Royal ordinance signed by Louis XVI. Versailles, January 1787.

Manuscript in ink on parchment, 320 x 250 mm; a royal ordinance approving a property exchange between an aristocrat and an educational institution; dated at Versailles, January 1787, the document bears the signature of Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre, in the lower margin: ‘Louis’, with the phrase ‘par le Roi’ immediately below; some old stains in the lower margin, minor handling wear at edges, but overall a well preserved document.

‘Louis, par la grace de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre: à tous présens et avenir salut: Nos chers et bien amés Le Sr. M[arqu]is. de St. Chamans Mestre de Camp en Second du Regiment de la Fère, Seigneur de Villenauxe, et les administrateurs du Collège de Louis Le Grand, nous ont fait exposer que par un projet d’acte fait entre eux le quinze mars mil sept cent quatre vingt six, led[it]. Sr. M[arqu]is. de St. Chamans est souvenu céder aud[it]. Collège six arpents quatre pieds de terre sur le finage de Villenauxe, en échange d’une maison et ses dépendances avec un jardin et une petite pièce de terre, le tout appartenant aud[it]. Collège et situé près le Chateau de Villenauxe. Que cet échange fait sans aucun soulte d’argent, est très avantageux aud[it]. Collège … … ‘

A royal ordinance signed by Louis XVI (who would be executed by guillotine on 23 January 1793) ratifying an agreement that had been made previously between the Marquis de Saint-Chamans (Antoine-Marie-Hippolyte de Saint-Chamans, 1730-1793), lord of Villenauxe, and the Collège de Louis Le Grand, for a mutual exchange of property that will not require a financial payment from either party. This exchange will be to the College’s advantage, as it will receive more than six acres of the Marquis’s land in return for a small dwelling and garden situated nearby his chateau.

Provenance: The Balcombe family of “The Briars”, St. Helena, and later “The Briars”, Mornington, Victoria (Australia); à Beckett family (Melbourne), by descent.

There is a certain irony in the Balcombes acquiring and preserving such a document, since the family associated closely with Napoleon when he was in exile on St. Helena. Indeed, the Balcombes were Napoleon’s hosts during his first months on the island, and the deposed emperor was particularly enamoured of the beautiful young teenager Betsy Balcombe, whom he called “The Rosebud of St. Helena”.