[Manuscript Letter to the Provincial of Yucatan, Instructing Him to Inquire About Various Debts Owed by Certain Religious Orders in New Spain]

Madrid, 1718. [3]pp. on a folded folio sheet. Minor toning and creasing. Very good. An interesting pair of communications from Spain to colonial Mexico involving debts owed by local religious orders in the Yucatan and how to enforce collection of said debts. The transcripts of these letters were sent to the Spanish administrator at Yucatan by Father Joseph Sanz, the Commissary General for New Spain. Here, Sanz instructs the Provincial to identify which orders within the Yucatan owe money payable to the estate of the "Duquesa de Medina las torres," a title within Spanish peerage since 1625. In the second letter, which begins on page two, Father Sanz orders the local Commissary General to make sure that his orders to the Provincial are duly carried out. An instructive instance documenting the regular practice by Spanish authorities in extracting wealth from local Mexican subjects to send back to the gentry in Spain.