[LORRAINE]. [MEURTHE-ET-MOSELLE]. Letters patent of ennoblement in solemn form in favour of Clément Thomassin. In French, illuminated charter, italic script, invocation and suscription and address in gold capital letters, calligraphed and sealed with the ducal great seal (green and red wax; seal partly damaged; seal affixed to coloured braided silk lakes). With a large ornate initial with painted coat of arms of the Duke of Lorraine and painted coat of arms of the Thomassin family under the fold. Dimensions: 727 x 510 mm; diameter of wax seal: 95 mm. These solemn letters patent, illuminated, calligraphed and sealed with the ducal seal, were granted to the ennobled person after he had obtained a grant of nobility and had it ratified by the Chambre des Comptes de Nancy. Large initial decorated and historiated with the letter C for "Charles", particularly decorated with military insignia. and bundles, a vase with fruit and flowers, a sea horse (or "kelpie" in Scottish or Celtic folklore, a kind of ondin horse or aquatic horse), a Poseidon-like figure with his trident. The letter C features the illuminated coat of arms of the Duke of Lorraine. This charter is similar to the one held by the Meurthe-et-Moselle Departmental Archives under the reference B 186: Charter of ennoblement of Claude Calot (30 July 1584). Series B 1-188 (part of the Treasury of the Charters of the Dukes of Lorraine) contains an alphabetical table of those ennobled from 1473 to 1736. Incipit: "Charles par la grâce de dieu duc de Calabre Lorraine Bar Gueldres Marchis marquis de Pont à Mousson comte de Provence Vaudemont Blamont Zutphen. To all present and future greetings. Since by natural law all persons in general are born with the same prerogative of freedom, frankness and ingenuity...". Signed: "By his Highness... the Lord de Bourbonne Grand Chamberlain and Head of Finance present [signed]". Negleysenove". Under the fold, signed "Charles" (handwritten secretary?). Under the fold, painted coat of arms of Clément Thomassin: Azure, a bear in pale Or, armed and langued Gules, holding between its paws a fleur-de-lis Argent; and for crest a bear issuant from the shield, holding a mace Argent. Annotations on the back of the document ratifying the Letters of Nobility, dated Bar, 1 September 1598. Established in Charmes-en-Moselle, the Thomassin de Charmes family was ennobled by the Dukes of Lorraine on several occasions in the persons of Claude Thomassin (1592), Clément Thomassin (1598), Philippe Thomassin (1609) and Nicolas Thomassin. It was common practice to ennoble families who were already noble, either because they had lost proof of their nobility through fire or war, or because they wished to have prerogatives recognised in the Duchy of Lorraine that could be contested by 'foreign' nobility. Clément Thomassin then Thomassin de Montdoré (circa 1560-1626) was born in Charmes-en-Moselle and died in Vauvillers. Receiver of the land and seigneury of Vauvillers for the Sieur de Bourbonne, he married Catherine de Villiers (c. 1572-1643). Clément Thomassin became Lord of Montdoré in 1603. 72.7 x 51.0 x 0.0 cm 72.7 x 51.0 x 0.0 cm