Beschreibung:

MARY I, Queen of England (1553-1558). Letter signed ('Marye the Quene') to Lord North and Sir Giles Alington, Greenwich, 7 January 1558, written in a secretary hand, signed at the head, 3 pages, 310 x 210 mm , on a bifolium, address panel. (slight discolouration, signature faded, repairs in second leaf, a few tiny holes, strengthened in folds, traces of tape). An appeal for reinforcements to be raised for the defence of Calais, signed on the day on which the city fell to the French. 'Letting you wite, that having certaine knowledge that our ennemys of Frannce ar[e] p[rese]ntly w[t]h great puissance and force arryved at our toun of Callays, and do besiege the same whereby it is in gret distress and dannger except succours be most spedely sent, forasmuch as that pece is a principal member and chief jewell of our realme Although we have p[rese]ntly sent such relief as we hope shall suffice for the souders yet for the more surete, and the better to p[er]mit for all events, we have appointed to leavye of our good loving subjets a convenient armye out of hand'. The recipients, both Commissioners for Musters, are required to raise and equip a force of four hundred 'good and able souldyours' in the county of Cambridge (which Lord North represented in Parliament), and 'the sayd numbers [to] be put in redynes thus furnished w[i]th all celerite because it is very like that the imminent dannger will inforce us to call for your service very shortly'. In the execution of this commission no one is to be spared, 'no[t] also sparing any lord gentleman or other man tenante or rules within the same countye'. Among other instructions, the soldiers are to be given conduct money and uniforms of 'white cotes with red crosses after accustomed manner of this our realme'. Besieged by Edward III after the battle of Crecy in 1346, Calais surrendered to the English the following year, and remained in their hands for the next two hundred years. The loss of the city in 1558 was the result of incompetence and a series of misfortunes. It inflicted a deep wound on English honour and self-esteem, which lasted for at least a decade, and in the popular version, retailed by John Foxe, of its effect upon Mary, she is said to have declared Calais to be written on her heart. She died in November of the same year. The bungled events leading to the fall of the town began at the end of the previous campaigning season in October 1557 when the numbers in the English garrison were reduced, since neither the Governor, Lord Wentworth, nor the Council in England expected the enemy to attack in mid-winter. In December the mustering force of 27,000 men in Picardy became known and on 26 December Wentworth sent a desperate appeal for reinforcements, only to withdraw it three days later believing the Duke of Guise's target to be elsewhere. He renewed his appeal on the 31st, as the Council simultaneously rescinded its order for the Channel fleet to proceed to Calais. The Queen's appeal for reinforcements to be sent to the French coast at the beginning of January 1558 was too late and the ill-provided garrison fell to the Duke of Guise on 7 January.