PHILIP III, of Spain.

[Pair of manuscript documents, signed by King Philip III of Spain (Yo El Rey)

to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, concerning the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, and related topics.] Lerma and San Lorenzo (Escorial), 1608–9 Two manuscript documents, each on folded sheet, with integral address leaf intact. Total of 2pp. of manuscript text in secretarial hand. Paper loss in each document due to worming around wax seal area: a few words affected, but the losses are not major. Otherwise overall condition is clean and quite good. The two documents laid in a dark blue full morocco case, front cover lettered gilt, red morocco spine label. These highly important letters from the King of Spain in regard to the English settlements in Virginia are from the papers of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, the long-time expert on the problems of colonization in eastern North America to the Spanish crown. The Duke had an important role in collecting data and reconnaissance of the English attempts at colonization (see D.B. Quinn’s The Roanoke Voyages, 1584–1590, Hakluyt Society, 1955). Medina Sidonia was in contact with Don Pedro de Zuniga, the Spanish Ambassador in London, who was able to suborn English mariners into providing him with excellent copies of Virginia Company maps and supplying him with detailed information. The first document, dated at Lerma on 29 July 1608, is King Philip’s initial inquiry to Medina Sidonia on the Jamestown colony. Essentially the King is attempting to establish the nature of the English settlement in the “island of Virginia.” He demands information on the ports of Virginia, who first discovered it, etc. The King’s questions are, of course, a reaction to reports arriving from various sources of the activity of the Virginia Company (chartered in 1606 to revive the schemes begun by Sir Walter Raleigh to colonize Roanoke in 1584–7) and which had led to the landing of Captain Christopher Newport, to the founding of Jamestown (1607) and the government of Captain John Smith. The present letter from the Spanish King is then a questionnaire, made with the background knowledge of the 1580s English attempts at a Virginia colony. An excerpt from the first document: “...Por diferentes vias, [sehasemido?] aviso de lo que ingleses procuran hacer pie en la ysla Virginia, a fin de salir desde alli a piratear. Y por que conviere tener entendido con particular noticia lo que es aquella ysla y saver su Parage y puesto. Eltpo. en que se descubrio, y por quien, que Puertos tiene y que capacidad ay en ellos, a que ptes. se puede salir desde [?] a sobre viento. Y todo lo de mas...” In the second document, dated at San Lorenzo (Escorial) on 11 June 1609, the King acknowledges receipt of information from the Duke regarding pirates on the coasts of southern Spain; this the Duke had obtained from mariners who had been plundered by the pirates. The King requests the Duke to continue obtaining information on the plans of the pirates. Apparently as an afterthought, he continues with a request to the Duke to keep sending him information on the proceedings of the English “in the settlement of the land which they call Virginia in the Indies.” This is a clear demonstration of the continuing keen interest of the Spanish government in the Virginia settlement: “...y que me haceis mucho servicio en continuar la Inteligencia de saver los digsinios de los cosarios y el que muestran tener los Ingleses de proseguir en la poblacion de la Tierra que llaman Virginia en las Indias...” A remarkable pair of manuscript documents, each signed by King Philip III of Spain, which open a window on the fascinating game of international intrigue over colonization in North America then being played out between the two great European powers.

• GBP 27,500.00 > autres monnaies
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• libraire: Peter Harrington Antiquarian Books (GREAT BRITAIN)