For your consideration is an original and fully executed late-seventeenth-century French royal administrative manuscript, issued at Fontainebleau on 7 September 1686 during the reign of King Louis XIV and personally signed by Paul de Beauvilliers, Duc de Saint-Aignan and Pair de France. Written in a formal contemporary chancery hand on a complete bifolium of laid paper, the document measures approximately 21 by 13.5 inches and constitutes an official commission relating to international commerce and port administration at Le Havre-de-Grce, one of the principal maritime gateways of the French Crown.

The instrument appoints Roger Goulin, bourgeois of Le Havre, to the office of Conducteur des Marchands trangers, an authorized intermediary charged with assisting and supervising foreign merchants conducting business through the port. The text cites Goulins probity, linguistic ability, and commercial experience and empowers him to facilitate dealings involving trade, customs, privileges, and the secure movement of merchants, particularly those arriving from Germanic and Northern European territories. Royal officers and local magistrates are directed to recognize and support him in the exercise of these duties, reflecting the highly regulated commercial administration of France under Louis XIV.

The document retains its principal original validating elements, including the bold autograph signature of Paul de Beauvilliers and his red wax armorial seal, bearing the ducal arms and preserved in association with the manuscript. The combination of autograph subscription and heraldic seal confirms the instrument as a fully executed administrative act rather than a later copy or registry transcript. The verso further preserves a contemporary endorsement identifying the document with the office of Conducteur des Marchands trangers, reinforcing its original function as an active credential within the administrative structure of the port.

Condition is very good for a document of 1686, with expected fold lines, light toning, minor creasing, and handling wear consistent with age and official use, while the manuscript text, signature, docketing, and seal remain substantially intact and legible. Combining a precisely dated royal-era commission, a named commercial office and appointee, an important French Atlantic port, the autograph of a leading Peer of France, and an original armorial seal, the document represents a significant surviving artifact of Louis XIV-era maritime governance and the regulation of international trade during the Grand Sicle.