Handwritten note from the year 1450

In 1450, just fifty years before the discovery of Brazil, an adviser to the King of France receives his pension.

Handwritten note by Bérard de La Motte to the treasurer of the French cities of Carcasonne et de Béziers. One page. In French. 23 cm x 15 cm. France, castle of Roquetaillade, 31st July 1450. Excellent condition. Single piece.

Extract

I acknowledge that I have received from the treasurer of Carcassonne and Beziers the amount of £500 which he is entitled to take annually for his pension.

Counselor and chamberlain to the King of France Charles VII (1403 - 1461), Bérard de La Motte was one of the Lords of Guyenne who supported the King of France during his reign (1422 - 1461). He lived at an important moment in the history of France, inseparable from Joan of Arc, when France gradually reconquered the territories occupied by the English, the last being Guyenne (the Bordeaux region), mentioned in that letter, in 1453.

That note was rightly written at the castle of Roquetaillade, near Bordeaux, one of the first 1,000 buildings declared historic monuments and protected by France in 1840.

This document is obviously admirable for the historical period it describes, both for France and for Brazil: we imagine that only 50 years later, Brazil was discovered by Cabral. In addition to the amazing 15th-century handwriting, this document is remarkable for its exceptional condition for a 568-year-old document. It belonged to a renowned French collector, Léon Muller, a specialist in French history (especially of Napoléon).