MAUGER, Jean: France, 1680, Bronze, 41 mm
Obv: Bust (r) of Louis XIV LUDOVICUS MAGNUS REX CHRISTIANISSIMUS.
Rev: View of the city, the arsenal and the port of Toulon. Above, the goddess Pallas sitting in the clouds, hovering over port. TOLONII PORTUS ET NAVALE
Exergue: M.DC.LXX.
Signed: I. MAVGER. F.
Ref: Divo 64/182; Weiss BW659

Toulon is a highly defensible, important naval port and fortress on the Mediterranean Sea, south of Marseille, France. The city had been an important fishing port and shipping sanctuary from before Roman times. During the period of Louis XIV and Colbert the idea of commanding of the Mediterranean Sea gained force. To this end in 1679, the port was fortified by an outer series of bastions, ravelins and ditches designed by Marshal Vauban, the master-engineer of Louis XIV’s reign. It was strong enough to hold off a full field army. In 1707 it was able to repel the Allied army of Prince Eugene of Savoy, one of the greatest commanders of the Marlburian period, which had been augmented by an Anglo-Dutch fleet of fifty warships and twenty transports.

Like most of the medals in this series, this medal was likely struck in the early 18^th century.