Shakespeare, William. A treaty between the Wampanog and the Neponset - photo 1
Shakespeare, William. A treaty between the Wampanog and the Neponset - photo 2
Shakespeare, William. A treaty between the Wampanog and the Neponset - photo 1

A treaty between the Wampanog and the Neponset

Lot 166
15.10.2021 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 50 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 627655
Lot 166 | A treaty between the Wampanog and the Neponset
Estimate value
$ 60 000 – 80 000
METACOMET (1638 - 1676 a.k.a KING PHILLIP). Manuscript document signed with his sign manual, [Wading River,] 13 July 1670. Additionally signed by six others including William HUDSON (c. 1619-1681) Daniel FISHER (1618-1683), John SASSAMON (c. 1620 - 1675, aka WUSSAUSMON), William HAHATIN, and the sign manuals of "Tom" SOMPOINTEEN and VMPATAKIS. [With:] Paul REVERE (engraver). Phillip King of Mount Hope. [Boston, 1772].

Document: one page, 296 x 238mm (minor tear at left margin, and a few pinholes at fold intersections); Engraving, 152 x 99mm (light browning). Both housed in a brown morocco folder and cloth slipcase bearing a printed reproduction of Revere's 1772 engraving of Metacomet within.

An extremely rare treaty bearing the rare sign manual of Metacomet, signed five years before King Phillip's War that would end in his capture and execution. Additionally signed by John Sassamon, whose 1675 murder led to the conflict. The treaty concerns a territorial dispute between the Wampanoag, represented by Metacomet, or "King Phillip Sachem of Mount Hope," and the Christianized Neponsets of Ponkapoag, converted by George Eliot (see lot 168). A meeting took place on 11 & 12 July 1670 at the house of Captain William Hudson, a Boston tavern keeper who had recently established a farm on the Wading River near present-day Foxborough. And "after a long debate … not being able to prove for fully of one side or other to the Content & Satisffaction of Each other, had now Mutually agreed, that the patten line betweene the Massachusetts & Plimouth Collony it and shall Continue to be the partition line betweene … the said Sachems…" (For an early published account of the proceedings surrounding this agreement, see Samuel Gardner Drake, The History and Antiquities of Boston, 1856, pp. 387-388.) The treaty stands as a witness to the growing pressures facing native peoples as European settlement accelerated over the course of the seventeenth century which resulted in inter-tribal disputes over dwindling territory. Five years later, the pressure would erupt into open warfare and bring to a close a period of relative peace and accommodation between New England's aboriginal inhabitants and European settlers.

It was the murder of John Sassamon, who on the present document signs on behalf of the Neponsets, and the execution of three Wampanoag in retaliation that sparked King Philip's War in 1675. When war erupted, the Naponset built a stockade against attack, but Massachusetts authorities removed them to Deer Island for their own protection for the duration of the conflict. Determined to push back European encroachments, Metacomet and his allies attacked numerous settlements in New England, but they were ultimately defeated by a combination of forces form Massachusetts, Plymouth, Rhode Island and Connecticut. It would be John Alderman, a fellow Wampanoag who had converted to Christianity, who shot and killed Metacomet on 12 August 1676 near Mount Hope. Provenance: Phillip D. Sang (his sale), Sotheby's, New York, 26 April 1978, lot 126.
Artist:William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Applied technique:Pencil
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
01.10.2021 – 15.10.2021
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
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