GERMANY. Breisach. Stadt. Medal 1638 (Silver, 51 mm, 55.03 g, 12 h), on the capture of the city by Bernard of Saxe-Weimar. By J. Blum, Dresden. HEROIS HUIUS NOMINA IN CUNCTA CLARENT SECULA: Cuirassed half-length bust of Bernard of Saxe-Weimar facing three-quarters to left, holding baton in his left hand; around, Magni Ducis Bernhardi Saxon: Weim: Effigies; all within richly decorated oval medallion. Rev. BRISACH / FORTIS, SEDFORTI / OR DEUS FVIT ET WEI / MARIUS.1.6.38. in four lines above view of Breisach from the West with the Rhine and redoubts in front. Baums 4516. Berstett 96. Jungk 2. Merseburg 3860. Beautifully toned and unusually well preserved. A few light marks and with minor edge faults, otherwise, good extremely fine.



Bernard of Saxe-Weimar (1604-1639) was a typical condottiere of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). Serving first under Swedish, and later under French command, he captured the city of Breisach - a key fortress in the Habsburg defensive line along the Rhine - after a brutal eight-month siege from May to December 1638. The human cost was staggering: only 400 of the 4,000 defenders and a mere 150 of the 4,000 inhabitants survived. It is even reported that Bernard ordered his troops to guard the cemeteries to prevent rampant cannibalism among the survivors. Altogether, an estimated 24,000 people perished, making the siege one of the deadliest episodes of the war. Yet Bernard would not enjoy his victory for long: he died under suspicious circumstances just half a year later, on 18 July 1639, at the age of thirty-five.