Gabriel Le Veneur, Claude de Sainctes, & François de Péricard - Normandie, Eure - Statuts de la Charité de Saint-Clair-d’Arcey - Manuscrit sur vélin approuvé par trois évêques - 1565

This is a mid-16th century vellum manuscript titled “Statuts de la Charité de Saint-Clair-d’Arcey,” approved in 1565 by three bishops: Gabriel Le Veneur, Claude de Sainctes, and François de Péricard. Normandy’s Eure region witnessed many charitable institutions during the Renaissance tied to the Catholic Church, dedicated to aiding the poor and sick. The document likely includes statutes governing such a charity, outlining its organization, duties, and ecclesiastical oversight. Approval by multiple bishops indicates its official sanction and importance. Manuscripts on vellum, a calfskin parchment, were traditional for formal church or legal texts, prized for durability and prestige. Documents like this capture the social and religious fabric of early modern France, showing how charitable works were structured and controlled by the church hierarchy, reflecting broader themes of religion, governance, and communal care pre-Enlightenment.