Queen Mary I | Letter signed, to the Earl of Shrewsbury, announcing war with France, 2 June 1557

Queen Mary I.

Letter signed (“Marye the queen”), signed jointly in the name of the King and Queen, to Francis Talbot, 5^th Earl of Shrewsbury as President of the Council of the North

ANNOUNCING THE DECLARATION OF WAR WITH FRANCE (“…We […] sende you herew[i]t[h] our Proclamacion of warre against the Frenche Kinge, whiche our pleasur is to have kepte secrete until the vii^th daye of this present moneth […] on whiche daye assembling the people togither, who shall publisshe the saide Proclamacion…”), assuring him that war does not extend to Scotland so “faire and goode demeanor” should be shown towards the Scots, 1 page, folio, Westminster, 2 June 1557, integral address leaf, papered seal, fold tears, tape repairs, adhesive residue affecting three words

 QUEEN MARY ANNOUNCES THE WAR WITH FRANCE THAT WOULD RESULT IN THE LOSS OF CALAIS, ENGLAND’S LAST REMNANT OF HER CONTINENTAL POSSESSIONS. England declared war on France in 1557 as a result of Mary’s firm alliance with the House of Habsburg both through her mother, Catherine of Aragon, and her husband, Philip II of Spain. Preparations had been underway for some weeks before the Queen ordered a formal declaration of war, and royal ships were ready to carry troops to the Continent within three weeks of this letter. English troops took part in Philip’s victory against the French King Henri II at the Battle of St Quintin in August 1557, but the main result of the war for England was the siege of Calais; Queen Mary is famously supposed to have said on her deathbed than when she was dead and cut open, Calais would be found engraved on her heart.

The Queen orders that the declaration of war be publicly proclaimed in York on Whit Monday. As President of the Council of the North, the Earl of Shrewsbury commanded the military in the north of England; although, as this letter makes clear, England and Scotland remained at peace he was to have his eyes to the north and his mind on the Auld Alliance, and be prepared for a Franco-Scottish invasion. As anticipated, the Scots declared their support of the French in the autumn of 1557, but, in part no doubt because of Shrewsbury's presence, conflict was restricted to small cross-border raids. 

Provenance:

William Foyle; his sale, Christie's, London, 7 November 2000, lot 307