LOUIS XI: (1423-1483) Louis the Prudent. King of France 1461-83. A rare L.S., Loys, one page, oblong

LOUIS XI: (1423-1483) Louis the Prudent. King of France 1461-83. A rare L.S., Loys, one page, oblong

LOUIS XI: (1423-1483) Louis the Prudent. King of France 1461-83. A rare L.S., Loys, one page, oblong 8vo, Plessis-lez-Tours, 12^th February [1481], to 'his cousin' [Louis d'Amboise], Bishop of Albi, in French. Written in the hand of the clerk, Gassault, and with one concluding line of text in another hand (possibly that of the King?), Louis XI instructs the Bishop to bring them both if he sees fit, concluding 'if you think Charles ought to stay, do it'. Countersigned by Gassault at the foot. With address panel and a contemporary endorsement to the verso. Some light staining to the edges and two neat splits at the edges of the folds, one only very slightly affecting the text. G

 

The letter, transcribed in French, reads, in full - 'Monsieur Dalbi j'ay receu voz lettres; s'il vous semble que vous les devez menez tous deux s'il le faictes. Et du tout en faictes ainsi que bon vous semblera. Et adieu monsieur Dalbi. Escript au Plessis du parc les tous tours le xij jour de Fevrier <si vous semble que Charles doive demorer fetes le>'.

Provenance: This letter, then in the possession of M. Mazens, a notary at Lagraisses, Tarn (17 km south-west of Albi), was published in Joseph Vaesen et Etienne Chavaray, Lettres de Louis XI roi de France publiées d'après les originaux pur la Société de l'histoire de France (11) 1481-1482; Paris, Librairie Renouard, 1905, number 1577, substituting the word rester for demorer in the postscript.

Louis d'Amboise (1433-1503) Bishop of Albi, son of Pierre d'Ambroise, courtier to King Charles VII and Anne of Brittany, and elder brother to Cardinal George d'Amboise. He had been sent to Savoy to fetch Philibert Duke of Savoy (1465-1482) and his brother Charles Duke of Savoy (1468-1490), children of Louis XI's sister Yolande de France (1434-1478), Duchess of Savoy and her husband Amadeus IX Duke of Savoy. Both children died of tuberculosis.

Louis XI died in the Chateau de Plessis-lez-Tours (which he had acquired on 15^th February 1463) on 30^th August 1483.