bavarikon4UDescription
Obverse: Inscription “LVDOVICvs COMES PALATINvs RHENI VTRIVSQve BAVA DVX” (Louis, Count Palatine of both Rhines and Duke of Bavaria); half length portrait to the left, dressed in a coat with fur trimming and with a low cap, placed between the numbers of the year. Outside written circle in double floral ring.
Reverse: “FLOREAT SEMPER BAVARIAE REGIO” (May the Bavarian region flourish forever); Bavaria, wearing a mural crown, sits on a biga drawn by lions; she holds the reins in the left hand and a blossoming branch in the right. Above her floats the crowned and decorated diamond-patterned shield. Outside is a written circle in a double ring of pearls.
Duke Louis X was the younger brother of Duke William IV and, after reaching the age of majority, also asserted claims to the duchy. In 1514, under the threat of war, the brothers finally agreed a joint government with shared responsibilities. Louis’s political ambitions extended to the Czech crown in 1526 and to the Roman-German crown in 1531. In both royal elections, however, he was defeated by Ferdinand Habsburg. After Louis had died without legitimate children entitled to inherit in 1545, all his sovereign rights were returned to his brother William. The type of medal presented here is considered to be one of the most beautiful Bavarian medals of the early modern period. In particular, the depiction of Bavaria as a personification of the duchy in the lion-drawn carriage is outstanding.