NAPOLEON I (Emperor of France, 1804-1821). Document signed ('Napoleon'), Letters Patent for François Charles Marie de Mercy Argenteau, conferring upon him the title of Count with estates in entail ('majorats') in the Departments of Meuse and Metz, signed by the Emperor on the last page, Compiegne, 25 March 1810 , manuscript in ink on vellum, 35 pages, 450 x 290mm . (written on 10 bifolia), countersigned by Cambacères, illuminated coat of arms in red, azure and gold on last page, fair impression of the Imperial seal in red wax (120mm. diameter, chipped at rim) pendant from blue and gold silk ribbons, annotation in a later hand in upper margin of first page. By Imperial decree on 1 March 1808 Napoleon had reintroduced most of the former ranks of nobility, but without tax exemptions or legal privileges. Elevation to the Noblesse d'Empire resulted mainly from public office, and was at first strictly personal. Mercy Argenteau, a chamberlain at the Court, was a member of the newly created Légion d'Honneur . Titles became hereditary with the establishment of majorats , assets associated indissolubly with them which could be, as in the present case, in land or in shares or government bonds. The detailed enumeration in the document of the properties conferred upon Mercy Argenteau includes 718 hectares of cultivable land with farmhouses and buildings.
NAPOLEON I (Emperor of France, 1804-1821). Document signed ('Napoleon'), Letters Patent for François Charles Marie de Mercy Argenteau, conferring upon him the title of Count with estates in entail ('majorats') in the Departments of Meuse and Metz, signed by the Emperor on the last page, Compiegne, 25 March 1810 , manuscript in ink on vellum, 35 pages, 450 x 290mm . (written on 10 bifolia), countersigned by Cambacères, illuminated coat of arms in red, azure and gold on last page, fair impression of the Imperial seal in red wax (120mm. diameter, chipped at rim) pendant from blue and gold silk ribbons, annotation in a later hand in upper margin of first page. By Imperial decree on 1 March 1808 Napoleon had reintroduced most of the former ranks of nobility, but without tax exemptions or legal privileges. Elevation to the Noblesse d'Empire resulted mainly from public office, and was at first strictly personal. Mercy Argenteau, a chamberlain at the Court, was a member of the newly created Légion d'Honneur . Titles became hereditary with the establishment of majorats , assets associated indissolubly with them which could be, as in the present case, in land or in shares or government bonds. The detailed enumeration in the document of the properties conferred upon Mercy Argenteau includes 718 hectares of cultivable land with farmhouses and buildings.
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