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A medieval letter from a notorious French king has been discovered in an unusual location: a Canadian library.
The 15th-century letter, identified by researchers at the University of Toronto’s Old Books New Science Lab, was sent from the court of Louis XI, also known as the “Spider King.”
Louis XI, who ruled from 1461 until his death in 1483, is best known for strengthening the French government after the Hundred Years’ War.
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He’s also known for his political maneuvering — which involved espionage and secret alliances.
The University of Toronto announced the find in a press release earlier this year. It had been sitting unrecognized in the binding of a book in the Robertson Davies Library at Massey College, an independent college affiliated with the University of Toronto, for years.
The missive was identified by researchers Jessica Lockhart and Chana Algarvio during a closer examination of the fragment using advanced imaging.
They brought it to Sebastian Sobecki, a professor of medieval English literature at the University of Toronto, for identification.
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Images show the artifact yellowed and frayed with age, covered in small text written in dark ink.
The fragment was likely recovered during a 20th-century book restoration after passing through a family of collectors, said Chana Algarvio, assistant librarian at Massey College and a Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto.
Algarvio told Fox News Digital it was donated by a man named Will Rueter, who inherited it from his great-uncle Georg Rueter.
“According to Will, Georg frequented bookstores his whole life and particularly favored the bookseller stalls at the University of Amsterdam,” she said.
“Due to the fragment’s small size, it probably came to Georg via his bookbinder friends or his daughter, who was trained as a bookbinder.”
The discovery’s significance lies in its rarity, said Sobecki.
“Identifying these fragments relies on a combination of tools, including language, handwriting and document format.”
“Finding parts of medieval manuscripts in book bindings is common, but finding royal letters or charters in such places is very rare,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Identifying these fragments relies on a combination of tools, including language, handwriting and document format.”
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He also described the letter as a lettre patente, or a formal royal decree issued by a monarch.
These documents “were really important to the making of the modern French bureaucracy,” he noted.
And for those wondering why Louis XI was called the “Spider King,” it’s because he wove a vast network of political intrigue and royal control — like a web.
“Louis was exceptionally adept at political intrigue and [at] using the royal administration effectively to this effect,” Sobecki noted.
“He also professionalized the government by appointing bureaucrats rather than hereditary aristocrats, laying the foundations of the political and legal unification of France.”
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