** 30 YEARS WAR - LETTER SENT BETWEEN COMMANDERS IN FLANDERS...

Hammer

£750

** 30 YEARS WAR - LETTER SENT BETWEEN COMMANDERS IN FLANDERS REF. POSSIBLE P.O.W. EXCHANGE; 25 July 1645 EL from "Camp de Spicker" (now Bergues; near Calais and the Belgian border) to the "Duc d'Amalfi Piccolomini" folded small and beautifully sealed with red wax seals and pale blue silk threads. The sender, the French Commander of the Army in the Low Countries at this time, Gaston Duke of Orleans (1608-60; son of Henry IV and brother of King Louis XIII) signed the letter "Gaston", and he wrote to propose an exchange of Prisoners. The addressee, Gaston's cousin, the Commander of the Spanish Army in the area at the time, the Duke of Amalfi (Italian but fighting with the Spanish) cannot have been far from Bergues. Very early and rare reference to Prisoners of War and a highly attractive letter. Exhibition Quality.Cross Reference: AUTOGRAPHS, FRANCE, SPAIN, MILITARY - P.O.W. MAIL