A 1326 medieval royal marriage contract between the 13-year-old Edward III and the 11-year-old Philippa of Hainault will lead Bonhams’ sale in Knightsbridge on March 27 estimated at £100,000-150,000.
A medieval royal marriage contract described as a “potent relic of English history” will lead Bonhams’ Fine Books and Manuscripts sale in Knightsbridge on March 27.
Penned on vellum, the 1326 contract between the 13-year-old Edward III and the 11-year-old Philippa of Hainault was the decisive factor in a plot orchestrated by Isabella of France against her husband Edward II. The plan and the union was ultimately successful, producing 13 children and ending only with the queen’s death in 1369.
Historian Felix Pryor, who catalogued the document for Bonhams, said that without the marriage “there would have been no Black Prince, nor his descendants that gave rise to the Wars of the Roses".
Estimate £100,000-150,000.
