155 - TURENNE (Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Viscount of), 1611–1675.

TURENNE (Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Viscount of), 1611–1675. Letter from the sender (L.A.S.). Paris, April 14, 1642, 1 folio page, addressed to M. de Marigny, advisor to the King in his councils and secretary of his commands, bearing traces of a black wax seal bearing a coat of arms. An interesting letter from the young Turenne requesting Marigny’s intervention with the chancellor to expedite the issuance of letters patent “following the patent that you were kind enough to obtain for me from the King.” Marigny thus appears to have already personally lobbied the royal authorities to obtain this patent in Turenne’s favor. The matter is urgent: since the chancellor is due to travel to Saint-Germain that very day, Turenne asks Marigny to “put in a good word for me before he returns, so that this does not drag on.” Finally, he apologizes for his “impertinence” and reassures him of his complete devotion. This is an interesting account of the courtly maneuvers that accompanied Turenne’s military rise; at the time, he was thirty years old and already a field marshal. The year 1642 marked an important milestone in his career: shortly thereafter, he was to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general of the King’s armies, before being elevated to the rank of Marshal of France in 1643. The close chronological proximity makes it tempting to hypothesize that the certificate and letters patent mentioned here pertain to this promotion; however, in the absence of a formal identification of the certificate, it is best not to assert this. With its original slipcase from the Charavay firm.