Lot n° 82
Estimation :
30000 - 40000
EUR
Double matrix of the seal of the Community... - Lot 82 - Coutau-Bégarie
Double matrix of the seal of the Community & Common Council of the Bastide of Ponce de Gourdon, with the arms of the King of France (Saint Louis)
Quercy, 13th century (1261-1278).
Matrix of the common council: four men, seated on the arch, discuss and deliberate two by two: towards the center a man bareheaded, long hair and holding an object (insignia of his function?), turns towards another man (tonsured?) who wears a hood folded down and raises an argumentative hand.
Legend in orle, between two grenetis, in capitals: † :S': COMVÒÂNIS:CONSILLII:D':BASTIDA:DNI:PO~CI:D'GORDONIO:
Matrix of the community: three fleurs-de-lis.
Legend in orle, between two grenetis, in capitals: † :S': COMVNITATIS:D':BASTIDA:DNI:PONCI:D':GORDONIO:
Two circular dies, 49 mm, bronze; four mumps, three tenons.
Obverse, cross of direction to each.
Deep cancelling groove (posterior), on the upper third of each die, causing the legend cross to disappear, and reaching the face of a prud'homme.
***
This double matrix was probably made at the beginning (1261) of the lordship of Ponce de Gourdon on this bastide inherited from his father, that is to say during the reign of Saint Louis king of France. The elegance of the design of the fleurs-de-lys corresponds perfectly to this period.
Double seal stamp of the Community and the Common of the Bastide de Ponce de Gourdon, with the arms of the king of France (saint Louis), Quercy, XVIII century (1261-1272).
This set probably dates back from the begening of the seigneury of Ponce de Gourdon on this country-house inherited from his father, during the reign of saint Louis. The elegance of the fleur-de-lys corresponds perfectly to this period.
A similar buck was sold in England ! a double bronze seal, dated from 1322, made for Dunfermline Abbey under the patronage of King Robert the Bruce (King of Scotland, 1274-1329). The upper part is engraved with the effigy of Saint Margaret, the holy founder of Dunfermline Abbey, and the lower part bears the Royal Arms of Scotland (Time Line sale, december 4th 2014, lot 744).
***
Ponce (or Pons) de Gourdon (1235-1278), son of Fortanier de Gourdon (died 1261), was both :
- lord of the castle and the town of Gourdon (now a sub-prefecture of the Lot) ;
- lord of the bastide founded in 1238 by his father Fortanier de Gourdon, about thirty kilometers from the town of Gourdon; this bastide was called "bastida Fortanerii de Gordonio", then "La Bastide Fortanière", finally (1852) "Labastide-Murat" (today, in the department of the Lot, integrated into the new commune "Coeur de Causse") It was sold in 1301 to Jacques Dejean, burgher of Cahors; then bought back by the King.
According to the charter of customs of the town of Gourdon (1244, of which a vidimus of 1269 is preserved in the archives of the commune, dimension AA2) promulgated by Fortanier and his cousins, the inhabitants formed a community which, each year, elected to administer the internal affairs four prud men assisted by two sirvens appointed by the lord; they will take the name of "common council". This charter provided that the seal of the cuminal would have authority like any other seal of a public person ("Conduma es de Gordo quel sagels del cuminal de Gordo a auctoritat coma sagels de publica persona"). Justice, on the other hand, continued to be dispensed by the lord, or by another person on his behalf. The function of the prud'hommes was originally distinct from that of the consuls found in other cities: in Toulouse, there were both consuls and the Common Council. But very quickly, two decades later, the prud'hommes of Gourdon, wishing to gain seigniorial rights, named themselves "consuls" and acquired little by little rights of justice to justify this.
As for the ancient "bastida Fortanerii de Gordonio" (present-day commune of Labastide-Murat), it has not preserved any archives that could inform us about the communal life of this period.
This double matrix presents the quadripartite structure of the society of the bastide of Pons de Gourdon: the community of the inhabitants (inscription), the common council of the four prud'hommes and the two sirvens (inscription and figuration), the lord Ponce (inscription) and the king of France (heraldic figuration) This is why this double matrix carries an extremely powerful symbolic charge, because it links in the same object various historical forces:
- the inhabitants of this small Quercy locality who manage their own affairs and renew annually their contracts.
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