The old seal

Last time Martha and I visited our dear friends Phil and Ellen and got to see Phil’s amazing collection of books, an unusual item stuck out. It was a very intact royal order and wax seal from 1275. As in the thirteenth century. It’s “not very interesting” to collectors because it comes from Phillip II, Duke of Savor, who was only duke for about a year.

Here’s Phil’s own description of it:

For details of the 1275 document (with seal) we looked at, go to: https://manuscriptevidence.org/wpme/the-illustrated-handlist/ and scroll down to Handlist 19, and there it is. The Google translation of the French is: arbitral award of Philippe, count of Savoy and Burgundy, between the citizens of Vienne, Ervys de Pusignan, knight, and his children, and the parents and widow of nobleman Pierre de Broen (Brohenc), courier of Vienne, concerning the assassination of the latter in a sedition: it gave rise to a war between the city and the signers of Pusignan, Maubec and Veyssilieu. Act. and date. ap. S. Georgium de Esperenchia, in its orchard.

This is not entirely clear to me (yet), but it’s interesting because it seems to me to relate to some kind of payment to the widow and parents of a guy who got murdered.

It’s a killer item.

Here are some photos of it, with a bonus picture of the title page from the enormous Anatomy of the Horse by George C Stubbs.