CHARLES IX. Letter signed "Charles", countersigned... - Lot 13 - Osenat

Lot 13
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CHARLES IX. Letter signed "Charles", countersigned... - Lot 13 - Osenat
CHARLES IX. Letter signed "Charles", countersigned by Florimond Robertet as secretary of state, addressed to his French ambassador in Madrid, Raymond de Beccarie, sieur de Fourquevaux. Fontainebleau, March 12, 1567. 1 p. in-folio, address on the back, trace of wax seal, cracks due to the closing system of the letter, top and bottom edges discreetly reinforced on the reverse. "This present bearer who is a former servant of the House of monsr le conte de Retz [Albert de Gondi, future marshal of France], ch[eva]l[i]er of my Order, first gentleman of my chamber, is going to the Royal Catholic Lady my sister for a certain request he has made, for which I greatly desire that he be thanked for the good services he has done me. And for this reason, I am writing very affectionately to madame [icte] seur in his favor, to whom I beg you to p[rese]nter him and give him all the address and help you can, so that he may obtain what he asks, and in this way you will be doing me a very pleasant service... ". It reigned at the time a fragile diplomatic agreement between France and Spain: as a result of the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559, the king Philip II of Spain had married Elisabeth de Valois, daughter of Henry II and thus sister of Charles IX. A WARRIOR, MILITARY THEORIST AND DIPLOMAT, LE SIEUR DE FOURQUEVAUX (1508-1574) began his military career in Italy, notably with the Marshal of Lautrec. Taken prisoner by the Spaniards at the siege of Naples (1528), he returned to France only in 1530 after the peace of Cambrai. He took part in the Savoy campaign, and was then governor of the city of Narbonne from 1557 to 1565 and from 1572 to his death. He drew from his military experience the material of a treaty entitled Instruction sur le fait de la guerre, which he published in 1548 (Paris, Galliot Du Pré). Fourquevaux, whose fidelity and skill were quickly recognized, was entrusted with several diplomatic missions, in Scotland (in 1538, to escort Marie de Lorraine who was going to marry James V), in Ireland, in Italy and in Bohemia, before being named ambassador of Charles IX near Philippe II of Spain: from 1565 to 1572, he held this strategic position working to maintain peace between the two nations, which he accomplished successfully, appeasing, for example, the conflict raised following the massacre of the French by the Spanish in Florida (1565). It was he who asked for his recall after the death of the Spanish queen Elisabeth de Valois, believing that the end of her beneficial influence on Spanish politics posed a renewed threat of war, and that he himself would be more useful to France as governor of a frontier town like Narbonne.
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