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Details
PHILIP II AUGUSTUS, King of France (reg. 1180-1223), final section of a deed on vellum with authorisation and signature, Paris 1189
A rare document with the apparent signature of the king: according to auction records (ABPC and RBH) no document of Philip II of France appears to have been offered at international auction in recent decades.
187 x 270 overall. 7 lines written in brown ink in a documentary hand followed by two lines of signature in display script, and the monogram of Philippus, with ribbons from the seal and vellum ties, later marginal annotations (some ink loss, darkening and spotting of the vellum and small vellum losses at two corners).
This is the final section of authentication from a longer deed. The ribbon appears to have carried the seal alluded to in the text while the vellum ties on the left edge and the wax remains on the verso and the right margin of the recto, along with the fold-lines, are likely indications of the later use of the deed as an envelope.
Philip II of France was accorded the name of Auguste by his biographer Rigord, in recognition of his having quadrupled the size of his realm and being fundamental to the formation of France as the principal country in Europe. This deed is dated 1189, in the tenth year of Philip’s reign, bears in addition to the usual royal monogram his apparent signature as King of the Franks (a title he replaced with King of France in 1190) and is subscribed by several palace administrators headed by the Seneschal of France, Thibault V, comte de Blois, Chateaudon et Chartres (1130-1191).
A rare document with the apparent signature of the king: according to auction records (ABPC and RBH) no document of Philip II of France appears to have been offered at international auction in recent decades.
187 x 270 overall. 7 lines written in brown ink in a documentary hand followed by two lines of signature in display script, and the monogram of Philippus, with ribbons from the seal and vellum ties, later marginal annotations (some ink loss, darkening and spotting of the vellum and small vellum losses at two corners).
This is the final section of authentication from a longer deed. The ribbon appears to have carried the seal alluded to in the text while the vellum ties on the left edge and the wax remains on the verso and the right margin of the recto, along with the fold-lines, are likely indications of the later use of the deed as an envelope.
Philip II of France was accorded the name of Auguste by his biographer Rigord, in recognition of his having quadrupled the size of his realm and being fundamental to the formation of France as the principal country in Europe. This deed is dated 1189, in the tenth year of Philip’s reign, bears in addition to the usual royal monogram his apparent signature as King of the Franks (a title he replaced with King of France in 1190) and is subscribed by several palace administrators headed by the Seneschal of France, Thibault V, comte de Blois, Chateaudon et Chartres (1130-1191).
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