![MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (1542-1587). Document signed ('Marie R') as queen of Scotland and dowager queen of France, 'au manoir de Charteley' (Staffordshire), 30 April 1586, in French, granting, on the 'specialle recommenda[ci]on' of her cousin [Henri,] duc de Guise, the captaincy of the castle of Wassy to the duke's maître d'hotel, [Jacques] de la Montaigne, on vellum, 8 lines on one membrane, 245 x 310mm, countersigned by her secretary of state, Claude de la Boissilière Nau, docketed on verso (minor spotting, a few small punctures). Provenance: exhibited at the Tercentenary Mary Queen of Scots Exhibition, Peterborough, 1887, and the Stuart Exhibition, London, 1888-9 (labels on verso).](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2012/CKS/2012_CKS_05334_0029_000(mary_queen_of_scots_document_signed_as_queen_of_scotland_and_dowager_q080133).jpg?w=1)
Details
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (1542-1587). Document signed ('Marie R') as queen of Scotland and dowager queen of France, 'au manoir de Charteley' (Staffordshire), 30 April 1586, in French, granting, on the 'specialle recommenda[ci]on' of her cousin [Henri,] duc de Guise, the captaincy of the castle of Wassy to the duke's maître d'hotel, [Jacques] de la Montaigne, on vellum, 8 lines on one membrane, 245 x 310mm, countersigned by her secretary of state, Claude de la Boissilière Nau, docketed on verso (minor spotting, a few small punctures). Provenance: exhibited at the Tercentenary Mary Queen of Scots Exhibition, Peterborough, 1887, and the Stuart Exhibition, London, 1888-9 (labels on verso).
MEMORIES OF A MASSACRE. Mary had been granted the usufruct of Wassy, in eastern Champagne, as part of her jointure as dowager queen of France: on 1 March 1562 it was the site of a notorious massacre of fifty members of a Protestant congregation by troops under Mary's uncle, François de Lorraine, duc de Guise, an event which was to spark the first French War of Religion. The recipient of the present grant, Jacques de la Montaigne, already in 1562 the older duke's maître d'hotel and a resident of Wassy, was undoubtedly present at the massacre and is described in one source as its 'author and solicitor'. The document dates from the endgame of Mary's captivity: in August of the same year she was implicated in the Babington plot, and in September moved from Chartley to Fotheringhay Castle, where she was beheaded on 8 February the following year.
MEMORIES OF A MASSACRE. Mary had been granted the usufruct of Wassy, in eastern Champagne, as part of her jointure as dowager queen of France: on 1 March 1562 it was the site of a notorious massacre of fifty members of a Protestant congregation by troops under Mary's uncle, François de Lorraine, duc de Guise, an event which was to spark the first French War of Religion. The recipient of the present grant, Jacques de la Montaigne, already in 1562 the older duke's maître d'hotel and a resident of Wassy, was undoubtedly present at the massacre and is described in one source as its 'author and solicitor'. The document dates from the endgame of Mary's captivity: in August of the same year she was implicated in the Babington plot, and in September moved from Chartley to Fotheringhay Castle, where she was beheaded on 8 February the following year.
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
Check the condition report or get in touch for additional information about this
If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.