A 19th-century, bound, manuscript copy of the register of the proceedings of the Parlement of Paris between 1428 and 1435. The institution grew out of the king's council in the middle of the 13th century and initially had jurisdiction over the entire kingdom. Although more regional parlements were established in the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries, the Parisian body maintained the largest jurisdiction, presiding over northern and central France; it was known simply as the Parlement. The institution was initially not a legislative body, but functioned as a court of appeal for both civil and criminal trials and as a tribunal in high-profile cases involving the nobility. The dated entries in this manuscript outline the cases concerned, the parties involved in the trials, and the decisions reached by the court (it is unclear whether the entries in this particular manuscripts are excerpts from the original records or whether they are copied exactly and fully from the original text). The entries include rejections or agreements to hear certain appeals, decisions awarding monetary damages, orders to cease vending in particular localities, confiscations of property, and condemnations to imprisonment and to death. All entries appear in chronological order. An inscription before the main text (f.[iv]v) claims that the records for these years (1428-1435) do not appear among the other registers of the Parlement, because they were carried off by the English when they were expelled from Paris by Charles VII (during the Hundred years war). The writing is in French, with some passages in Latin; the Latin text is always underlined. The text is written in a cursive script, in 32 long lines; text block and individual lines are outlined in lead. Modern foliation appears in lower right recto: [iv, 1-82, ii]. The watermark portrays grapes and identifies the name of papermaker as J. Bouchet. Gilt spine and title on a board binding.
