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Coins and Banknotes

1678 Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey 38mm silver medal MI 578/250 E259a

1678 Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey 38mm silver medal MI 578/250 E259a

£525.00 GBP
£525.00 GBP
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  • Obverse: Bust, right, being strangled with his own cravat by two hands

  • Reverse: heads of the Pope and Devil conjoined to form one face,

  • By G Bower

  • Struck silver

  • 38mm; 27.9g

  • Sir Edmundbury [or Edmund Berry] Godfrey (1621-78), Justice of the Peace for Westminster, was found dead under mysterious circumstances, Catholics having been accused of his murder. In 1678 Sir Edmundbury Godfrey had become involved with Titus Oates, the force behind the Popish Plot, which led into an anti-Catholic campaign.

    The design of the reverse is taken from medals which were very common at the time of the Reformation, and of which the object was the same, to satirize and ridicule the followers of the Pope. The Popish Pot and the death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey contributed to excite determined hostility to the Papal power and influence.
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