Description:
French bronze medal, c.1820
Diameter 37mm
The obverse features a female figure seated on a chaise-longue, holding a baby in her outstretched arms with rays shining down from above. To the right is a male bust and the inscription reads 'DIEU NOUS L'A DONNE', 'God has given it to us', and 'NOUS COEURS ET NOS BRAS SONT A LUI', 'Our hearts and our arms reach to him'. The reverse features the Archangel Michael, with a sword raised in his right hand and a shield bearing the iron cross in his left. He stands over a winged devil who holds a dagger and a torch billowing smoke, representing defeat. The inscription reads '29 SEPT 1820', the Feast of St Michael. The obverse image, inscription and the date on the reverse suggest the medal pays tribute to Henri-Charles d'Artois (b.29th September 1820). Henri was popularly known as 'Dieudonne' (God-given), and the female figure on the obverse is possibly his mother while the bust may represent his father who was assasinated months before his birth. Henri-Charles, better known as the Comte de Chambard, was King Henri V for just seven days in 1830 and remained a 'legitimist pretender' for the French throne from 1844 until his death in 1883.