Guy Foulcart, was a sea captain from Brittany. BNF - Latin 9474 - Jean Bourdichon - Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne - f

Foulcart was employed by

James IV of Scotland James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauchi ...

. In July 1497 James IV hired Foulcart to transport

Perkin Warbeck Perkin Warbeck ( 1474 – 23 November 1499) was a pretender to the English throne claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, who was the second son of Edward IV and one of the so-called "Princes in the Tower". Richard, were he alive, ...

, known as the "Duke of York", and his wife Catherine Gordon from Scotland. Their ship was the ''Cuckoo'', which James IV had acquired from Foulcart in October 1496 on his return from the Raid of Ellem. The Spanish ambassador

Pedro de Ayala Don Pedro de Ayala also Pedro López Ayala (died 31 January 1513) was a 16th-century Spanish diplomat employed by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile at the courts of James IV of Scotland and Henry VII of England. His mission to S ...

rode with Perkin to

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

and his 30 men on hired horses. Lady Catherine Gordon was dressed in a "sea gown" of tanny Rouen cloth. A Brittany merchant John Peidzoun helped equip the ship and was rewarded with an exemption from customs. This did not have a good outcome for Foulcart, and some years later

Anne of Brittany Anne of Brittany (; 25/26 January 1477 – 9 January 1514) was reigning Duchess of Brittany from 1488 until her death, and Queen of France from 1491 to 1498 and from 1499 to her death. She is the only woman to have been queen consort of France ...

wrote from

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...

to James IV on his behalf. Foulcart had complained about his imprisonment and the loss of his goods after transporting Perkin Warbeck. He had to pay a ransom and legal fees, which he owed to his business partner, Guillaume Pomptome. James IV replied to this letter, saying that Foulcart had freely accepted the commission, but had obtained letters to state he was acting under the king's instructions. This was according to the usual mutual customs of hiring sailors and ships. He suggested that Foulcart had not pursued compensation in Scotland because his case was weak. It was recorded in June 1503 that the Breton captain had refused justice.Robert Kerr Hannay, ''Acts of Council, 1501-1554'' (Edinburgh, 1932), p. lx.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foulcart, Guy 15th-century Breton people Court of James IV of Scotland Perkin Warbeck