ACCESSION OF GEORGE I

VESTNER, Georg Wilhelm: England, 1714, Silver, 44 mm
Obv: Bust of George I    GEORG LVD. D. G. M. BRIT. FR. ET HIB. REX DVX B & L. S. R. I. ELEC.  (George Louis, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick and Luneburg, Elector of the Holy Roman Empire)
Below: * (a star)
Rev: St. George on horseback slaying the Dragon, Victory hovering above crowning him    FIDEI DEFENSOR ET AEQVI. (Defender of the Faith and of Justice)
Exergue: CORONATVS 31. OCT. MDCCXIIII  (Crowned 31, Oct. 1714)  V. (Georg Wilhelm  Vestner.)
Signed: * (The mark of Georg Wilhelm Vestner)
Very Rare
Ref: Eimer 73/469; MI ii, 425/12; Forrer VI, 253;  Fearon 42/165.2;  Bernheimer 197/10; 
Brockmann II, 145/817;  Harding 52;  Weiss BW569

George Louis, George I (1660-1727), Elector of Hanover, was the first of the Hanoverian kings, succeeding Queen Anne and ending the Stuart line to the throne. Although a German, who could speak little English, he succeeded to the throne as a result of the Act of Settlement which excluded Catholics from ascending to the monarchy.  George was chosen over James (III) Stuart (the Elder Pretender), the son of James II, as James Stuart was Catholic and George was the next Protestant in line to the throne. This succession was somewhat circuitous: in Germany, George was heir through his father, Ernest Augustus, to the hereditary lay bishopric of Osnabruck, and to the duchy of Calenberg, which formed one portion of the Hanoverian possessions of the House of Brunswick. George I, the great-grandson of James I, inherited the British crown through his mother Sophia, a protestant granddaughter of James I of England. George I was succeeded by George II, George III, George IV and Queen Victoria, the last Hanoverian monarch.

George was crowned in Westminster Abbey on October 20, 1714, the event commemorated by this medal.

St. George is the emblem of the King. The Dragon is intended to represent Popery and Arbitrary Power, both of which were overthrown when George I from the House of Brunswick was established onto the throne of England. (M.I.)

LINK to House of Brunswick (from Wikipedia)

LINK to Portrait of George I by Godfrey Kneller (from Wikipedia)

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