Beautiful 1793 Military Certificate of Good Conduct for Soldier of the First Battalion in the Army of the Alps
10165On offer is a fine example of a military certificate of good conduct issued by one of the French Revolutionary armies.
The certificate is dated 25 Prairial Year 2 (French revolutionary calendar), corresponding to June 15th, 1793. The recipient is a soldier who is serving in the 1st Battalion.
The certificate commends his service and valour. The certificate is signed by several officers. One ‘signature’ reads simply Commandant en Chef or Commander in Chief. At that time, the Commander in Chief of the Army of the Alps was the famed French General François Christophe Kellermann. Kellerman was a life-long soldier, entering the Royal Army at age 15 and later rising to command revolutionary troops and then serving under Napoleon as one of his Marshals.
In 1797, the Army of the Alps was merged into The Army of Italy and was one of Napoleon’s first commands. The Army of the Alps was reconstituted in the French Army during WWII. The folded certificate was then sealed with a red wax seal which is still present.
For a historian, this is an outstanding document that connects the owner to one of the great Generals of the Napoleonic Wars and to an Army that fought extensively in the Napoleonic Wars.
Dating from mid-1793, this certificate measures 8.5 inches by 12.0 inches. The document was originally folded into four panels 8 inches by 3 inches and then folded in half. It has been unfolded and affixed to sheet of heavy paper, likely dating from the same time period. There are wear marks along the fold lines and on the edges. The handwriting is fairly legible, being written in a copperplate script.
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