1646- 1694 Italian States Silver Testone Dutchy Parma Duke Ranuccio II Farnese

Description

1646- 1694 Italian States Silver Testone
Dutchy Parma Duke
Ranuccio II Farnese
Still strong detail for 300+ year old coin with brilliant old silver tone. Diameter 32 mm Weight 8.95 grams.
Ranuccio was the senior son of Duke Odoardo I Farnese and Margherita de 'Medici, and is mainly remembered for the loss of the Duchy of Castro, forcibly released by the Papal State During his reign.
Also, like his predecessor, he worked to improve the economic conditions of the Duchy by adopting wise measures which were worthy of the recognition of his subjects. Man of Culture, promoted various initiatives in favor of local institutions.
Obverse
Description:
Bust of Ranuccio with full face in lace collar facing left.
Obverse
Legend
:
RAN · FAR · PAR · ET · PLA · DVX · VI
Translation:
Ranuccio
Farnese 6
th
Duke of Parma and
Piacenza
Reverse Description
:
St Vitale
nimble
figure in armour with banner in his right hand and shield bearing the Farnese coat of arms in his left hand.
At the sides of the last, down, G - G (Giovanni Gualtieri, engraver).
Reverse
Legend:
VITALIS PARMAE • PROT •
Translation:
St Vitale protector of Parma
Ruler:
Ranuccio
Farnese 6
th
Duke of Parma and
Piacenza
If for any reason you are not happy with your purchase, we will refund your money back (see return policy)
Want to see more interesting Coins and Medals? Check out my other listings.
Ruler at time of minting
Ranuccio
Farnese
Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma
Ranuccio (17 September 1630 – 11 December 1694
)
was the eldest son of Odoardo Farnese, the fifth sovereign duke of Parma, and his Tuscan wife, Margherita de' Medici. After his father's sudden death, Ranuccio succeeded as duke. As he was a minor and had not yet reached his majority, he ruled the first two years of his reign under the regency of his uncle, Francesco Maria Farnese and his mother. Ranuccio belonged to the House of Farnese, whose duchy were founded by his patrilineal ancestor, Pope Paul Ill, formerly Alessandro Farnese. The Farnese Dukes had been ruling Parma and Piacenza since Pope Paul's illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese was given it as a possession. Pier Luigi was also Duke of Castro, a title he was bestowed upon by his father, after the latter created it from the lands recovered after the death of Ranuccio the Elder, Pier Luigi's younger brother.
Conflicts with the Papacy
Pope Innocent X, conqueror and destructor of Castro During Odoardo's reign the declining Duchy had been involved in the Wars of Castro, over the above- mentioned duchy of Castro, which was a Farnese fief in the Papal States, north of Rome, which the powerful Pope Urban Vlll's family, the Barberini, was eager to acquire. They found the excuse when Odoardo was unable to repay his creditors, from whom he had incurred debts. Urban responded to the creditors' plea for help and had Castro occupied. However, the first war ended with Papal defeat. Ranuccio refused to repay the debts incurred by his father, despite the latter having a signed a peace treaty agreeing to do so. He also refused to recognise the new bishop of Castro, appointed by Urban's successor, Innocent X. In 1649, the new bishop, Cardinal Cristoforo Giarda, was murdered on his way to Castro. Innocent accused Ranuccio of the murder and in retaliation, forces loyal to the Pope besieged Castro, and then razed it to the ground. In August of that same year the Parmense troops had been crushed not far from Bologna, and Ranuccio remained with no means to gain back his fief, despite his attempts to buy it back with money. In 1672 he bought the principate of Bardi and Compiano from Gianandrea Doria Landi, giving the Duchy its final shape. In the last days of his reign, the Duchy suffered heavily from the presence of Imperial troops, who were fighting in the dispute between Victor Amadeus Il of Savoy and France.
There are over 30 Castles in the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza
Castle
Torrechiara
in the in the hills of the province of Parma.
Bardi Castle – Parma
Just 60km away from the city of Parma
, in wild Val Ceno,
Bardi Castle
, throughout the ages came under the the domain of the Landi, the Bourbon and the Farnese families.
Saint Vitalis
Among the no less than 23 saints of the Christian calendar, bearing the Latin name of Vitalis, there are chiefly bishops and martyrs, of whom reliable little more is known than their name.
Among them is the holy Vitalis of the Parma coin, a martyr from the nearby Bologna, whose bones were celebrated solemnly around the year 380, in the presence of St. Ambrose , the celebrated bishop of Milan. St. Vitalis, mentioned by Paulinus of Nola, Vitricius of Rouen, and other writers, was dedicated to the basilica of the Titulus Vestinae in Rome in the 5th century.
The cult of the Holy One spread mainly in Northern Italy, where the sepulchral church of San Vitale e Agricola, now part of San Stefano, was also built in Bologna in the 5th century. The most famous sacred church is the basilica of San Vitale, built in the 6th century in Ravenna, the first building of the central dome of the West and the model of the palace chapel of Charlemagne in Aachen.
There are two Vitalis legends known, but both are considered historically worthless. One translates the martyrdom of the saint to Bologna, and about the year 305 AD, in the time of the Christian persecutions under Diocletian. The second, born only in the sixth century, calls Vitalis a "miles", a knight, and gives him a wife, Valeria, and two alleged sons, St. Gervasius and Protasius , buried in S. Ambrogio, Milan. According to this legend, St. Vitalis and his family have already suffered martyrdom under Nero.
St. Vitalis and St. Agricola, whose bones were found at the same time and buried in Bologna in the same church, are the patrons of the gentlemen and servants. St. Vitalis is usually depicted as a soldier, often a Roman legionary, on foot or on a horse, with a sword, club, ax, or flag. As a further attribute, the stones or earth-floes, among which the saint was buried alive, was buried, because in Ravenna he supported the condemned Christian physician Ursicinus.
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