Watch List notes:

Archbishop Sancroft and the Bishops, Struck AR Medal, 1688, by G. Bower, * GVIL • SANCROFT • ARCHIEPISC • CANTVAR • 1688 •, wearing cap and clerically robed bust right, rev. seven medallions containing busts, clerically robed, of William Lloyd, Francis Turner, John Lake, Henry Compton, Thomas Ken, Thomas White and Sir John Trelawney; a field of stars, SI FRACTUS ILLABATUR ORBIS IMPAUIDOS FERIENT RUINAE on edge, 50mm, 52.09g (Eimer 288; MI 622/37; Harding 5 this medal), the edge lettering struck off centre, otherwise with brilliant surfaces beneath dark grey surfaces, blue toning in parts, as struck.
In late April 1688, James II issued a second Declaration of Indulgence, offering freedom of religious preference to Catholics and Non-conformists. The Archbishop of Canterbury, together with six of his bishops (St. Asaph, Bath and Wells, Ely, Chichester, Peterborough and Bristol), refused to permit the reading, of the Declaration in their churches. As a result of this, and at James' insistence, they were committed to the Tower of London on charges of seditious libel which carried the death penalty. They were brought to trial on 29 June, but acquitted the following morning to great and general rejoicing, the jury having sat all night. The event gave rise to the publication of a number of medals both in this country and the continent.
Estimate: £500 - £800