A Prestigious Work
The Livre des Privilèges is an exceptional document, through the beauty of its pages, remarkably well preserved by the importance of its contents: the first freedoms granted to the Manosquins. The most beautiful document preserved at the Archives Municipal is, without a doubt, the Livre des Privilèges de Manosque. This cartulary, which dates from around 1315, is a volume of 182 parchment sheets, bound in wood, covered with fauve leather, with two clasps of copper, unfortunately broken. The manuscript is written in Gothic, writing from the early years of the fourteenth century, and some initials are finely decorated in red ink, shaded in purple and blue. Annotations have been made in the margins, during later periods. This book was written in two languages: Latin and Provençal. It contains the founding texts of the city, charters and privileges of the Manosquins: communal constitution, rights of the people, taxes and statute labour, justice, etc. It testifies to the importance of this book, a sentence at the end of the volume stipulates that the officers place a hand over it to pledge an oath at their appointment.