LE MAISTRE (Paul). - Lot 261

LE MAISTRE (Paul). Circa 1550-1592. Advisor and physician to King Henri IV, then physician to Louis XIII. P.S. "Lemaistre". December 31, 1601. Oblong vellum. Rare autograph receipt signed by Paul Le Maistre, relating to the payment of his wages as physician to the King: "...Reçu de deux cens escus pour une demie année de ses gages...". The document, written on vellum, concerns the payment of two hundred ecus for half a year's salary to the royal physician. The document bears witness to the administrative and financial workings of the King's household in the early days of Henri IV's reign. Paul Le Maistre, a renowned Parisian physician, was one of the practitioners attached to the royal court at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. His name appears among the sovereign's physicians in several sources relating to the Paris Faculty of Medicine and the King's household. Fine "Lemaistre" signature in the center of the document. Heavy patina on the vellum, with traces of folding, soiling and minor marginal wear, but no noticeable damage to the text. Very good paleographic presence.