Lot 340

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Description:

Barbary Pirate Patrols Along Southwestern French Coast, 1565: "we cannot defend the coast"

A 1p manuscript letter in French signed by Henri I de Montmorency (1534-1614), Governor of Languedoc, at lower right. Dated May 23, 1565 and issued from Bayonne, the French coastal city located about 40 km from the modern day French/Spanish border. Inscribed in gorgeous secretarial script on the first page of cream laid bifold paper. The inner pages are blank. The integral address leaf is docketed and bears an embossed paper-covered wax seal. Two small vertical slits on the first page corresponded to a seal or ribbon, now missing. Expected wear included scattered minor stains, isolated minor mounting traces on the last page, and discrete and reversible pencil inscriptions from a former collector. Else near fine, with remarkable legibility and contrast. 8.5" x 12.5." Accompanied by a select transcript of key passages converted into modern French, as well as an English language catalog description.

Henri I de Montmorency dictated this letter to Raymond de Beccarie de Pavie Fourquevaux (1508-1574), the Governor of Narbonne, a city located along the Mediterranean. Montmorency had received a letter from Fourquevaux informing him that pirate ships had recently been sighted near a landmark called "Exostqan." In response, Montmorency "ordered Sr de Sarlabas to put companies along the length of the coast where he knows there is the most need" and also "ordered two companies of armed men" to help them near Agde, "since by galleys on the sea, we cannot defend the coast." Overall, Montmorency believed that "affairs have cooled down to such an extent that it would be bad to further discuss them."

The "Sr de Sarlabas" referred to Corbeyan de Cardaillac Sarlabous (ca. 1515 - ca. 1586), a French career soldier born in Gascony. Sarlabous served as a mercenary soldier in Scotland almost uninterruptedly from the late 1540s to 1561, and had accompanied Mary Stewart, the widowed French queen, back to Scotland after the death of François II. Sarlabous fought on the Catholic side during both the Scottish Reformation and the French Wars of Religion. From 1563-1584, he served as the Governor of Le Havre.

The words "connestable" and "reyne" appear in the text, the Middle French spelling for "connétable" and "reine," that is, "constable" and "queen." The queen during this era was Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589), the widow of French King Henri II and the mother of three French kings. Catherine de' Medici's regency of Charles IX had technically concluded in 1563, when the young king was 13.

Several places are also mentioned in the letter: Agde, a river city off the Mediterranean established as a Greek colony in 525 BCE; and Narbonne, the city governed by Fourquevaux. The territory menaced by Barbary Pirates seemed to extend, then, along this 40 km strip of French coastline between Agde and Narbonne during the spring of 1565.

Henri I de Montmorency served as the Governor of Languedoc from 1563-1614. The Languedoc was the historic name of an extensive, largely autonomous region located in southwestern France now called Occitanie. Flanked by the Atlantic Ocean on the left, the Pyrenees to the South, and the Mediterranean Sea to the East, the Languedoc was truly an international crossroads, as well as a linguistic and ethnic melting pot of Gallic French, Italian, Spanish, Arab, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish influences. During the 1500s, the Languedoc was a very destabilized region which would be ravaged by the French Wars of Religion as well as piracy.

In May 1565, the Languedoc was threatened by Barbary Pirates launching razzias, or raids, from modern-day Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria. The pirates scourged not only the Mediterranean but also ventured as far south as Western Africa and as far north as Iceland. They attacked merchant ships, fishing boats, and villages, pillaging and enslaving. It is estimated that as many as 1,250,000 white slaves were abducted from Western Europe between 1530-1780 and sold into what proved to be an incredibly lucrative white slave trade. The future Saint Vincent de Paul was abducted in 1605 near the Languedoc, while traveling from Marseilles to Narbonne, France. Neither the Popes nor European kings could control the rampant piracy. Raiding reached its peak in the 16th and 17th centuries. North African privateering only petered out in the 19th century.

Henri I de Montmorency was appointed a Maréchal, or Marshal, of France by Charles IX in 1567. He had become the Duc de Montmorency after his older brother's death in 1579. Montmorency had a contentious relationship with the French crown which stemmed from his own self-reliance on one part, and his ambiguous loyalties during the French Wars of Religion on the other. In 1593, Henri IV appointed him a Connétable, or Constable, of France.

Montmorency's correspondent Raymond de Beccarie de Pavie Fourquevaux served as Governor of Narbonne from 1565. In the early 1570s, he was appointed French Ambassador to Spain. He was also the author of a famous military treatise published in 1553.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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