William Williams - Nicholas Roberts - 1696-1-17

William Williams, Walwyn’s Castle

William Williams - Nicholas Roberts - 1696-1-17

FINA IDUnique ID of the page ^ᵖ	7084
InstitutionName of Institution.	Oxford, Bodleian Library
InventoryInventory number.
AuthorAuthor of the document.	William Williams
RecipientRecipient of the correspondence.	Nicholas Roberts
Correspondence dateDate when the correspondence was written: day - month - year .	January 17, 1696
PlacePlace of publication of the book, composition of the document or institution.	Walwyn’s Castle ^{51° 45' 39.60" N, 5° 4' 58.33" W}
Associated personsNames of Persons who are mentioned in the annotation.
LiteratureReference to literature.	Callataÿ 2021h, p. 576 n. 31, Burnett 2024, p. 232
KeywordNumismatic Keywords ^ᵖ	Greek , Legend , Donativa , Iconography , Roman
LanguageLanguage of the correspondence	English
External LinkLink to external information, e.g. Wikpedia ^ᵖ	https://databank.ora.ox.ac.uk/emlo/datasets/lhwyd-transcripts/1696-01-17%20WilliamsW%20to%20Nicholas%20Roberts%20Ashm%201817a%20F320.pdf

Export: CSV

RDF

Map

Loading map...

You can move or zoom the map to explore other correspondence!

Grand documentOriginal passage from the "Grand document".

-Lettre du 17 janvier 1696 (de Walwyn’s Castel, Pemborkshire, Pays de Galle): “My Good Friend, Your Letter & the medall came not to my hands till about noon a Wednesday; Yesterday I was obliged to be from home & this Evening just as I was going to write the result of all the thoughts I had laid out upon the Medall, I was sent for to speak with Mr William Bowen of Neeson (who I fear has but few hours to live) so that finding my self under an obligation from yours to return it to morrow & fearing I may have but little time in the Morning before I be call’d upon for what businesse I have for Town I thought best to dispatch the subject to night more briefly than I intended. Then Sir The difficulty that you seem’d to be under from the unagreablenesse of the letters & Face ceasd to me as soon as I found Reason (as I thought I did from the Reverse) to take it for a piece dispersd upon the marriage of a Cæsar, it being no wayes improbable that a Roman might upon such an occasion make use of an apposite Expression out of a Gr. Author; & that the Medall was contriv’d upon such an occasion I am induced to thinke from the Torch underneath between the man & the woman, & the severall small things of different figures that seem to be dropt from above, whereof the man holds one or more in his hand to deliver to the woman who reaches hers to receive it. The Torch I take to be the old Teda or Tæda (for you know it is written both ways) Conjugalis (without which the Romans never used to be married) & the Δαis of the Greecks (from whom I doubt not they had both word & Ceremony) The things represented dropping from above were (I suppose) the καταχύσματα such as Figs, Dates, &c. pourd over the Bride (a custome among many others deriv’d from the Greeks to the Romans whereof our Bride Cake looks a remainder) I was confirmd in the opinion by the observation (for so I yet take it to be & not part of one) of a word in the inscription upon the Reverse; It is ΚΟΡΩΝ which both Hesychius & Phavorinus give τὸ κεκαμμένον [sic] τοῦ ῥομοῦ, I need not render it to you, nothing was likely to come in[[ ]] properly to signify the Matrimoniall yoke & obligation under the same, Had the Medall been to lye by me any longer it is possible I might have pickt more to your purpose; I am afraid you will look upon it as a great presumption to offer at the persons it was distributed for, yet for once I will adventure to think they might be Galerius & Valeria the Daughter of Dioclesian. The objection that may be made from the improbability of such Pieces being brought into Britany when as Armentarius after the match marchd into the East will appear of little weight when it is considered that Constantius Chlorus & his Company who came soon after into Britain might bring them along; If Galerus did then signify what it doth now, & that the Rarity of such a wear gave that Cæsar one of his names, the man upon the Reverse haveing a Hat on will be an Additionall Argument; & now that yours is such I wish our Friends that sent your piece be not impos’d upon, for I hear there are Counterfeits of that just as well as of English Coin. This is design’d barely as an Essay & an hasty one it is you may see by the S<c>rible; I shall be very well pleasd to see a better in its place from yourself or any other; you know there are many things necessary to derive a full sight upon such a darke subject that wee want here, & therefore if wee answer not the expectation of our Friends, I hope they will hold us excus’d however to spare me that trouble of writeing at large to my Brother upon the same, I pray let this to you be sent him with the Medall; I desire you to take the impression upon wax which for want of good, & enough I did not, that a new attempt may be made upon the Inscription. I thank you for your respects & wishes, if any may be added to them for you, they are those of, my Very Good Friend Your very affectionate Friend & humble Servant William Williams » (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1817a, fol. 320)

References

^ Callataÿ, François de (2021), Review of A. M. Burnett, The Hidden Treasures of this Happy Land. A History of Numismatics in Britain from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, BNS Special Publ. No 14 = RNS Special Publ. No 58, London, Spink & Son, 2020, in Numismatic Chronicle, 181, p. 575-579.
^ Burnett, Andrew M. (2024), The Hidden Treasures of this Happy Land. A History of Numismatics in Britain from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment: Supplement 1, BNS Special Publ. No 14 = RNS Special Publ. No 58, London, Spink & Son.