Bethlen Naptár, 1989 (Ligonier)
Tartalom
PRINCE BETHLEN’S SILVER THALER The silver coin (taller - Thaler - Dollar) herein described was minted in 1621 in Transylvania by Prince Gabriel Bethlen in commemoration of his election to the royal throne of Hungary in 1620, the year, incidentally, in which the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. The obverse side of the coin depicts the Prince at age 41. The encircling inscription reads as follows: “Rex Gabriel D(ei) G(ratia) El(ectus) Hungáriáé, Dal(matiae), Cr(oatiae), Scl(avoniae).” In English, “Gabriel, by the Grace of God, King Elect of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia.” Thr reverse side shows the royal Crown of Hungary (dating from 1001 A.D.) with the Country’s Coat of Arms, in the center of which the Prince’s crest is incorporated: two swans, their necks transfixed with an arrow, encircled by a dragon swallowing its own tail. The inscription completes the full title of Bethlen: “Trans(ylvaniae) Princeps Et Siculor(um) Com(es) 1621”, i.e., “Prince of Transylvania and Count Of The Szeklers, 1621.” (Year of the First Thanksgiving Day initiated by the Pilgrims.) Bethlen, scion of an ancient family, born in 1580 (died in 1629) was left an orphan at a tender age. Having a brilliant mind coupled with deep and sincere Presbyterian convictions, he had a phenomenal career; he was elected Prince of Transylvania in 1613, and King of Hungary in 1620. The Prince was a generous patron of the arts, schools and the Church, a well-known and respected statesman of his age, a trusted ally of the Protestant Powers in the Thirty Years’ War. His able diplomats made his importance felt and views known in all the capital cities of Europe. One of his envoys (Daniel Sovenyfalvi) had visited even the budding colony of New England around 1625. No wonder that the late kin and coreligionists of this great Prince, settled in the United States of America, after having established, in 1921, a charitable institution caring for dependent children (orphans) and the aging in Ligonier Valley, named this embodiment of practical Christianity, this Haven of Refuge, THE BETHLEN HOME.
