint Arras , 1586 , mintmark :a rat .
26 mm , 4.5 gr , 5 h . albert .

Nicely struck, clear portrait and legends Orfew.

it is quite amazing how most of the Lords and Kings in this starting series are historically connected, let me briefly explain why

In 1566 the Netherlands revolted against the king of Spain, Philip II
this revolt started in the Southern provinces (Steenvoorde in what is today French Flanders) and it was arrested by the arrival of the duke of Alva (the iron duke)
high taxes (the tenth penny) were the origin of

the second revolt in 1572 which started in the Northern Provinces (Brielle in Holland); the Spanish army sieged different cities in Holland and Zeeland, and succeeded only in part ; the North resisted Philip and the siege of Leyden and Alkmaar were relieved by the Dutch ; because of lack of funds Spanish troops started to mutiny and plunder

this led to the fury of Antwerp (november 1575) and the third revolt (1577 the Pacification of Ghent). From that moment on the path of the Northern and Southern Provinces started to diverge

the North officially abjured from Philip which did not happen in the South, moreover, the Duke of Parma (Alexander Farnese) succeeded by brilliant strategy to recapture different cities (Maastricht (1579), Antwerp (1585), Brussels (1580)) to the Spanish side

William of Orange and others tried to unify the Netherlands but the situation became very confusing and the North and South were on different paths; the invitation of the States General to François d'Alençon, Duke of Anjou, to become
Sovereign (1581-1584) of the 17 Provinces (North and South) did not change very much

After the assassination of William of Orange in Delft (1584), the Northern provinces were without leadership and threatened by the military success of Alexander Farnese. Desperate and broke, the Dutch asked Queen Elisabeth of England for support. She sent her intimate friend Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, to rule over the Northern Netherlands. Unfortunately, Leicester did not do very well in The Netherlands and lost almost all conflicts with Parma who had superior equipment and troops.

Why did this story not end with suppression of the revolt and return to the Spanish rule over the 17 provinces?

The crucial error of Phillip was the plan to invade England with an Armada (1588). This involved the transport of a big invasion army and heavy siege material from The Netherlands to England.
Parma was ordered (much against his will) to mobilize all material Philip needed. After the failure of the Armada mission Parma was bereft of material support for the further conquest of the Northern Provinces. The failure of the Armada mission in 1588 was a turning point in the history of the Netherlands

The current borders between the Netherlands (Northern Provinces in revolt) and Belgium (Spanish Netherlands, reconquered by Parma) are more or less the result of what is described above

The different coins produced in the many cities of the 17 Provinces (Belgium and Holland) do not only include official emissions but also revolting counterstamps, siege coins and propaganda jetons: together they give a vivid account of those stormy decades, more than 350 years ago.