Nomos 13

Netherlands, The Dutch Republic. Jeton (Silver, 29mm, 6.40 g 12), on the Twelve Years’ Truce between the Dutch and the Spanish, 1609. (rose)•QVIESCO•CIƆ•IƆ•CIX•S•C• (=I repose, by decree of the Senate) Soldier sleeping right, his head resting on a drum; around, cast off armor. Rev. (rose)•PLVS•VIGILA• (=stay vigilant) Mercury standing right, pinching the ear of a man sleeping on his desk to right. PiN 66. Van Loon II, p. 56. A fascinating, amusing and attractively toned piece. Extremely fine.

This piece commemorates the establishment of a truce lasting twelve years between the Dutch and Spain in 1609. Negotiations had begun as early as 1606 following Ambroglio Spinola’s victories against the Dutch (countered by the Spanish loss of Sluys against their recapture of Ostende), and the concomitant increasing bankruptcy of the Spanish crown under Philip III. Despite the king’s extreme reluctance to treat with the Dutch, he was forced by economic realities to agree to a general truce, which was finally ratified on 7 July 1609. While the Spanish only agreed to treat United Provinces as an independent state for the duration of the treaty, the Dutch viewed it as accepting their full independence: other states agreed and upgraded their diplomatic representatives. For all intents and purposes, even though the 80 Years War was to resume and only come to a formal end in 1648, the Dutch state was, as of 1609, a fully recognized independent entity.