Summary

Medal Le Royaume de Westphalie 'The Kingdom of Westphalia', Issued by Napoleon Bonaparte (Emperor Napoleon I), France, 1807
Artists: Bertrand Andrieu and Nicholas Guy Antoine Brenet
Minted by Paris Mint

Obverse Description

Laureate head facing right; around, NAPOLEON EMP. ET ROI.; on neck truncation, ANDRIEU F.; below, DENON DIRT.

Reverse Description

Representation of the statue, known by the name of Alexander and Bucephalus, from the Monte Cavallo at Rome; the figure of Alexander here with the head of Napoleon, laureate; around, INJECIT TANDEM FRENA VAGANTI; in exergue, ERECTION DU ROYALE / DE WESTPHALIE / MDCCCVII.; around rim in small lettering BRENET F. DENON D.

Edge Description

Plain

Significance

"Westphalia having been erected into a kingdom under the auspices of the Emperor Napoleon, he placed his younger brother Jerome upon the throne, with the title of king of Westphalia. This new founded kingdom Napoleon had consolidated from portions of territory and population wrested from Prussia, Hesse, Hanover, Brunswick, and other states, and for which he formed a complete epitome of the French Empire, in the form of its legislation and government. The law of conscription, and the system of commercial exclusion prevailed there in full force, and reduced the heterogeneous mass to a condition purely military. A state so constituted, in the midst of what was denominated the Rhenish confederacy, operated as a powerful check on them, and served as a point of appui to France, in the future extension of her conquests. " Laskey p.150

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