Six receipts signed by French diplomats, certifying payments received, principally for diplomatic activities in England [manuscript].
1605
Items
Details
Title
Six receipts signed by French diplomats, certifying payments received, principally for diplomatic activities in England [manuscript].
Created/published
France, 1605 - 1624.
Description
6 items ; aprox. 27 x 16 cm
Associated name
Le Mac̦on, Robert.
Note
This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.
Genre/form
Manuscripts (documents)
Place of creation/publication
France.
Item Details
Call number
FAST ACC 271275 (flat)
Folger-specific note
Purchase made possible by The Eric and Mary Weinmann Acquisitions Fund. From dealer's description: "[LE MAÇON, Robert.] [Six receipts signed by French diplomats, certifying payments received, principally for diplomatic activities in England.] [France, 1605 -1624.] 6 manuscripts, ink on vellum, each oblong 4to (approx. 27 x 16cm) in French, each signed at foot by recipient, small filing holes in left margins, versos with contemporary endorsements, old folds, some negli- gible wear, very good. These six manuscript receipts penned on vellum dating between 1605 and 1624 bear the signatures of diplomats in the service of French kings Henry IV (1553-1610) and Louis XIII (1601-1643) certifying receipt of payments, including salaries and travel expenses, principally for diplomatic activities in Jacobean England. One of the receipts here bears the signature of Robert Le Maçon, sieur de la Fontaine (1534-1611) a Huguenot who fled to London after the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of 1572. A long-term resident in London (see: ODNB), he became the unofficial representative of the French king in England and was one of the principal diplomats coordinating the joint Anglo-French war effort against Spain in the 1590s. On the receipt here he is described as “resident po[u]r la service du Roy d’Angleterre.” A Protestant minister, he was involved in the French church at Threadneedle Street, writing A catechisme and playne instruction ... (London, 1580) and a volume of sermons, Les funerailles de Sodome ... (London, 1600). Penned on a receipt for his salary dated 1614 is the signature of Samuel Spifame, sieur de Bisseaux (d.1632), then French ambassador to England. Also present here on another receipt is the signature of the prominent French soldier Charles II de Cossé, comte de Brissac (1550- 1621). Penned on a receipt dated June 1624 is the signature of another French ambassador to England, Tanneguy Le Veneur, comte de Tillières (d.1652), known for his involvement in the diplomatic negoti- ations concerning the marriage of the then prince Charles and Henrietta Maria of France. Also dated 1624, two further receipts here, bearing the signatures of Louis de Maissoneuve and Jean Pierre, sieur de la Riviere, mention carrying diplomatic letters to London." Ordered from Samuel Gedge D9306, 2019-05-29, Cat. 28 #8