BATTLE OF THE BOYNE 1690 A most interesting letter in French, apparently recovered from a French officer taken prisoner at or after the Battle of the Boyne, 1690, marked 'Copy of ye Duke of Savoys...

BATTLE OF THE BOYNE 1690 A most interesting letter in French, apparently recovered from a French officer taken prisoner at or after the Battle of the Boyne, 1690, marked 'Copy of ye Duke of Savoys letter to the French King - found among ye Frenchmens papers in Ireland'. The letter, dated 20 May [1690] and addressed to 'Monseigneur' [My Lord, i.e. Louis XIV of France], is from 'V. Amedee' [Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy and King of Sicily] and refers to a demand from the King that Savoy should give up some of his Italian possessions, including Turin, apparently because of doubts about his loyalty. Savoy responds that he remains the King's loyal subject, but asks to be allowed to surrender some other possession instead of his 'citadel of Turin, in order to leave me in my capital with the dignity of a Sovereign'. With a transcript of the French text and an approximate translation. The letter itself has been expertly restored. A very rare relic of one of the most significant events in Irish history, which ended the last serious challenge to English supremacy in Ireland for more than a hundred years.

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