Recapture of L'ILE SAINT-HONORAT de LÉRINS (Alpes-Maritimes) - Lot 58

Recapture of L'ILE SAINT-HONORAT de LÉRINS (Alpes-Maritimes) by the French from the Spanish in 1637. Receipt (17.5 x 25 cm) dated May 30, 1637, signed Charles de BELLAY, Capitaine des Gardes de Monsieur le Comte d'HARCOURT, being ordinarily near his person, now in Paris lodged in the Hôtel du dit Seigneur. He has received from M. Macé BERTRAND Sieur de la Bazinière, King's Councillor and Treasurer of his Savings, the sum of 1358 Livres tournois in coins of 20 sols, ordered to him, for having come expressly from the Naval Army to Versailles to bring to his Majesty (LOUIS XIII) the news of the Reduction of the Isle St Honorat de Lérins, in his obedience and for his return, all in Post,..." - the Spanish, who occupied the Lérins islands from 1635. Two bastions and the first barracks were built. With a garrison of around 800 men on the island of Sainte-Marguerite, the Spanish troops faced the vital issue of drinking water supplies. In 1637, the French recaptured the islands of Lérins, and named the citadel Fort Royal.