Footnotes

• 'EIGHTY BARRELS OF GASCON WINE' – Edward IV licences the import of wine into England. The province of Guienne and Gascony had been in English hands, following the marriage of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, for three centuries, up until the fall of Bordeaux and its surrounding lands following the Battle of Castillon, the last of the Hundred Years War, in 1453. Up until then, practically all wine exports of the region had been destined for the English market; but thereafter, while the trade was not actually banned, such were the restrictions placed on English merchants that the wine trade fell increasingly into the hands of Flemish and other exporters (including the Scots); while the English turned their attentions to other wine-producing areas such as Spain and Portugal.
  
  The recipient of this licence, Alain de la Motte, was Seigneur of Fontaines, Lieutenant of Saint-Malo and vice-admiral to the Duke of Brittany. Ten years earlier, following appeals by the exiled Queen Margaret to the Duke of Brittany, he had been placed in command in the fleet that set sail from Saint-Malo to support Lancastrian risings in Wales; although news of the Lancastrian defeats in England led to the expedition's cancellation.
  
  Purchased at Sotheby's, 14 December 1976, lot 63, property of John Carlson Esq (as per saleroom notice), and by descent to the present owners.