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Scottish Coins ~ William & Mary (1689-1694)
William and Mary were the only instance in Britain of there existing a Co-Monarchy, where two monarchs reigned as one. Whilst this was common during the Anglo-Saxon era, in the English and later British Kingdom it had not happened prior to this reign, nor since. In essence this reign would have not happened had it not been for the strongly Catholic views and actions of James VII, Mary's father. The discomfort on the part of many in the Church of England, and with Parliamentarians was that James VII might perhaps re-establish Catholiscism as the state religion, replacing the Protestant faiths in Scotland Presbyterian, and in England, Church of England or Anglican. Curiously both of James VII's daughters, Mary, and Anne, were practicing Protestants, and were thus more preferable as monarchs by the powers that be. Because Mary was married to William of Orange, the Stadholder of the Netherlands, a prominent Protestant and was the first in line for the throne, their station affected their invitation to ascend the throne in Britain by the Bishop of London in 1688. They landed in England in November 1688, with the subsequent flight of James VII to France, they were offered a dual monarchy to appease Mary whom was concerned with having "usurped" her father's position unduly. Whilst William and Mary were obviously not matched in marriage as would be preferable, there being numerous allegations of affairs etc., they satisfied the basic need for security with a Protestant monarchy being restored in England. In effect they were placeholder monarchs, only sitting on the throne in anticipation of something further happening, perhaps the conversion of James VIII(The Old Pretender) to the Protestant confession. Queen Mary contracted smallpox in December 1694 and died shortly thereafter, leaving her husband, the Dutchman as King of Great Britain. Numismatically this reign produced a fascinating coinage with the dual monarchs portrayed on their coinage. This reign struck a greater range of denominations than that of James VII, denominations such as the 20 Shillings and 5 Shillings were authorised previously but not struck until this reign. The coins of this reign are now scarce, many having been called in during the re-coinage of 1707-1709 when the old Scottish coinage was called in and melted to manufacture new Sterling coinage bearing the E mintmark from Edinburgh. Denominations used during this reign:Silver60 Shillings, 1691-169240 Shillings, 1689-169420 Shillings, 1693-1694 very scarce, minted in low numbers.10 Shillings, 1689-1694, the 1689 coin is very rare.5 Shillings, 1691,1694Copper
One of the curious aspects of this coinage was the depiction of the two monarchs on the coinage. This is something that did not happen since the reign of Mary I and Phillip during the 1550's. The early part of this reign was a very heady time in Scotland with much religious and political strife. This coin was issued in 1692, the same year of the massacre at Glencoe. Bawbee = 6d or halfpenny sterling, 1691-1694Bodle = 2d or 1691-1694 |
Page last updated on 5th August 2011 Года All pages and images copyright © David Parrish 1999 - 2011 Года
