Edward, 'The Black Prince’ (1330-76), confirmation of the privileges granted by King Philip IV of France to the county of Le Quercy, Aquitaine, in French and Latin, dated Bordeaux, 15 July 1365

a very large single sheet (apparently a whole sheepskin), 695x620mm, vellum, 87 lines, three horizontal and three vertical creases, some holes with loss of text at their junctures, the side-margins somewhat defective with some loss of text, areas of significant staining, generally worn, but the document as whole still almost entirely legible, in a wooden box

'A PROGENITOR OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS?'

Bought from Erik von Scherling’s Catalogue 45 (1956): The Hundred Years War, 1337-1453: a rare collection of sixty original documents … (clipping enclosed).

The text begins in French, 'Edward ainsnez filz du Roy Angleterre Prince Aquitaine et de Galez, duc de Cornoialle et compte de Cestre …', then quotes a document in Latin, dated at Paris, during Lent 1302, which begins, 'Philippus dei gratia Francorum rex, pro reformatione regni nostri …'; the language returns to French to confirm the list of privileges and rights in this 1302 document, and is dated at Bordeaux, 15 July 1365. There follow, however, two and a half more lines in French, making amendments to the preceding document, referring to its passages by line number, beginning 'Nous somez certain que en la xvi ligne desus le commencement de cez letres …'. This format – a document listing the rights and privileges of a population, followed by a list of amendments – has drawn comparison with the founding documents of the United States (see J.F. Reed, ‘A Progenitor of the Bill of Rights?’, Manuscripts, IX no.3, 1957, pp.143-45), and led to it being exhibited at the Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., from 1987 to 1988.

Le Quercy in Aquitaine was reoccupied by the English January 1356, and by the Treaty of Brétigny, in May 1360, was granted full sovereignty by John II of France to Edward III of England, thus ending the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War. In July 1362 Edward handed over to his eldest son, the ‘Black Prince’, all his dominions in southern France, and in February 1363 the prince sailed from England to Gascony, where he lived for the next eight years. He maintained courts at Bordeaux and Angoulême, and did his best to win the support of the Gascon population: as part of this process he confirmed, by the present document, the rights that they had been granted by Philip IV (Philippe le Bel) in 1302.