"Rare Medieval Document on Parchment in Catalan Language Related to Alfonse (Son of King Louis VIII and Brother of King Louis IX) Count of Poitou and Toulouse with Capetian Dynasty Coat of Arms"

The names of Alphonse and Louis IX alone with the Roman date 1258 can be seen on the 2nd line from the top as well as 3rd line from the bottom

"In the year of the lord 1258 in the month of June in the sixth of the god. Divine Alfonso ... Count of Toulouse Reign under Louis, King Francois"

Alphonse, Count of Toulouse and Poitiers (1220-1271), the son of Louis VIII., king of France, and brother of St Louis, was born on the 11th of November 1220. He joined the county of Toulouse to his appanage of Poitou and Auvergne, on the death, in September 124 9, of Raymond VII., whose daughter Jeanne he had married in 1237. He took the cross with his brother, St Louis, in 1248 and in 1270. 

In 1252, on the death of his mother, Blanche of Castile, he was joint regent with Charles of Anjou until the return of Louis IX., and took a great part in the negotiations which led to the treaties of Abbeville and of Paris (1258-1259). His main work was on his own estates. 

There he repaired the evils of the Albigensian war and made a first attempt at administrative centralization, thus preparing the way for union with the crown. The charter known as "Alphonsine," granted to the town of Riom, became the code of public law for Auvergne. 

Honest and moderate, protecting the middle classes against exactions of the nobles, he exercised a happy influence upon the south, in spite of his naturally despotic character and his continual and pressing need of money. 

He died without heirs on his return from the 8th crusade, in Italy, probably at Savona, on the 21st of August 1271.

Description: Legal manuscript on Parchment, Cursive writing in sepia ink
Age:             Dated 1258
Language:   Catalan
Size:             8.3" x 7" (21 cm x 18 cm)
Material:     Parchment
Pope era:    Alexander IV