Old envelop
Here is something special. It is an opened envelop that I fished out of a box of medieval archival remainders in the archives of the Dutch city of Maastricht. I was looking for unknown fragments of medieval manuscripts, while wading through piles of old binding materials like the stack shown in the lower image. The envelop appears to have been ripped open and in that state it remains. It is post-medieval and dates from the 19th century.
It is special for its original contents. Casual handwriting states what that was: a medal (“Médaille de Ste Hélène”) offered to one Gerard Timmermans, previously a soldier (“ancien. militaire”) in the army of “L’Empereur Napoléon I” - emperor Napoleon. The St Helene medal was offered by the later Napoleon III (d. 1871) to soldiers who had participated in the campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte, veterans that were addressed as “Remnants of the Great Army”.
The envelop is really not supposed to exist anymore: it is a miracle that it was not thrown out. I like to think it was received with a shout of surprise, opened up and put aside, while the medal was fixed to the recipients coat. How great that that moment of joy is captured by an old envelop placed in a box of archival material, waiting for discovery.
Pic (my own): Maastricht, Regionaal Historisch Centrum,18.A Box 543 Varia. More about the (now lost) medal here (with a pic). This is the archive where I found it.
384 Notes/ Hide
- spacelesbianfanclub liked this
- theegoist liked this
- udieresis reblogged this from erikkwakkel
- deborahlutz-blog liked this
- myownlittlemuseumofknowledg-blog liked this
- koedynn liked this
- oracleofanon liked this
- asturon liked this
- minnybox liked this
- crochet liked this
- ripwellington liked this
- surrealcyborg liked this
- letters-from-saint-helena liked this
- primordialshrieking liked this
- faultlinesurfer liked this
- allygrace1 reblogged this from thewritershelpers
- allygrace1 liked this
- b0hemianbairn reblogged this from thewritershelpers
- nopenotgreen liked this
- yourscientistfriend liked this
- thewritershelpers liked this
- uhhhlone reblogged this from writingweasels-blog
- nerdsgaysandarcherybabes liked this
- writingweasels-blog reblogged this from erikkwakkel
- sweetkali liked this
- sweetkali reblogged this from erikkwakkel
- jontibywater-blog reblogged this from erikkwakkel
- jontibywater-blog liked this
- clodia-metelli reblogged this from erikkwakkel
- onewordnoe reblogged this from erikkwakkel
- plaid-and-dkpepper reblogged this from erikkwakkel
- callmebliss reblogged this from erikkwakkel
- saizine reblogged this from archivalia
- galaxseacreature reblogged this from erikkwakkel
- erikkwakkel posted this
- Show more notes