Ontmaskering van het Gunpowder Plot 1605

This silver medal commemorates the unmasking of the Gunpowder Plot in England. On one side, we see a lion, the symbol of England, sleeping safely, surrounded by the Tudor rose and other floral emblems of peace and prosperity. But it is the other side that speaks most directly to the politics of imagery. Here, a collection of sticks are presented as a potential fire hazard, but divine rays intervene to prevent disaster. The Latin inscription, 'Ne dormiat custodiens' translates to 'Let him not sleep who keeps guard'. The medal, created in the wake of the failed Catholic conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605, speaks to the social anxieties of early modern England and the institutional power of the monarchy. Historians analyze such objects with care, drawing on archival documents, pamphlets, and sermons to fully understand their meaning and significance. Only then can we fully grasp the complex interplay of art, power, and belief in the past.