Leilão Bidspirit | Royal Decree Signed by King

Royal Decree Signed by King Ferdinand II of Aragon – Spain, 1515 – Appropriation of Property of a Jewish Marrano Burned at the Stake by the Inquisition - Manuscript document, original royal decree (real cédula), signed by King Ferdinand II of Aragon (Ferdinand the Catholic, then also King of Castile). Spain, Abadía, Kingdom of Castile, 11 December 1515. Old Spanish (courtesan cursive script). Royal decree delivered a mere six months before King Ferdinand's death, during his stay in Abadía in a southward trip to the Andalusia region (the king, already sick at the time, never completed his voyage, and died shortly thereafter in Madrigalejo on 23 January 1516). The decree discusses property seized by the Spanish Inquisition from a certain Iñigo Lopez de León, a Jewish Marrano from Buitrago, Castile, who was accused of ”heresy”. Historical records indicate that Lopez de León served as a member of the Buitrago city council. He was accused of establishing a secret synagogue in his home, as well as secretly traveling to Portugal in order to visit his father, Mose de Cuellar, who chose to flee Spain rather than convert, and even having advised him not to convert. The legal proceedings against him were held over the course of years, and finally, after harsh torture, he was convicted, his property was seized and he was condemned to death by burning at the stake. In the present decree, the king instructs the Inquisition's money collector to transfer half of Lopez de León's seized property, as well as a third of all the property seized from other condemned individuals, to Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Third Duke of the Infantado, one of the most powerful nobles of Castile and whose property included Buitrago, as compensation for his lost income from them. At the end of the document is the king's original signature: ”Yo el Rey” (”I the king”), below which is the calligraphic signature of the royal secretary (apparently Juan Ruiz de Calcena), next to an inscription ”at the command of his highness”, confirming the signature. At the foot of the leaf is a handwritten inscription with a summary of the decree. At the top of the leaf is an illustration of a cross. This document sheds light on a dramatic episode in the history of the Marranos of Castile in the generation following the Spanish Expulsion: a ”New Christian” of a wealthy Jewish family of Buitrago, which had managed to achieve a high municipal status, meets his downfall due to his ties to his Jewish family exiled in Portugal and suspicions of secret religious observance. Likewise, the document constitutes an important historical testimony to the manner of dividing the immense property seized from the Jews sentenced to death by the Inquisition; it illustrates how, although officially the property was transferred to the royal treasury, the Spanish Crown often used it as a political and economic tool to reward nobles, preserve alliances and repay debts. See: F. Cantera Burgos & C. Carrete Parrondo, ”La judería de Buitrago”, in: Sefarad, XXXII (1972), pp. 47-50; Haim Beinart, The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Oxford / Portland, 2002, pp. 248-249; ”Buitrago”, in: Encyclopaedia Judaica, IV, p. 260; 4. For Iñigo Lopez de León's original trial record held in the National Archive in Madrid, see: AHN, Inquisición, Leg. 162, No. 5 (499). [1] leaf. 31.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Folding marks. Creases, stains and wear. Pencil inscriptions. Mounted on paper frame. Printed sticker on verso.