Patent of Nobility Belonging to Alonso Garcia, Inhabitant of Montejo de la Vega

Alagon (Zaragoza, Spain), 1711. Hardcover. Folio. 12x9". 8 leaves (the final leaf backed in paper). Manuscript bound in limp vellum. Protected with 2 paper leaves, and 2 maroon silk sheets, bound and encased within plain contemporary paper-backed vellum covers with cloth string ties. Contains 2 leaves with gorgeous full-page illustrations, elaborately hand-colored in ink and gilt, the first depicting the family arms of García, the second with the royal arms of Don Felipe within decorative borders. Fine, clear cursive hand in black ink within two sets of double-ruled (truncated) borders, 25 lines per page; 7 gold capitals superimposed on a landscape within square black borders mark the sub-sections of the text, followed by initial lines in gilt letters. Text and illuminations fine and clean; vellum covers lightly soiled. Text block now loose within covers.

Early eighteenth-century illuminated "carta de hidalguia" manuscript, a patent of nobility for one Alonso García, an inhabitant of Montejo de la Vega de la Serrezuela, in the Spanish province of Segovia, Castilla and León. The motto appearing on his arms reads: García De Arriba Nadie Diga (May No One Speak from Above). The royal decree of King Felipe V is dated 5 May [1711]; the document was notarized on 12 June 1711 in Alagón, a municipality located in the Spanish province of Zaragoza. In addition to the notarial stamp of the king (Yo el Rey), at least four witnesses have signed the manuscript on the final page. The document concludes with the formula: "El Mgd. (Majestad) hace merced, à Alonso García, vecino y natural del lugar de Montejo de la Vega, de que por los días de su Vida pueda gozar; y ser reputado en la dicha Villa, y demas partes que residiere por hijodaldgo, y obtener las preheminencias que por ello le tocaren." (The Majesty grants Alonso García, a resident and native of Montejo de la Vega, that he may enjoy for the days of his life and be well-regarded as a noble in that town, and other places in which he may reside, and obtain the privileges to which he is entitled). References: Revista de historia y de genealogía española, 1912-1931, p.102: Alonzo García is noted in a list of those ennobled in the State of Castilla (Castile) since the year 1710. (Inventory #: 50903)