Old, handwritten, Latin, illuminated, vellum--what is it?

[jeanpaulbooks]

Any help on this book would be appreciated:

It appears to be in Latin, although some looks to be in Italian or Spanish.  Some of the text is illuminated.  Several pages are vellum and the others don't seem to be paper, but not vellum either.  One page has "1576"  in the margin.  It may be a testament of some sort, with several signatures on the final three pages.  

 

[taylor_memorial]

Lovely.

The blues are just exquisite. 
I think you need Joe for this.

[argon38]

What a fine document you've got there! In Spanish. "Don Felipe, por la gracia de Dios, Rey de Castilla, de Leon, de Aragon, de las dos Sicilias..."  Looks to me like a carta ejecutoria de hidalguía:

http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/schoenberg/schoenberg_bontext2.html

[argon38 · Accepted solution]

---

@argon38 wrote:

Looks to me like a carta ejecutoria de hidalguía

---

Looking more closely, that's exactly what you have, no question about it. The text at the bottom of Photo 7 says as much:

Sentencias y carta ejecutoria de hidalguía a pedimiento de Juan López de Ayala, vecino del lugar de Zelada de el Camino.

So it was drawn up for a certain nobleman by the name of Juan López de Ayala, who lived in Zelada de el Camino, in Burgos, Spain. The place is now known as Celada del Camino:

Celada del Camino

This article is in Spanish, but if you go to the end (p. 275) there is a very useful listing of the component parts of a carta ejecutoria de hidalguía:

https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ELEM/article/download/ELEM0606220251A/21625

(NB: links to a PDF file)

[jeanpaulbooks]

argon38:  Thank you so much for your assistance.  I greatly appreciate it.

[jeanpaulbooks]

If you don't mind, a couple of more questions:

Is this the petition drawn up to present to Don Felipe for nobility as well as the document for the granting of the petition?

The date 1576 is written in the margin in picture 7;  do you see the date in Spanish? 

[argon38]

---

@jeanpaulbooks wrote:

If you don't mind, a couple of more questions:

Is this the petition drawn up to present to Don Felipe for nobility as well as the document for the granting of the petition?

The date 1576 is written in the margin in picture 7;  do you see the date in Spanish? 

---

No problem! My understanding is that cartas ejecutorias are meant to contain the entire documentation of the process, which would presumably include the petition - but I'm relying upon the PDF article in saying this, not the photos. As for the date, it is also 1576 in the Spanish text:

"dada en Valladolid a ocho días del mes de octubre a mil y quinientos y setenta y seis años"

"Given at Valladolid, the eighth day of the month of october, 1576."

[jeanpaulbooks]

Agaian,  thank you very much.

[argon38]

Glad to help.

Re: the "petition" - as I understand it, the people who commenced legal proceedings to obtain these documents were seeking formal acknowledgement from the Crown of an existing "noble" status (e.g. for tax reasons); they weren't asking the king to bestow any new rank or privilege on them. They were required to bring forward documentation and witnesses to testify, and the court would decide if a case had been made out for noble ancestry.

Also, I shouldn't have said that "cartas ejecutorias are meant to contain the entire documentation of the process." They summarise the successful case as presented; they don't include all the written material submitted in the course of proceedings. They are proofs of noble status, handed down by the court.