Coins | In Focus | Silver Kreuzer of Maria Theresa, 1744
Silver
15 Kreuzer of Empress Maria Theresa
In April 2004, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts was given a comprehensive collection of rare Hungarian and Transylvanian coins by Edgar Guest, an alumnus of the University of Birmingham. Mr. Guest has painstakingly collected numismatic issues from nearly every Hungarian ruler of the last millennium. One of the collection’s most striking coins, is a silver 15 kreuzer coin minted during the reign of Maria Theresa (1741-80), the Hapsburg Queen of Hungary, later to be crowned Holy Roman Empress. This particular kreuzer was minted only two years after Maria Theresa accession to the throne.
The obverse of the coin is rather typical for the period, bearing the standard imagery and inscriptions of Hapsburg coins circulating throughout the Empire. This kreuzer is no exception, with the bust of Maria Theresa dominating the surface, portrayed facing to the right. Circling her image is the inscription: M : THERES: D · G : REG : H ·U· B ·O ·A ·A (Maria Theresa, by the Grace of God, Queen of Hungary, Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria). The reverse of the coin bears the image of the Virgin and Child, a recurring motif on Hungarian coins since the reign of Stephen I in the 10th century.
As the inscription on the reverse reveals, the Virgin is the patroness of Hungary (PATRONA: REG). Here, she is pictured crowned, with the Christ Child on her lap, bearing a sceptre in her left hand. This regal imagery, along with the inscription, reveal that this is not the compliant young Virgin of the Annunciation, a mere vessel for the Son of God, but rather the celestial queen who intercedes for her subjects. As ‘Apostolic Queen of Hungary’, Maria Theresa was the Virgin’s earthly counterpart.
It was the use of the title ‘Apostolic Queen’ that caused Maria Theresa
difficulties with the Catholic Church. When she assumed the Hungarian
throne in 1741, she immediately took the title, an honorary epithet created
seven-hundred years prior for Stephen I, conferred by Pope Sylvester
II for Christianising the region. The appellation is reinforced by the
Marian imagery she uses on coinage throughout her reign: both women are
queens by divine right. When the Church balked at her utilisation of
the title, she sent letters patent to Pope Benedict XIV, expressing her
hope that the Holy See would not withhold this title either to her, or
to future rulers of Hungary. Thus began a seventeen-year long battle
with the Church, and the dissemination of the most potent form of political
ideology -coins.
By using the Virgin and Child motif on all Hungarian coins minted during her reign, Maria Theresa reinforced four political objectives: she was both a woman and a mother, yet still powerful enough to rule; she was more than a queen to her subjects, she was their protector, their champion, their patroness; her throne was granted by divine right; a divine throne merits similarly inspired titles. The campaign eventually proved successful, with Maria Theresa being granted the title in 1758 by Pope Clement XIII.