[MANUSCRIT]. [SPAIN]. [CARTAS EJECUTORIAS]. - Lot 17

[MANUSCRIT]. [SPAIN]. [CARTAS EJECUTORIAS]. Ejecutorias de hidalguia de Albaro Ochoa Aleman et Pedro Diaz de Ochoa...de la villa de Roa [Confirmation of nobility of the Ochoa Aleman brothers issued by Mateo Gonçalez de Rocas]. In Spanish, illuminated manuscript on parchment. Spain, Valladolid, 1659-1661. With two large illuminated compositions, the first featuring the Ochoa Aleman family coat of arms and the second depicting a Virgin and Child (Virgen de Monserrat [Black Virgin of Montserrat?]). 145 ff, preceded by a paper flyleaf and followed by a paper flyleaf and a pink silk serpente, complete manuscript, humanistic handwriting in brown ink, text inscribed in frames drawn in double fillet ink, stamped parchment with parafe, initials in liquid gold on blue or dark red backgrounds (3 lines high), larger initials and some words copied in large capital letters on dark red or blue backgrounds, two large illuminated compositions (ff. 1 and 2) under pink silk serpents (serpents damaged). Bound in 17th-century red velvet (velvet missing in places, corners dulled), 4-spine spine, gilt edges, pink silk upper flyleaf. Dimensions of leaves: 295 x 200 mm; dimensions of binding: 300 x 205 mm Manuscript containing the confirmation and proofs of nobility of the brothers Albaro Ochoa Aleman and Pedro Diaz de Ochoa, inhabitants of Roa, a town in northern Spain, province of Burgos. The manuscript also states that they are "vecinos de la villa de Madrid y ciudad de Sevilla y de la villa de Roa...". The Spanish term "reales cartas ejecutorias" (enforceable royal letters) refers to legal documents issued by Spanish authorities containing the resolution of legal proceedings, including criminal cases, land disputes and claims to nobility status. Cartas ejecutorias are issued by the monarch himself, using his image and name, but they are documents that resulted from legal disputes - often lasting several decades - involving witnesses. The term used for these proceedings is "pleito" (or pleyto in our document). The outcome of these "pleitos" was "royal and final" and therefore supposed to be "executed" quickly, hence the name "cartas ejecutorias". A key document in Spain, the "Carta executoria de hidalguia" is a first-rate source for researchers, genealogists and heraldists, containing a wealth of information on a wide range of social, material, economic and iconographic issues. See E. Ruiz García, "La Carta ejecutoria de hidlaguia: un espacio grafico privilegiado", La España medieval, 2006, pp. 251-276.