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1 Testone - Innocent XI MELIVS EST DARE QVAM ACCIPERE
| Issuer | Papal States |
|---|---|
| Year | 1686 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse presents a five-line Latin devotional inscription — MELIVS / EST DARE / QVAM / ACCIPERE / 1686 — set within a plain recessed field and enclosed by a finely rendered laurel wreath tied at the apex with a ribbon bow and gathered at the base. The motto, drawn from Acts 20:35, reflects the charitable ideals championed by Innocent XI. The date 1686 appears at the foot of the inscription within the wreath, and the whole composition is bordered by the same milled radial rim as the obverse, giving the piece a clean and devotional character consistent with late seventeenth-century papal coinage. |
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| Mintage | 1686 - A. X |
| Additional information |
Innocent XI was locked in an escalating feud with Louis XIV throughout the 1680s over the Gallican Articles and the right of régale — the French crown's claim to collect revenues from vacant bishoprics. By 1686 the two were effectively in open ecclesiastical war, with Louis expelling the papal nuncio and Innocent refusing to confirm royal episcopal appointments. The motto on this testone, drawn from Acts 20:35, was not decorative piety; Innocent ran the papal finances with genuine austerity, personally reviewing expenditures and redirecting funds toward the Holy League campaign against the Ottomans.
He was beatified in 1956. The cause had stalled for nearly two centuries partly due to French political opposition.