Letters patent knighting the Swiss "colonel Schmitz" [Gaspard Schmid] with his medal.

Vellum, 21 x 56 cm (plica 10 cm), black ink, French, s. "Louis" by his secretary, countersigned "Bouthillier", large dark green wax seal affixed by a cord of red and green silk, under later wooden box; St Michael's cross, 7 x 7 cm, gilt metal (punch with boar's head in a triangle), and enamel, with its original gilt-orn. red morocco case lined with yellow silk (occ. sm. stains, some cracks on branches of the cross but complete, sides of the case separated but complete).

In mod. wooden box. Nice condition.

Patent transmitted via the Duke of Rohan, granting a knighthood to a Swiss officer and gentleman, G. Schmid de Goldenberg (1587-1638), councillor, banneret and bailiff of the Empire, then officer in a Grison regiment serving France. The Order of St Michael, founded in 1469, is the oldest order of chivalry in the kingdom of France.
Ref. Girard - Histoire abrégée des officiers suisses qui se sont distingués aux services étrangers [...]. Fribourg, 1782, III:62-64.
Joined: 1. 18th-c. ms. transcription of the patent. 1 p., bifolio (some older mss annot.). Prov. "L.M.A." (pencil annot. in Dutch on 3rd p.). - 2. 19th-c. ms. copy of the entry on Schmid taken from "Neues historische Wappenbuch der Stadt Zürich" (1860). Zurich, 30-09-[18]65. 2 pp., 8vo, s. aut. Hans von Meiss. Mention of the patent written in red. (3 pcs)