German State Sede Vacante Talers and Medals
Munster - 1648 Medal

Owner Comments:

Medallic taler issued by the Munster bishopric to celebrate the signing of part of the Peace of Westphalia in Munster in 1648, ending the Thirty Years War. Olive branch above the city on obverse. Reverse has three doves with olive branches flying above a crown and scepter. Medalist is Ketteler, diameter is 41 mm. One of two variations identified under KM #48 in the Munster's Taler listings in "Krause's German Coins 1501-Present".

The Thirty Years' War was a war fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. One of the most destructive conflicts in human history, it resulted in eight million fatalities not only from military engagements but also from violence, famine, and plague. Casualties were overwhelmingly and disproportionately inhabitants of the Holy Roman Empire, most of the rest being battle deaths from various foreign armies. In terms of proportional German casualties and destruction, it was surpassed only by the period January to May 1945; one of its enduring results was 19th-century Pan-Germanism, when it served as an example of the dangers of a divided Germany and became a key justification for the 1871 creation of the German Empire.