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King Henry VIII

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:30,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD
King Henry VIII

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Auction Date:2016 Dec 07 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
LS signed “Henry R,” one page both sides, 8.5 x 12, July 7, [1513]. Letter to army commander George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, encouraging him to proceed with the capture of Therouanne. In part: “We be also well content wt yor certificate made unto us of the state of or enemyes whereof ye be ascertayned…Willing and desiring you not only substancially to loke thereunto for the suertie of yorself and of or armyes being then wt you, but also to slakke no tyme, but wt all diligence to employe yorself by batery and other exployt of warre for the getting of that towne, And nowe ye know by espiell and taking of prisoners the state of that towne and of what power it is to resiste you we doubt not but ye wol endevor yorself thereafter accordingly.” He goes on to discuss a strategy to convince German mercenaries, probably the infamous ‘Black Band,’ to withdraw from the service of Francis I based on the Holy Roman Emperor’s alliance with the English, in consideration of “an article conteigned in the treatise lately concluded ratified sworne and confermed betwyxt Themperor and Us,” which might persuade the Germans to leave the French king’s army "and come to Us.” He also sends to Talbot “sixe lastes of gounepowder,” but not any shot “because we knowe not the compasses ne moldes of yor ordenunces.” In fine condition, with expected wear.

Amidst the War of the League of Cambrai, King Henry VIII sent this letter seven days after arriving in Calais with a force of 11,000 troops. George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, commanded a vanguard of 8,000 and had already set out toward Therouanne with the goal of capturing the town. Shrewsbury’s men besieged Therouanne throughout July but made little progress against the French and German defenses, while King Henry set up camp to the east. The German emperor, Maximilian I, arrived in early August, and King Henry hosted him at the English encampment. Battle soon broke out when a detachment of French cavalry attempted to resupply the town, and the combined forces of Maximilian’s artillery and Henry’s bowmen defeated them and captured Therouanne with relative ease. This skirmish, which became known as the ‘Battle of the Spurs,’ was King Henry’s first significant military victory. A simply remarkable, historically significant letter on military strategy from early in Henry VIII’s reign.