Cleveland Museum of Art

Crown of the Double Rose: Crowned Double Rose (obverse); Crowned Royal Arms (reverse)

Date

1526–33

Medium

gold

Culture

England, Henry VIII, 1509-1547

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

For the first time the Crown of the Double Rose makes it appearance. On these coins the motto Rutilans Rosa Sine Spine, a dazzling rose without a thorn, follows the king's name on the obverse. The crowned initials on either side of the rose are those of Henry and his first queen, Katherine (or Catherine) of Aragon. Since Henry divorced Katherine in 1533, the date of this piece must fall between 1526 and 1533. It was this divorce which helped to bring about the fall of the famous Cardinal Wolsey, the beheadings of Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher, and the separation of the English Church from that of Rome. Henry VIII placed the initials of three of his queens on some of his coins, the only occasion on which this has been done on the English coinage.

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