GUNPOWDER PLOT MEDAL TRIBUTE – 2 TROY OUNCE – 39MM

This Tribute commemorates the silver medal was struck in Holland in 1605.   The original medal was created to commemorate the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in England and the expulsion of the Jesuits (a Catholic ministry) from Holland. THE GUNPOWER PLOT Late at night on 4 November 1605, Guy Fawkes was discovered and arrested with matches in his pocket near a large stash of gunpowder hidden under Parliament. An anonymous letter to Baron Monteagle advising him to avoid attending Parliament on 5 November and hinting at a ‘terrible blow’ from an unknown source, had tipped off the court. The letter was shown to King James who perceived a literal threat in the word ‘blow’ – his own father having been murdered in an explosion – and a search of the buildings was ordered. Fawkes and his co-conspirators, led by Robert Catesby, were Catholics unhappy with the increasing persecution of their faith in England. They planned to blow up Parliament at the state opening, thus killing the King and a large swathe of the ruling elite, and to kidnap James’s daughter, installing her as a puppet Queen to restore Catholic rights to the country. The crown prosecution connected the conspiracy to the Jesuit order and Father Garnet – a Jesuit priest – was among those executed for treason. The uncovering of such a violent plot to obliterate King and government rocked the nation. Some scholars have compared the effect of the Gunpowder Plot on 17th-century England to that of 9/11 or the Kennedy assassination on 20th-century USA. Contains 2 oz. Troy Ounce .999 Fine Silver

• Obverse: Depiction of a snake among lilies and roses, symbolizing Jesuit intrigue and deception. The inscription reads ‘DETECTVS. QVI. LATVIT. S.C.’ (He, who concealed himself, is detected. By order of the Senate.)

• Reverse: The reverse bears the tetragrammaton (the name of God in Hebrew) in a circle of thorns, with the inscription ‘NON DORMITASTI ANTISTES IACOBI’ (You (i.e. God), the keeper of James, have not slept), a paraphrase of Psalm 121