A document, usually from a sovereign, granting certain rights or immunities to a subject or an institution. Among many others, printing was a business that required a letter of privilege in many cases, which is why in ancient printed books occasionally you will find the locution cum privilegio in the frontispiece.
Mining, trading, and even music could require a royal letter of privilege.

Examples:

The charge of these arms goes back to what was written in the royal letter of privilege of the year 1622.

The opposition of noblemen supported by the society in 1222 forced AndrĂ¡s II. to sign a letter of privilege known as Aranybulla (the Golden Bull). The laws laid down in Aranybulla became the foundation of the privileges of Hungarian aristocracy and it was the reference document for centuries.

a letter of privilege confirmed by apostolic authority, according to what he knew to be the will and grant of King Egfrid, by whose consent and gift of land he had built that monastery.
the Venerable Bede

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