Sold Antiques

D-1528: LEOPOLD I 1699 AUTOGRAPHED ILLUMINATED DOCUMENT

Grant of Arms, With Royal Seal

( 12.5x10.25'') A very fine manuscript Grant of Arms to Joannes Morselli, executed at Vienna, 24 April 1699. Signed by Leopold I as Holy Roman Emperor, and countersigned by Joannes Georgius Buol as Secretary of State. Original velvet binding, five parchment leaves executed in fine calligraphy, with one full page illuminated coat of arms, incorporating the portrait of Leopold I. Accompanied by the original 6 '' elaborate red wax seal in turned wooden box. 

Leopold I (1640-1705) was the son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand III (Hapsburg). He became King of Hungary in 1655, King of Bohemia in 1656, and King of Croatia in 1657. In July 1658, more than a year after his father's death, he was elected Emperor at Frankfurt in spite of the intrigues of Cardinal Marazin, who wished to place on the imperial throne Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria or some other prince whose elevation would break the Hapsburg succession.