Description:

Louis XI of France King

Louis XI DS dating from the last decade of the Hundred Years' War

 

1p document inscribed in French on a piece of vellum signed by French monarch Louis XI (1423-1483) as "Louis" in the lower left corner. Also countersigned by Jean Bourre (1424-1506) as "By the king, Bourre," his signature decorated with an intricate geometric design. Signed at Amboise, France on March 20, 1468.  In very good condition, the lower right blank portion trimmed off. Overall toning and light soiling. Measures 12.25" x 9.5".

 

"Louis par la grace de dieu roi de france…donne a amboysce Le vingt jour de mars…2 an de guer…de ma Regne le huitme."

[trans: Louis by the grace of God king of France…given at Amboise the twentieth day of March…Year 2 of the war…of my reign the 8th."

 

Louis XI ordered his treasury counselors in Languedoc to pay 4125 livres to Johan Raguier, his treasurer and representative in Normandy. This money would come in part from the ransom payment of the captured Seigneur de Charny, and in part from "le prouffit et emoliment de grenier a sol et de la maison et des aides et tailles." [trans: the profit and inheritance, from attic to floor of the house, and from various taxes. In the process of delivering his detailed instructions, Louis XI also mentions "Gaston de Lyon, Seneschal de Guienne" and "Reynault du Chastellet, bailiff de Sens." The text should yield interesting discoveries when fully translated.

 

Louis XI, called "Louis the Prudent," ruled over the Kingdom of France between 1461-1483. The majority of his reign was spent battling various neighbors and foreign powers during the waning years of the Hundred Years' War. Since 1465, Louis XI had been fighting against Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, for regional hegemony. Burgundy was not the only nearby region that resisted Louis XI's attempts to consolidate French territory under centralized administration. Charles the Bold and his allies formed the League of the Public Weal to thwart Louis XI's expansionist aims.

 

This document was written during a critical phase of the resumed war with Charles the Bold. In mid-October 1468, Louis XI and Charles signed the Treaty of Peronne, which granted Burgundy the region of Ponthieu but also secured a year-long truce. The Hundred Years' War would not end until Louis XI brokered a separate peace with Charles the Bold's major ally, Edward IV of England, in 1475.

 

Jean Bourre was a law student who had served Louis XI while the latter was still the dauphin. He became Louis XI's royal secretary and master of accounts, and was ennobled in 1465. In 1474, Jean Bourre became treasurer of the French kingdom.

 

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