Fall of Rouen in the Hundred Years War.- Beaufort (Edmund, first Duke of Somerset, magnate and soldier, c. 1406-55) & Gilbert Motier de La Fayette, Marshal of France, 1380-1463) [Treaty of surrender of Rouen by Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, lieutenant and governor-general of France and the duchies of Normandy and Guyenne to Gilbert Lafayette, Marshal of France on behalf of Charles VII on 29 October 1449], manuscript copy in French, on vellum, in a fine secretarial hand, 20pp., some ff. browned, disbound, 250 x 167mm., [?England], 29th October 1449 [late 15th century].

⁂ The fall of Lancastrian Rouen. "The fall of the capital of Lancastrian France on 29 October, after a siege directed by Charles himself from Pont de l'Arche but hampered by heavy rain, was a catastrophe for the English. To begin with, there was a hard-fought and bitter struggle... but under pressure from the archbishop of Rouen, Raoul Roussel, and the citizens the duke of Somerset was soon induced to open negotiations with the French king. The city's loss was a shock to Henry VI's government and to the nation at home... . Not the least distasteful aspect of this sorry affair was the terms of surrender which Somerset concluded with Charles VII. Somerset secured for himself, his wife and children, and for his entourage a safe-conduct to enable them to leave the palace at Rouen and return to England unharmed and with their possessions intact. But in addition to surrendering Rouen... and other fortresses... the duke agreed to find a large ransom of 50,000 écus within one year and to leave some high-ranking hostages behind to guarantee the fulfillment of the negotiated terms. It seemed to many in England a heavy price to pay for the freedom of a lieutenant-general whose period in office had seen the entire Lancastrian kingdom of France virtually swept away." - Ralph A. Griffiths. The Reign of King Henry VI, 1981, pp. 516-517.