LOT-B15. For your consideration is an exceedingly rare and historically important c.1616 hand-signed Royalty HM King Philip III of Spain Signed / Autographed Spanish Document. 24-page handwritten manuscript featuring two Royal Wax Seals, fully intact, with specific reference to America! Incredible!
Condition is original, as pictured. Pages are torn, paper is missing in some areas, paper is fragile. This is commensurate with the age of this exceptionally scarace royal manuscript document. Centerfold as pictured with HM King Philip's manuscript signature in ink. Although the condition of this document is original, the money page (e.g. Kings signature with wax seal and crucifix / cross doodle will frame beautifully, if desired). Guaranteed original and authentic. Paper type is laid with appropriate watermarks. An absolutely amazing museum-quality piece of history!
Original manuscript documents, 24pp., folio dated Aranjuez, May 7. 1616, and Potosi, November 16, regarding the authority of Hidlgo Alfonso Munoz of Potosi in Peru, with two fine seals bearing the signature of King Philip III of Spain, whose territorial empire was the largest of its time in recorded history. Signatures of otther notables at Potosi and at the Court. The controversy arose during the turbulence at the Potosi mines during their hayday. When Potosi itself had over 150,000 inhabitants, Munoz as Hidalgo and Escribano REAL for the King, demands his prerogatives of office, which have been denied by the Potosi authorities. Philip III confirms Munoz's rignts and makes his right to use his signum specifically valid for America.
Philip III (Spanish: Felipe; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain. He was also, as Philip II, King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598 until his death in 1621.
A member of the House of Habsburg, Philip III was born in Madrid to King Philip II of Spain and his fourth wife and niece Anna, the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II and Maria of Spain. Philip III later married his cousin Margaret of Austria, sister of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.
Although also known in Spain as Philip the Pious, Philip's political reputation abroad has been largely negative – an 'undistinguished and insignificant man,' a 'miserable monarch,' whose 'only virtue appeared to reside in a total absence of vice,' to quote historians C. V. Wedgwood, R. Stradling and J. H. Elliott. In particular, Philip's reliance on his corrupt chief minister, the Duke of Lerma, drew much criticism at the time and afterwards. For many, the decline of Spain can be dated to the economic difficulties that set in during the early years of his reign. Nonetheless, as the ruler of the Spanish Empire at its height and as the king who achieved a temporary peace with the Dutch (1609–1621) and brought Spain into the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) through an (initially) extremely successful campaign, Philip's reign remains a critical period in Spanish history.
After Philip III's older brother Don Carlos died insane, Philip II had concluded that one of the causes of Carlos' condition had been the influence of the warring factions at the Spanish court. He believed that Carlos' education and upbringing had been badly affected by this, resulting in his lunacy and disobedience, and accordingly he set out to pay much greater attention to arrangements for his later sons. Philip II appointed Juan de Zúñiga, then Prince Diego's governor, to continue this role for Philip, and chose García de Loaysa as his tutor. They were joined by Cristóbal de Moura, a close supporter of Philip II. In combination, Philip believed, they would provide a consistent, stable upbringing for Prince Philip, and ensure he avoided the same fate as Carlos. Philip's education was to follow the model for royal princes laid down by Father Juan de Mariana, focusing on the imposition of restraints and encouragement to form the personality of the individual at an early age, aiming to deliver a king who was neither tyrannical nor excessively under the influence of his courtiers.