When I approached Jorge Kelman of The Guild of Sant Luke about the commission, he suggested I enclose something as a love token, and the "reason" for the letter. He suggested something Jeff could use with his armour like few extra armour buckles, or a protective charm such as a pilgrim or saint's badge. I decided to make a few arming points in my colours to include, which Jeff could use with his armour and also be a love token.

I asked Jorge to write text based on historical examples, but not to copy anything exactly. So that Jeff could read it, I asked the letter be written in English rather than French.

The letter as follows:

Derest husbond and helpmeet y grete you ryght wele forasmuch as your absense do grieve me y am glad of hert for you in the gretest of honor that has bene bestowed ypon owre house be your contest at Denn Hare your household holds prayeris in your esteem and a candle will brenn yn the chapel of St Martin until yowre return we weet in owre herts that you will acquit yourself and owre family name alle ys well here the sheep are fatt and with muchel herty lombe and the horses ryght spirited they in their simple souls are in similarwise thynking of their mayster my lovying and frend within thys byll are armying poynuings in my coloris i would eb glad of hert yf you would honor me be wering these tokenys in yowrre harness by which act a smale part of me wyll be wyth the y pray to the Virgin and to St martyn for your saufty and may St Stephen guard yowre horse and graunt muchel deserved victore

yowre wyffe and frend arie wretyn inn haste atte Louvignes, 15 mai, 1471

The letter is written on parchment with historical inks, written in a 15th C. lay hand. The intent is to make it look as though Marie dictated a letter to her secretary, who did the actual writing. This was common practice, and although likely that Marie de Roisins knew how to read and write, correspondence such as this would have been done by someone else.

Had I been a bit more clever, I would have asked Jorge to date it "after the feast of Saints Philip and James", but I didn't think of it until it was too late.

The points are wrapped separate from the letter. The paper is conservation grade paper that approximates historical paper.

The outside of the points packet says:

"for my dear Jehan, with all my heart, your love M Forget me not."
Jorge supplied the bad French.

The letter and the points are enclosed in an outer wrap.

The outside of the wrap says To my husband Jehan be thys byll delivered with haste and alacrite. St Martin watch over you

The packet is bound with linen cord and sealed with wax. The back has a lovely blotch which occurred naturally in the sealing process.

I will post a picture of Jeff (as de Haynin) reading the letter, which was delivered "via courier" at the end of the hunt.

Jorge did an absolutely fantastic job with this, and I highly recommend his services. I could have simply tucked a Hallmark card in Jeff's things before he left, but this letter gives him a memento of the event as well as another nifty bit to add to his kit!

Gwen

All blotches, slips of the pen etc are actual and not contrived, they didn't seek to make mistakes but didn't throw away good parchment or paper for the sake of a slip or two.

regards

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Cheers

Those are actually pretty good shots of Jeff's spiffy new pleated coat. It's made of an Italian brocade lined with silk.

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