HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 

Letter of receipt drawn up by Estienne Daulezy, escuier (squire) “in the present wars for the present journey to England, under the command of monseigneur le mareschal de sancre” [Louis de Sancerre, Marshal of France], for the sum of 75 livres tournois demanded from Jehan le Flament, the king’s [Charles VI’s] military treasurer, as wages due to himself and seven other squires on the expedition.

1 small oblong page on vellum, c. 7 x 23 cms, written in French in a gothic cursive hand. Lille [Flanders] 20 October 1386.                       

In March 1386 Richard II formally recognised his uncle John of Gaunt as King of Castile, and in July Gaunt set sail from Plymouth with a large force to seek his kingdom. His departure removed from England her most experienced commander and 7000 of the country’s best troops. The young Charles VI of France (who 30 years later was to suffer the crushing defeat of Agincourt) saw his chance, and assembled a large fleet and an army of 30,000 men led by himself and his three uncles for a projected invasion of England. The expedition ran into serious financial arrears in the autumn, and in October troops who had not been paid for at least six weeks began to pillage the Flemish countryside. By November most of the troops had begun to disperse, and the delay in mounting the invasion led to the eventual destruction of the ships by the English.

This rather hopeful document is in fact a requisition for the money owed to Daulezy and his colleagues, but due to lack of funds in the royal coffers it has been marked at the foot by a paymaster “Ceste quittance ne doit valou que xv sous.” (This receipt has only a value of 15 sous). This means that although the document as drawn up would have released the authorities from the debt if Daulezy had been paid in full, it was in fact discounted, probably for one month, paying a no doubt disappointed Daulezy only a small proportion of the whole.

Somewhat creased, and some light browning, but clear and legible throughout. A rare document from an important but little known campaign.

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