Stralsund (Free Hanseatic City) Medal 1628 Lifting of the Siege of Stralsund. AU+ (cast and chased)

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1628, Stralsund (Free Hanseatic City). Lifting of the Siege of Stralsund. Cast & Chased Silver Medal (2 Thalers).

Mint Year: 1628
Provenance: Alexander Christopher Collection.
Denomination: Medal - Lifting of the Siege of Stralsund.
Reference: Bratring 14, Pogge 1476, Freybourg 303, Hildebrand 13.
Condition: Cast and chased (as made), lightly toned, minimal deposits, otherwise unusually well made (for the type) and in AU-UNC condition!
Weight: 57.73gm (as usually issued in the weight of a 2 thalers coin)
Material: Silver
Diameter: 63mm

Obverse: Coat-of-arms of Stralsund (upward-pointing arrow), splitting date (16-28). All within wreath.
Legend: DEO · OPTIM · MAXIM · IMPER · ROMANO · F · FOEDERI · POSTERISQ


Reverse: Inscription in 14 lines within double border of pellets.
Legend: MEMORIÆ / VRBIS STRAL /SUNDÆ AO · M · D · C · / XXVIII DIE · XII · MAI / A MILITE CÆSARIA · / NO CINCTÆ · ALIQVO / TIES OPPVGNATÆ · SED /DET GRATIA ET OPE IN / CLVTOR · REGVM SE= /PTENTRIONAL · DIE / XXIII IVLI · OBSIDI /ONE LIBERATÆ / S · P · Q · S · / F · F ·

Translated: To the memory of the city of Stralsund, In the year 1628, On the 12th day of May, Surrounded by the Imperial military (the troops of the Holy Roman Emperor, led by Wallenstein), Repeatedly attacked, But by the grace of God and the help of the illustrious northern kings (referring to the kings of Denmark and Sweden, who sent aid), On the 23rd day of July, Liberated from the siege. Senatus Populusque Stralsundensis (The Senate and People of Stralsund), F · F · – Fieri Fecerunt (Caused [this] to be made)





The Siege of Stralsund, 13 May to 4 August 1628, took place during the Thirty Years' War when an Imperial Army under Albrecht von Wallenstein attempted to capture the key Baltic Sea port of Stralsund. Then an independent city and part of the Hanseatic League, Stralsund was initially reinforced by small numbers of Scots mercenaries in Danish service, before Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden sent a larger force under Alexander Leslie. The failure of the siege ended Wallenstein's series of victories, while Straslund was held by the Swedes for most of the next two hundred years. It provided Gustavus a bridgehead within the Holy Roman Empire that in 1630 facilitated Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War.

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