Add MS 52411

LETTER OF EDWARD IV, as Earl of March, and Edmund, Earl of Rutland, sons of Richard, Duke of York, a claimant to the English throne, recommending their emissary, Antonio de la Torre, to Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan; 10 Dec. 1460. Latin. Signed 'E. March' and 'E. Rutland'. On the authenticity of the signatures, see J. Gairdner, Notes and Queries, 4th. ser., viii, 1871, pp. 48-9. For the negotiations of the Yorkists with Milan and Pope Pius II, and de la Torre's embassies, excluding the present one, see C. Head, 'Pope Pius II and the Wars of the Roses', Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, viii, 1970, pp. 139-78. One of several letters which de la Torre was to bear to Milan and the Pope, but apparently never delivered. There is nothing to suggest that it was ever in the Milanese archives and it was overtaken by events, as both York and Rutland were killed at the Battle of Wakefield, 30 Dec. 1460, and de la Torre did not leave England until after 11 Jan. 1461. See C. S. P. (Milan), 1385-1618, no. 55. Followed (ff. i-vii) by photostats of four letters to the Duke of Milan, 1460-1461. See C. S. P. (Milan), 1385-1618, nos. 41, 43, 49, 55. In the same hand as a letter from Francesco Coppini, the papal legate in England, to the Duke of Milan, 15 Aug. 1460. See f. i. This indicates his virtual identification with the Yorkist cause, a factor in his later denunciation, recall and imprisonment by the Pope. See Head, pp. 170 seq. Bought by Samuel Addington at Puttick and Simpson, 1 Mar. 1871, lot 116. Sotheby's sale-cat., 24-26 Apr. 1876, lot 108. Huth sale, Sotheby's sale-cat., 12-13 June 1911, lot 64. Belonged later to Robert Schumann (f. ix). Charles Sawyer, cat. 266, 1964, item 471.

Paper; ff. ix+1. 210 x 285mm. 1460. Watermark, a bull; Briquet, Les Filigranes, no. 2792. Italian humanist cursive, as in f. i. Formerly folded and secured by a paper tag passed through slits in the letter and sealed with two small seals, of which only traces remain. In red morocco folder, 20th cent.