In the summer of 1224, the King of France invaded English held territory in France. The mayor of Bordeaux dispatched this letter asking Henry III for aid. Dated September 1224 (SC 1/2/176).
Transcript
To their most excellent Lord, Henry, by the grace of God illustrious king of England, Lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine and count of Anjou, his men who are faithful to him in all respects, the mayor and the common council of Bordeaux, send him greetings and present themselves to his service in total devotion and humility.
We thought that it ought to be told to your highness that the count of La Marche and the seneschal of the king of France invaded Gascony. Upon their arrival, the village of Blaye and the village of Burgh and the village of Saint Emilion and the village of La Réole and the village of St Macaire and the village of Lingdon’ and the city of Bazas surrendered themselves to these men, without any nuisance or reaction having been made yet against them, along with almost all other land, apart from 11 castles which we retained in your service and we hold at our expenditure and expenses, which are great, and apart from the Lord of Bearnn’ and of the city of Aquensse and the city of Bayonne.
Afterwards the same men, the count of La Marche and the seneschal of the king of France, having acquired the aforesaid lands for themselves as it has been said, admonished us through requests directed towards us by the bishops and the abbots of their region to have a truce with them until one month after the Easter of the Lord, so that in the meantime nothing bad nor any trouble may be inflicted against us or against your land and at the same time we may not do any harm to them, and so that we should be in the same state in which we were on the day they asked the aforementioned things from us; no other agreement was asked from us by these men.
And we ignored their requests and we did not want to have a truce with them. Indeed they themselves, having heard such an answer made to them by us, joined with their armies, wishing to ride against us and to vanquish our city of Bordeaux, but we, wishing to resist them, (just like men who will never retreat from faith and service to you as long as our count may live), had provided for ourselves knights and foot soldiers in advance, so that, we, apart from your men in Bordeaux and a great multitude of knights, had united 100 or more knights and 500 armed foot soldiers and a great multitude of crossbowmen, all of whom we maintain at our expenses in the fortification of your city of Bordeaux.
Indeed the count of La Marche and the seneschal of the king of France did not in any way dare to ride against us from four leagues away, not even against some castle which we would hold defended and thus they went back, but they left in their stead the count of Périgord with a great troop of knights and men in arms. And so that we may resist them in a manly way, we maintain the aforementioned fortification daily at our expenditure and expenses.
This is why we humbly beseech your royal majesty that you deem it fitting to transmit soon such an aid of knights and foot soldiers, through whom the arrogance and strength of your and our enemies may be worn down and rebutted, and [also to transmit] such a monetary aid to us, that we may be able to pay for the expenses and expenditure which we make and have made daily for your service; because our city of Bordeaux is situated in such a place that, if you wished to transmit to us the aid of men and money, you would reclaim the land.
May it please indeed your highness to send back to us without delay our messengers with every decision about these things on account of which we have directed them towards your nobility both with the joy of your status and with assurance.
Original translation by Maroula Perisanidi.
Simplified transcript
To their most excellent Lord, Henry, by the grace of God illustrious king of England, Lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine and count of Anjou, his men who are faithful to him in all respects, the mayor and the common council of Bordeaux, send him greetings and present themselves to his service in total devotion and humility.
We thought your highness should be informed that the king of France has invaded Gascony. They have offered us a truce, but we have ignored their requests. Wishing to defend ourselves, we united 100 knights and 500 armed foot soldiers, and a great multitude of crossbowmen whom we maintain at our expenses for the fortification of your city of Bordeaux. Because of this force, the king of France dares not ride against us.
We humbly beseech your royal majesty that you dispatch to Gascony knights and foot soldiers, so that our enemies may be vanquished. We also ask that you transport a monetary aid to us, so that we are able to pay for the expenditure which we have made daily for the protection of your lands. If you transport men and money, you would reclaim the land.
May it please indeed your highness to send back to us without delay our messengers with every decision about these things on account of which we have directed them towards your nobility both with the joy of your status and with assurance.