ORLÉANS (GASTON D'). Autograph letter signed... - Lot 19 - Osenat

Lot 19
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Result : 1 950EUR
ORLÉANS (GASTON D'). Autograph letter signed... - Lot 19 - Osenat
ORLÉANS (GASTON D'). Autograph letter signed "Gaston" TO HIS BROTHER LOUIS XIII. "A v[ost]re armee", October 1, 1627. 5 pp. in-4, address on the back, armorial seals of garnet wax on black silk lakes; transparency effects due to the thinness of the paper. BEAUTIFUL AND RARE MILITARY LETTER FROM THE DUKE OF ORLEANS WHILE COMMANDING THE ROYAL ARMY AT THE SIEGE OF LA ROCHELLE. A rich port city, La Rochelle was predominantly Protestant and had close ties with England. For these two reasons, Cardinal de Richelieu wanted to attack its franchises, but this provoked an English intervention: on July 20, 1627, the Duke of Buckingham landed on the island of Ré, opposite La Rochelle, and forced the future Marshal Jean de Toiras, the island's military leader, to lock himself in the citadel of Saint-Martin. Louis XIII immediately sent troops to La Rochelle, but, by then ill, sent his brother Gaston. He did so reluctantly, because he did not want to see Gaston gain military glory and popularity, nor did he want to put himself in physical danger as the heir to the crown. The Duke of Orleans arrived in front of La Rochelle on September 15 and made arrangements to rescue the island of Ré: he brought light ships ("pinasses") from the coast of Bayonne under the command of Captain Valin, and had them embark men and supplies in Sables-d'Olonne under the responsibility of Charles le Normand, Count of Beaumont. These ships managed to cross the English maritime blockade on October 8 and brought help to Toiras. Meanwhile, on October 12, the king arrived at La Rochelle with Cardinal Richelieu and took command himself. In the days that followed, other transports allowed the garrison of the fort of La Prée to be reinforced. On November 6, the Duke of Buckingham attempted a final assault on the citadel of Saint-Martin, but failed in the face of Toiras' resistance, supported by the newly reinforced garrison of the fort of La Prée, and left the island on November 8. "As I received the one handed to me by the sr. de Montorgueil by which I see the command that V[ost]re Ma[jes]té gave him to pass to the island on the pinnaces, I have received news of it which obliged me to deprive you of it so that you see the state in which it is by the LETTERS WHICH THE SR OF TOIRAS HAS ESCRIBED, OF WHICH I SENT COPIES TO MY COUSIN MONSR LE CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU TO MAKE THEM SEE V[OST]RE MA[JES]TE, and the resolution I have taken to give all the help I can and to render V[ost]re Ma[jes]te the service I owe her on such an important occasion. THE BAD SUCCESS OF THE EMBARCEMENT OF MONSr. DE BEAUMONT, BY THE LASCHETE OF THE PILOTS WHO WITHDRAWN, HAVING BEEN LAST NIGHT WITHIN THE REACH OF A DEMY-MUSQUET OF THE CITADELLE, MAKES ME PUT ALL MY HOPE ON THE SUCCESS OF THE PINASSES. Monsr. de Gramont has sent me another ten very good ones and a number of mathelots that I am making a point of sending with the others, having sent them all night to the sr. de Valin so that he can come and see me tomorrow morning and that I can confirm him in the affection that he has for serving Your Majesty. With the promise of a notable reward, I promise to send as many Basques as possible with him to bring men. There are already some at Les Sables and in the vicinity, from the regiments of Navarre, Chasteliers-Barlot, Champagne, Beaumont and Chapes, nearly six hundred. I will give orders that tomorrow another four hundred will leave so that the thousand men that Monsr. de Toiras is requesting will pass, if it is possible... FOR WHAT REGARDS THE FORT DE LA PREE [on the island of Ré], I have postponed until tomorrow morning that the son of Richardel and Beaulieu [Captain Philippe Prévost de Beaulieu-Persac] who are at Fort-Louis [opposite La Rochelle] must come to see me in order to bring one or the other to lead five hundred men and the necessary supplies, and I assure myself that I will find in them as much willingness and affection to render this service to V[ost]re Ma[jes]té as I will take care that they do not lack all that will be necessary to carry out this assistance with the necessary deligence, and although I cannot hope for long for an effect of the great relief which it would be necessary to send to the island to drive out the English because of the number of men which it would be necessary to remove from the V[ost]re armee which would oblige them to leave all the gates which they have taken and to leave the forts which have been ordered to be made abandoned. I do not let myself continue to make a great heap at Les Sables of all the chattes [small vessels used for coastal navigation or for loading and unloading ships in the ports], full ferries [small vessels used for coastal navigation in the vicinity of La Rochelle], trawlers and other vessels which are along all these coasts to cross to Oleron, not seeing, whatever care I take, that there can be any
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