RUPERT OF THE RHINE: (1619-1682) German Prince, a noted Soldier, Admiral, Scientist, Sportsman & Colonial Governor. ...

RUPERT OF THE RHINE: (1619-1682) German Prince, a noted Soldier, Admiral, Scientist, Sportsman & Colonial Governor. Nephew of King Charles I of England.
A fine D.S., Rupert, one page, 8vo, n.p., 3rd November 1679. The manuscript document is a receipt in which the Prince acknowledges that he has 'Received of Thomas Bennett Esqe. the sum of fifteene hundred pounds: being in full for my two Pencons due at Mich[aelma]s last….'. Boldly signed at the foot. With blank integral leaf. Some very light, extremely minor age wear, otherwise a clean and attractive document. VGPrince Rupert had a varied career, becoming a soldier at a young age who, at 23 years, was appointed Commander of the Royalist Cavalry during the English Civil War and thus becoming the archetypal Cavalier and ultimately the senior Royalist General. Following the Restoration, Prince Rupert returned to England and, having retired from his military and naval career, pursued his interest in scientific research. The Prince was the third founding member of the Royal Society, being referred to by his contemporaries as a 'philosophic warrior', and many of his inventions were of a military nature. Rupert is credited with developing a form of gunpowder which, when demonstrated to the Royal Society in 1663, had a force of over ten times that of regular powder.