ENGLISH CIVIL WAR - MILITARY 'FLAG OF TRUCE' LETTER SENT BET...

Hammer

£1,100

ENGLISH CIVIL WAR - MILITARY 'FLAG OF TRUCE' LETTER SENT BETWEEN GOVERNORS OF NEWARK & YORK; 21 Oct. 1644 EL (folds to show dated headed inside alongside the address panel; with some staining to flaps and to part of the contents while a repair to the address-panel barely detracts) - with full typed transcript - sent from "Rich[ard]. Byron" (the poet’s gt.-gt.-grandfather), the Royalist Governor in “Newark” (between the second and final sieges by Cromwell's troops). It was sent to the senior Parliamentarian commander “The Lord [Ferdinando] Fairfax” (1584-1648) who was in York at this time where he was Governor having successfully commanded the besieging forces there (he took the city on 16 July). It would have been carried by special military messenger (with a flag-of-truce pass) as it is a request from one commander to another to ensure that promised supplies of wine should be allowed to travel from Hull to Newark without being plundered or delayed; “You was pleased to grant unto Mr. Thomson of Newark your free Licence to buy Wyne & other Commodities at Hull & transport them to this place… But… the Commanders for the Parliament in Lincolnshire… will not permit him to have the liberty of the River in that County, & the Force belonging to Welbeck have taken 3 Butts of sack as they were coming from Bawtree hither & will not allowe of your Lordship’s Licence without a second approbation from you’re your Lordship…”. Letters from the 1643-44 period are very rare; this one gives a rare insight into cooperation between the two sides. Cross Reference: YORKSHIRE, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, MILITARY