Viglius ab Aytta Zuichemus, voorzitter van de Geheime Raad te Brussel 1571

This silver medal portraying Viglius ab Aytta Zuichemus was created by Jacques Jonghelinck, probably in Brussels, sometime in the latter half of the 16th century. As president of the Privy Council of Brussels, Zuichemus was a key figure in the Habsburg Netherlands. Medals like this one served as badges of office, or were given as gifts to cement political alliances. The portrait on one side presents Zuichemus in profile, a convention derived from ancient Roman coinage intended to convey power and authority. Turn the medal over and you see a coat of arms, also suggestive of status, family and political connections. The symbolism would have been immediately legible to elites of the period. As historians, we can decode these symbols, and use them as clues to help us understand the society in which the medal was made, and the political role of people like Zuichemus. It helps to remember that even small objects like this one can tell big stories about the past.