État préparatoire d'un acte de Saint Louis (diplôme pour la maison-Dieu de Compiègne, juillet 1260)

Abstract

The Trésor des chartes of the French kings contains a preliminary draft (Arch, nat., J 1050, no. 11) of a charter of Saint Louis granting a number of possessions to the newly- founded hospital ('maison-Dieu') of Compiègne in July 1260. Fortunately, the original deed has also been preserved (Arch. dép. Oise, records deposited by the hôtel-Dieu of Compiègne), so that both may be compared. As has been noted in other cases, and even earlier in the registers of the reign of Philip Augustus, such a draft of a deed was still far from a 'minute' in the technical sense, since the chancery made numerous formal amendments later on. Conversely, the main object of the draft was to document the financial basis of the donation, even though not all the information need be specified in the final deed, or at least not with the same degree of detail. In short, it would seem that it was used to prepare the decision itself (or its implementation) as well as being a rough copy subject to further revision.