Historical and Commemorative
Medals
Collection of Benjamin Weiss
EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD 1645 by John Roettier: England, ca.1680, Silver, 58 mm.
Laud was arrested in 1640 as his Laudian reforms were at odds with the Puritans of the increasingly influential Parliamentarians, who wanted to reduce the independence that the church had from the state. Laud was arrested, tried and executed in 1645 as he was considered guilty of running a state within a state. This medal was struck in 1680 to commemorate Laud at a time when many of the ecclesiastical reforms of the Commonwealth had been reversed; he was seen as someone who had suffered in the cause of the Church and of royalty. |
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