Description:

France - French Admiral Charles de Montmorency reassures inhabitants of St. Malo a year before Samuel de Champlain expedition.

Single page of cream paper neatly inscribed in clerical hand and signed by Charles de Montmorency, duke of Damville at bottom right as: "Your very affectionate and perfect friend to serve you, Charles de Montmorency". An integral address leaf is inscribed verso: "Messieurs the nobles, bourgeois, and inhabitants of Saint Malo". A paper seal incorporating a heraldic shield has been affixed verso. A later docket inscription appears along the right edge verso as does an illegibly signed note reading: "This letter as well as the one from Count de Choisy were given to me on March 24, 1847". In very fine condition, with expected paper folds. Isolated minor discoloration along the bottom edge recto and to the reverse of the seal. Measuring 8.875" x 13.125".

Charles de Montmorency, duke of Damville (1537-1612) dictated this missive dated February 5, 1607 to the inhabitants of the port city of St. Malo, wanting to assure them of the friendly intentions of the French crown. Rumors had been circulating that the Count de Choisy would outfit his ship in Saint Malo prior to his leaving on a royally sponsored voyage. As this trip preparation might disrupt normal trading relations or alienate the city's allies, however, the Admiral vowed to change the location to south of Saint Malo, along the river leading to Dinan.

The admiral writes effusively that he "wants to gratify you in all that is possible ... not only on this occasion but in all others ... that in particular there is no other person who wants to render you the best offices as I do to testify to my good will, I rest inviolable, Messieurs ... "

Charles de Montmorency was a French aristocrat who eventually became an admiral, colonel general of the Swiss and Grisons, and a peer of the kingdom. He was a pro-monarchy Catholic during the French Wars of Religion, but when Henry III ascended to the throne, he joined a subversive coalition called the Malcontents. Henry IV appointed him Admiral after 1595; it is in this official capacity that he communicated with the citizens of Saint Malo twelve years later.

Saint Malo is located on the northern coast of Brittany along the English Channel. Maritime trade with the Americas enriched the city to such an extent that between 1590-1594 it existed as an independent nation. It remained an economic powerhouse even after Saint Malo was reabsorbed under the French crown. Saint Malo was an important geographic gateway to France, with access to northern Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean, and most importantly, Asia and India. In 1601, Saint Malo along with neighboring cities Laval and Vitre established the French East India Company, which hoped to trade with Japan, participate in the Indian spice trade, and antagonize their Spanish and Portuguese rivals. Little is known about Count de Choisy or his voyage, although he might have been headed towards the Pacific or the Atlantic. Henry IV sponsored Samuel de Champlain's expeditions of modern day Canada around the same time that this letter was written, in 1605 and 1608.

A beautiful French maritime document written during the era of North American exploration.

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