Beschreibung:

HENRY VII ( King of England 1485-1509). Letter signed (with fine signature and autograph subscription, 'V[ot]re frere cousin et bon pere Henry R') to the King of Castile and Granada (Philip I of Austria, 'the Fair'), Greenwich, 8 April n.y. [1506], one page, 285 x 400mm , 9 lines written in brown ink, in French, countersigned by [John] Meautis (Clerk of the Signet and Henry VII's French secretary), address panel on verso, annotation in a later hand (incorrectly dating the letter '8 fevrier'), traces of seal (light spotting mostly in margins, two small seal tears, tear in blank portion of lower margin, small traces of tape on verso). A letter of recommendation for Catherine of Aragon's chamberlain who is leaving for Spain, 'pour la matiere dont a sa requeste nous parlasmes quant nous feusmes ensemble en n[ot]re chasteau de Wyndesore Nous vous pryons tresacertes Tres hault et tres puissant prince N[ot]re tres cher et tres ame frere cousin & bon filz quen scryvant la Responce que lors nous faictes Vous veuillez pour honneur et amour de nous lavoir en son affaire de p[ar]dela po[u]r recommander'. The reason for the chamberlain's mission to Spain was probably the vexatious subject of Catherine of Aragon's dowry and her hope that Philip would exert pressure upon her father, Ferdinand V of Aragon. Catherine (1485-1536), widow of Henry VII's eldest son, Prince Arthur, was now betrothed to the new Prince of Wales, the future Henry VIII, but the marriage was contingent upon the second instalment of her dowry being available in London and Ferdinand had failed to supply it. The hapless princess was currently living on the uncertain bounty of the notoriously frugal Henry VII, and unable even to pay her servants. Prince Henry himself wrote to Philip, in terms similar to the present letter, on 9 April, while Catherine wrote to Ferdinand V two weeks later (22 April) begging him to consider that she was in debt, even for food, and complaining that Henry VII would not pay for anything (J.Gairdner. Letters and Papers of the Reigns of Richard III and Henry VII , in the Rolls Series, 1861-1863, vol. I, 284-285). In the complex web of relationships between England, Austria and Spain, Philip, Duke of Burgundy, son of the Emperor Maximilian I, became King of Castile as a result of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon's sister, Joanna ('the Mad'), who inherited the kingdom on the death of their mother, Isabella I ('the Catholic'). Philip's claim was contested by Ferdinand V, their father, whose powers Henry VII sought to limit. In January 1506 an unexpected but timely gale in the English Channel obliged the convoy of ships taking Philip and Joanna from Flanders to Spain to land at Weymouth. Philip was escorted to meet Henry at Windsor, where they concluded the secret treaty by which Henry undertook to support Philip's claim to Castile, if necessary by force. Philip and Joanna disembarked at Corunna on 26 April, and a meeting with Ferdinand V took place soon after. But within six months of the present letter Philip was dead and Catherine's marriage to Henry VIII did not take place until his accession in 1509.