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1 Piastra - Urbano VIII VIVIT DEVS - St. Michael trampling demons
| Issuer | Papal States |
|---|---|
| Year | 1634 |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Bearded bust of Pope Urban VIII facing right, wearing the camauro and richly embroidered papal cope decorated with floral and foliate motifs, the whole executed in the high Baroque style characteristic of engraver Gaspare Mola. The circumscribed Latin legend reads VRBANVS VIII PONT MAX, with the regnal year AN XII appearing in the lower exergue. A finely beaded inner border frames the entire composition. The engraver's signature GASPAR is faintly visible on the truncation of the bust. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Urbano VIII — Maffeo Barberini — was elected in 1623 and proved one of the most financially aggressive popes of the seventeenth century, levying heavy taxes across the Papal States to fund both the Thirty Years' War interventions and his ambitious building programs in Rome. The treasury was under sustained pressure throughout the 1630s, which makes large silver issues of this period important documents of fiscal ambition rather than monetary stability.
The motto VIVIT DEVS — "God lives" — was favored on Barberini coinage as a declaration against Protestant theology. KM#181 is among the heavier piastre struck under his pontificate, with the 1634 date falling just one year after Galileo's trial and condemnation by the Inquisition under Barberini's personal authority.