Aansporing van Karel V, Duits keizer, om de rust te bewaren, rekenpenning van raad van Financiën 1546

This is a bronze medal depicting Charles V, Emperor of Germany. On one side, a portrait of Charles V is framed by an inscription, while the other features a double-headed eagle with a coat of arms. The eagle, a symbol of power stretching back to ancient empires, appears here as a potent emblem of imperial authority. The Roman legions carried the eagle as their standard, and its adoption by the Holy Roman Empire underscores a claim to that ancient legacy. But the eagle, like any symbol, is not static. In the East, the double-headed eagle motif of Byzantium signified a dual sovereignty—temporal and spiritual—a concept that subtly shifts when adopted in the West, becoming a symbol of overarching imperial strength. Observe how its talons grasp, not lightning bolts of Zeus, but the heraldic shield of a complex, fragmented empire. This emblem becomes a focal point, an image not merely of power, but of the struggle to maintain cohesion and order. Its presence evokes deep-seated cultural memories of past empires, their triumphs, and their eventual fragmentation, compelling viewers to contemplate the cyclical nature of power and the forces that shape history.