ABSTRACT
The fifteenth century is a turning point in the history of language and of English letters. The most collections of English medieval letters are those of the monarchy. Very few from the nobility survive although their account books show they wrote many. Before the battle for Harfleur Henry wrote to the city of London and described his plans, writing again later when he had accepted its surrender from the kneeling governor. Such letters describing his military triumphs provide a vivid picture of events. The variety of the royal letter carriers can be illustrated from contemporary rolls. The letters show that much diplomacy was left to the letter carrier who might be a nobleman or bishop. Surviving fifteenth-century letters and associated papers provide some indication of literacy at that time. Such merchants’ marks are of considerable antiquity being used over shop fronts or signs, on funerary inscriptions, to show ownership of a bale of merchandise or the origin of a document.
