Manuscrit
The personal manuscript of the Count of Artois, brother of Louis XVI and future Charles X, describing his regiment of Swiss Guards 2,388 men strong, adorned in a magnificent lace binding with "Derome le Jeune’s Bird" and the Count of Artois’ mosaic coat of arms.
May 4th, 1776.
Provenance: Rothschild; Baron Alexis de Rédé.
Small quarto, red morocco, wide fleurdelys lace border decorated with the bird tool, large mosaic coat of arms in the center, spine decorated with fleurs-de-lis, inner roll, blue moiré silk endpapers and doublures, gilt edges. Mosaic, armorial binding with rich lacework from the period of Derome le Jeune.
179 x 133 mm.
Unique and personal manuscript calligraphed for “His Royal Highness Monseigneur the Count of Artois, Colonel General of the Swiss and Grisons. Made at the Plaine des Sablons on May 4, 1776” describing the “King’s Swiss Guards Regiment.”
Original manuscript of 47 leaves. The first 25 calligraphed pages from 1776 provide detailed information about the regiments, companies, with the names of the officers and a general summary of the 2,388 Swiss Guards who took part in the review.
In 1771 and 1773, Louis XV created two companies of Swiss Guards for two of his grandsons including the Count of Artois.
To become a Swiss Guard, one had to be an officer, of mature age, have a minimum height of 5 feet 5 inches, be strongly built, well-faced, and a gentleman, that is to say from a family living off its own income or at the very least out of the ordinary.
On August 10, 1792, one of the most spectacular feats of arms in Swiss history abruptly ended thirteen centuries of monarchy in France. The Swiss Guards regiment took on the impossible mission of defending the Tuileries, in a sort of last stand of the monarchy. This would become the greatest turning point of the French Revolution. Few French people today know the exact role played by Switzerland and the Swiss in this and their own history. And with good reason: there is nothing very rewarding or flattering for the French protagonists of this unparalleled day. No one came away unscathed from this terrible story which saw the revolutionaries lure the Swiss into a Machiavellian trap to put an end once and for all to Queen Marie-Antoinette.
Magnificent copy adorned with a very fine mosaic and lace binding bearing the arms of the Count of Artois, brother of Louis XVI and of Louis XVIII whom he would succeed as King of France in 1824 under the name Charles X.
Provenance: Rothschild; Baron Alexis de Rédé.
