Provençal manuscript charter of Huc Viel, document on parchment [Provence, dated 1294]

Record of the cession by Huc Viel to Guilhem Guirande of certain estates and vineyards and their profits, in Provençal, manuscript document on parchment[Provence, dated 1294] Single-sheet, with 21 long lines in a round and scrolling secretarial hand, penwork knot at foot in place of a notarial symbol, small circular mark in upper right hand corner (perhaps glue from old collection label), some signs of folds and small losses at lower edge and 2 small holes in centre (the larger affecting 3 lines of text), archival endorsements in seventeenth- or eighteenth-century hand on reverse, overall fair and presentable condition, 180 by 300mm.; in fitted burgundy cloth-covered case Provenance: Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 1592; acquired from Quaritch, London, in July 1992. Text: Early manuscripts in any form of Old French are rare before the late thirteenth century, and many of the early witnesses are charters (see those in our rooms, 8 July 2015, lot 29 and 9 December 2015, lot 92). However, examples of any version of the Old Provençal language, the earliest recorded form of the Occitano-Romance languages and thus the language of the troubadours, are far rarer. This charter is a precisely dated and located witness to this language.