1713 French Financial Manuscript, Likely a Marriage Agreement

On offer is a financial document dating from the early 18th century in France. The document was drafted in Normandy. There are references to the city of Caen. Although not expressly stated (possibly due to missing text), the context seems to suggest a marriage agreement between several parties. There are a number of names mentioned in the document with light underlining added some time later. Those names appear on a separate included list.

The document refers to some amounts of money, as evidenced by the quote from the document below:

“avec la somme de l'aise livres en argent les quelles meubles avec la dite somme ont ete estimees entre le dite parties a la somme de quatre vingt huit livres”

[Translation: “with the comfortable sum of pounds in silver which pieces of furniture with the said sum were estimated between the said parties to the sum of eighty eight pounds…”]

For a social historian, this is a very interesting document that attempts to address the challenging role of finances between individuals. An economic historian would find this an excellent example of the types of contracts drawn in the early years of the 18th century in France A genealogist would find the list of names and their relationships very useful in genealogical research in Normandy at that time.

The document measures 10.0 inches by 7.0 inches. It contains 4 pages and is 75% complete. Folded, the blank back page served as a cover. A small piece has been torn from the top right corner extending five  lines down and about 3.0 inches in. The torn pieces goes right through all four pages. There are wear marks along the edges and staining due to age. The handwriting, though faint in places, is legible.