Beschreibung:

(King of England and Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, 1421-71).- Richard of York (third Duke of York, Lieutenant of France 1436-37 & 1440-45, magnate and claimant to the English throne, 1411-60) Instructions to the treasurer and governors of the revenues of Normandy to pay Thomas Hoo the sum of 2000 livres tournois, by the hand of Pierre Baille, Receiver-General of revenues, in execution of a contract drawn up between the Crown and the said Thomas Hoo, appointing him Captain of Mantes, from the feast of Saint-Michel (29 September), for one year and thereafter for as long as Richard Duke of York remains governor of France and of Normandy, Thomas Hoo contracts to recruit and maintain fifty mounted lances, twenty foot lances and 210 archers and will receive annually, to maintain these troops, the sum of 16,000 livres tournois drawn on the treasury of Normandyand payable of 4000 livres tournois every three months, he is permitted to retain revenues from the rebel regions and is obliged to parade his troops every three months at Mantes, manuscript in French, on vellum, in brown ink, in a fine chancellery hand, 31 lines, historiated initial "H", folds, slightly creased, slightly browned, some soiling to margins, without seal, 273 x 370mm., on behalf of the king, through the duke of York, lieutenant-general and governor of France and Normandy, sign manual of Jean Rivel, Rouen, 25th September 1442. *** The defence of Normandy in the last years of the Hundred Years war and the roots of the Wars of the Roses. "The facts about the supreme direction of affairs in Normandy since the end of... [Henry VI's] minority had certainly not been encouraging. The young king showed no intention of appearing a second time in person in his French domains as the leader of his people. Consequently there had now to be a viceroy and there were few who could undertake such a post. The king's honour and the pride of Normandy demanded he should be a powerful prince of the blood royal. Finally, with obvious reluctance, York was at last acknowledged to be the only possible satisfactory, term candidate and reappointed on a five-year term from 2 July 1440 until Michaelmas 1445. By the time he landed at Harfleur in June 1441, with a large army and an English council of his own choosing, Somerset was back in England and the floundering Norman ship of state once more had a reasonably competent captain and steersman after four years of stop-gaps and political compromises which had followed Henry's personal assumption of power. York had been advised in drawing up his conditions by his own council, which included Sir John Fastolf, Sir William Oldhall and Sir William ap Thomas, all able and experienced in Norman affairs... . Avoiding the traditional wasteful and siege warfare condemned by Fastolf, he marked his advent in Normandy by a brilliant Seine and Oise campaign, conducted in conjunction with Talbot and centred on Pontoise, in the course of which the French king and the dauphin, harried to and fro over the rivers, were ignominously chased almost to the gates of Paris. The pursuers found the royal bed still warm at Poissy. But inexorable logistics dictated an autumn return toRouen for the triumphant but exhausted and near-starving army. Charles VII took Pontoise by assault on 19 September 1441 and the 1442 campaigning season was notable only for Talbot's capture of Conches and siege of Dieppe." - Bertram Wolffe. Henry VI, 1983. Thomas Hoo, first Baron Hoo (c. 1396-1455), Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire 1429/30; took part in the operations in the Pays de Caux in 1436; Bailiff and Captain of Mantes 1437-50; Captain of Verneuil in 1441; on 29 June 1442, for his services in the wars in France, he was granted £40 a year out of the issues of Norfolk and on 9 September 1442, sixteen days before the above document was nominated one of the commissioners to treat of peace with France; Chancellor in France and Normandy 18 March 1444/5; Knight of the Garter