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MORE ON THE ANTICHRISTIAN CONFEDERACY James II (1685-1688), Antichristian Confederacy 1688, Silver Medal by J Smelzing, standing figures of Suleyman III of Turkey, Mezzo Morto of Algiers, Louis XIV and James II swear an oath of allegiance around an altar, SOLIMAN III. LUDOV: XIIII. MEZOMORTO. IACOBVS II., in exergue CONTRA CHRISTI ANIMUM, rev an imp wearing a Jesuit’s cap, hovering above lilies and a crescent, brandishes a sword and thunderbolt, IN FOEDERE QUINTUS, in exergue 1688, 37mm (Eimer 295; MI i 632/54). Extremely fine, rare. A couple weeks ago I published images of the above medal from the Baldwin's web site, and wondered about the historical context
of the Antichristian Confederacy. -Editor
Ron Haller-Williams writes: The four rulers are pledging an alliance with their swords, on an altar ("the altar of discord"), with a (fiery?) serpent amid the altar flames, "against the spirit/mind/soul of Christ"; we see that the "chi-rho" is distorted, and surmounted by a (Moslem) crescent. On the other side we have 3 lilies (representative of the 3 fleurs-de-lys of France), again supporting the crescent: above, the devil is "the fifth one in the league/federation" - in place of where the sun would be. (This is a reference to "le roi soleil" or "the sun king" as Louis XIV was known.) The devil has a sword & thunderbolt (attributes of Jupiter, subsequently also used in regard to God). The Jesuit's cap (worn by this devil) should leave us in no doubt that the medal is a dig at Catholics. The Dutch Protestants would of course have been rather negative not only about Louis XIV but also the (Catholic) James II - especially with their Statholder Willem III ready to supplant James II when "invited" to do so, as happened later that year. Note that he and his wife Mary, a daughter of James II, were both grandchildren of Charles I. Here are a few references to the medal Ron found on the Internet. Thanks! -Editor
ANS Medallic Exhibition March 1910
It was rumoured in Holland that a secret treaty had been concluded between James and Louis XIV. called " The French league to cut Protestants' throats in England," and also that James had allowed some Algerine Corsairs to carry Dutch prizes into English ports. Like- wise Louis was accused of exciting the Turks against the Germans. As illustrating these rumours these four potentates are represented as leaguing together against Christianity, the devil being a fifth conspirator. To read the complete article, see:
The medal was also used in a footnote in a 1970 book about early poetry: Alastair Fowler, Triumphal Forms; Structural Patterns in Elizabethan Poetry
 To read this in context, see https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4-0zvIngXDkC&pg=PA77 And for more information about this book, see: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4-0zvIngXDkC However, very far from being in alliance, "the French fleet bombarded Algiers again in 1688, and Mezzomorto retaliated with attacks on the French coast." (Wikipedia article on Mezzo Morto). Numismatic References
Ron also provided the following numismatic references to the medal. Thanks! -Editor
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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