For more than a century, the Royal Charter of 1663, granting Rhode Island colonists religious freedom, has been displayed at the State House.

But another document, purportedly written 23 years later and offering the same privilege, is now exhibiting online — and selling for $1.5 million.

What say ye, Roger Williams?

The new document has some local historians poring over their parchments for any reference to this proclamation, which the seller says was given by King James II in 1686.

“This is a little bit of a mystery,” said University of Rhode Island history professor Evelyn Sterne, after she viewed a photograph of the document for sale. “I can’t find any reference to King James ruling on [Rhode Island] religious freedom.”

Said Patrick Conley, the state’s historian laureate: “I’ve never heard of any reference to this in Rhode Island history.”

If the document is real, “it would be a blockbuster find,” said Conley, and should be in the state archives “because it has real historic significance.”

So how did we end up flipping back through the dusty pages of time?

Last week, Gary Zimet, who operates the website Moments in Time, based in Los Angeles, posted for sale the Brown University application of John F. Kennedy Jr., for $85,000.

News of the sale prompted Brown to file suit in U.S. District Court in California, claiming the application was stolen and, like all student applications, confidential property of the school’s.

The issue awaits a court hearing. In the meantime, Zimet told The Journal he had other documents that Rhode Islanders might be interested in and emailed a copy of the proclamation in question.

In a phone interview Zimet said his “client” purchased the one-page document at auction about 30 years ago. It has the name “James/R” written in cursive at the top and is signed by a “Sunderland L” presumably a court administrator “by his Magesty’s Command.”

“I can categorically state it is an original, authentic document,” said Zimet.

The document reads in part: “Our trusty and well loved subjects the inhabitants of Rhode Island in America have by their humble petition prayed … that we would be graciously pleased to allow them liberty of conscience.”

It goes on to note that the Crown grants them that liberty because the colonists have “given of their loyalty” in part by “the free surrender of their charter and by other testimonys.”

That section caught the attention of Conley, who says the document may be alluding to a little-known chapter of Rhode Island history. And it lends credence, he said, to the document’s authenticity.

In 1686, the same year of the proclamation, James II created what was known as the “Dominion of New England,” a short-lived attempt by the Crown to crack down on colonial independence.

By unifying several colonies under one governing body, England hoped to stop the colonists from trading with other countries, which was cutting into British profits.

The king revoked those colonies’ individual charters and made them part of a new conglomerate under one governor, a job that eventually fell to one Edmund Andros.

His name is also written at the very bottom of the page, as if it was a form of cc.

Conley theorizes that James II, a Catholic and therefore no fan of the English church, perhaps felt a certain fondness for Rhode Island, founded by Roger Williams on the principal of religious freedom.

The proclamation, he said, could have been a form of “reassurance” that the colony’s religious freedoms would be protected under the newly formed dominion of colonies.

The dominion might have seemed like a good idea for some. But three years later, in 1689, England dumped James II, worried that he wanted to make England a Catholic nation. And with his abdication the conglomerate eroded away.

On Thursday, State Archivist Ashley Selima and others in the secretary of state’s office researched the Rhode Island Colony Records volumes 1671-1686 and 1686-1715, as well as the Governor and Council Records 1667-1753.

“We did not find evidence of the document being received by the state of Rhode Island,” said office spokeswoman Nicole Lagace. “While the existence of such a proclamation sounds interesting, we are unable to provide evidence to aid in authentication.”

Frederick Zilian, a history professor at Salve Regina University, also believes the document alludes to the three-year period of the Dominion of New England — and of James II’s support for religious tolerance.

But in terms of the document’s historical significance, “it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans,” said Zilian, “because there is no 'so what.’”

“The dominion only lasted three years, then the king was gone and the Charter of 1663 remained” as the important record, in terms of granting Rhode Island religious freedom.

Zimet, the operator of the Moments in Time website, described the current owner of the King James document as a real estate tycoon with millions of dollars worth of historic artifacts.

Asked whether his client might want to gift the document to Rhode Island, Zimet said, “my client is not a donor. He’s a seller.”

tmooney@providencejournal.com

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