How Far Back Can We Go? Sixth Edition!

Yes I agree, in her 40s, all 15 of her babies had died (Prince George was 11 when he died from over exuberant dancing() and the fate of the Stuart dynasty existant since Robert II of Scotland became king in 1371, rested on her ample shoulders.

When she died ion August 1st 1714 aged nearly 50 and morbidly obese and sadly lonely after losing her best friend (Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough in some silly fight), her husband and 17 stillborn babies, so did the Stuart dynasty and Elector George of Hannover was called for.

Queen Anne of Great Britain 1702 - 1714

Anne born 1665 was the second daughter of James II and Anne Hyde his first wife. Always to play second fiddle to Mary (1662 - 1694) Anne's biggest prospect was to be married off to some Protestant German Princeling and serve as some electoress or margravine. She did better by marrying into the Danish royal family.



By Peter Lely - http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/c...ater-mary-ii, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/ind...rid=20851043

The portrait was painted between 1663 and 1675 - mainly as the daughters were painted in later and Anne Hyde died in 1671 aged 37, the girls looks 10 and 8 making them around the year 1672 - 74.

In 1683 Anne married George the younger brother of Christian V of Denmark and son of Frederick III. The marriage was happy but plagued with stillborn children, 17 were had and 12 were still born, apart from Prince William, none lived past infancy.

He was considered an insignificant husband, being a simple minded glutton and offered only token roles by his wife who remained Queen, he would never be a King. He died in 1708 much lamented by the Queen, who became depressed and then the rumours of her becoming a Lesbian began.


A recent recreation of how Queen Anne may have really looked.

Her reign was eventful with military triumphs and a popular but not beloved queen. She was supporting of Tories and this put her at odds with the Whiggish leanings of Sarah Churchill her best friend. In 1707 the Union of Scotland and England/Wales occured and Great Britain began.

In 1701 King William had passed an act banning the rule of any Catholic in Britain and hence the succession of the Hanoverians was assured after Anne's death in case she got a heir, which was unlikely given the 17 children born between 1684 and 1700 were now all dead (Prince William died on July 30 1700 aged 11).

There was only two main types of her coins with one portrait, with pre and post Union coins (1702 - 1707) and (1707 - 1714). Branch mints exist too. All values from 5 Guineas down to Maundy pennies were minted along with farthings minted in 1714 only. The lowest standard coin was a sixpence in this era.

The last few years, she basically ate herself into oblivion and died in gout and agony, of a heart attack. Anne had some good qualities, listening to reason and having able generals - she was clouded by her love of favourites (A Stuart trait) and was a patroness of the arts - being a fan of medals and coins - so some glimmers of hope there.

In response to some recent comments, I should have added, the war of the Spanish succession dragged on through her reign until 1712 and the Treaty of Peace at Utrecht was the one major triumph of her later reign in 1713. She managed to enjoy it only for one year.

She has been reassessed by historians lately after the usual Victorian era condemnation of all 18th century rulers. Definitely a C+/B- grade ruler here.

@princetane, I am also enjoying the history lessons. It's a wonder that her death without heir didn;t lead to another war (War of the British Succesion?) but I guess the French were already too tapped out to start it .

Unlike the large number of coins that bear Anne's portrait, I think there were only a couple of types from the Spanish Netherlands that bear a portrait of Phjilip V. So here is a 2 liards, Namur mint, 1709:

1709 -- Spanish Netherlands / County of Namur, 2 liards:

Here is my 1 Liard version of those coppers from Namur posted by @tdz and @pep:

For 1709, here is a 1/12 Thaler from the German state (Bishopric) of Paderborn.

Franz Arnold von Wolff-Metternich zur Gracht was the Prince-Bishop of Paderborn and Munster.

These issues were struck in low quality billon silver -- decades of war, bribery, borrowing, construction, and devil-may-care court extravagances had left massive debts for both city and church; the debasement was intended to ease repayment, only to be interrupted by the War of the Spanish Succession. The attitude seems to have been "do it now and figure out how to pay for it later."

For what it's worth, the depth of political intrigues, backstabbing, scheming, fighting and maneuvering in Continental Europe and the Holy Roman Empire in the latter part of the 17th and the early 18th centuries gives the fictional events in the "Game of Thrones" TV series a run for their collective money.

Looking good!

Amen. Poland had "elected" a Saxon king, Augustus II in 1697. (Since 1569, the electors in this system were the Polish nobility, who often took up sides with foreign powers: the Hapsburgs, Prussia, Saxony, Russia, Sweden, France and so on). In 1702 Charles XII of Sweden invaded Poland, and forced the nobles to depose Augustus, and then elect his favored candidate, Stanislaw Leszczynski to become king. Stanislaw reigned from 1704-09, at which point Russia defeated Sweden, Stanislaw fled, and Augustus was restored.
On Augustus' death, 24 years later, Stanislaw again pressed his claim to the throne, backed by France and Sweden, but opposed by Austria and Russia, triggering the War of the Polish Succession.

For 1708, my last coin from Lorraine for a month or so: