Diplomatic agreement between England and Flanders

Agreement, made at Calais on 7 Oct 1413, between Henry Chichele, Bishop of St David's, William, Lord Zouche of Haringworth, and Richard Holme, all envoys of King Henry V, and William, Castellan of Furnes, and Thierry Gherbode, envoys of John, Duke of Burgundy, redressing infringements of the truce with Flanders. The agreement bears portions of the seals of Chichele and Lord Zouche, and the complete seal of Holme, all in red wax.

The Privy Council is descended from the curia regis , which was made up of the king's tenants in chief, household officials, and anyone else the king chose. This group performed all the functions of government. About the time of Edward I (reigned 1272-1307), the executive and advising duties of the Curia Regis came to be handled by a select group, the king's secret council, which later came to be called the Privy Council. This manuscript shows the attempts of King Henry V to secure the support or at least the neutrality of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, who controlled Flanders, before undertaking an invasion of France in 1415.

Single item.

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Bought by Foxwell as an addition to the Goldsmith's Library of Economic Literature.

Collection level description.

There are [fifteenth century] copies of this document in the Archives National du Nord, Paris, France (Ref: B 562/15245, 15245 bis, and B 548/18302/16).

On vellum. The agreement bears portions of the seals of Henry Chichele and William, Lord Zouche, and the complete seal of Richard Holme, all in red wax.

Compiled by Sarah Smith as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.

The manuscript was part of the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (MS 35633), which was sold at Sotheby's on 26 April 1911. It was bought by P M Barnard, and sold to Herbert Somerton Foxwell in the same year.

University of London Autograph Letters Collection contains a letter from P M Bernard to Herbert Somerton Foxwell relating to the sale of the manuscript, 15 May 1911 (Ref: AL 465).

J H Wylie Reign of Henry the Fifth (University Press, Cambridge, 1914); K B MacFarlane 'Anglo-Flemish relations in 1415/16', Bodleian Quarterly Record , VII (1932-4).