Sales catalogue 534: Maggs Bros

Date:
1930
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/13/89
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sales catalogue 534: Maggs Bros. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/180 page 5
    ROYAL LETTER FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF FRENCH PIRATES. 1522 A.D. [504] CHARLES V (Emperor). Original royal letter signed by the Emperor as King of Spain, to his cousin the Duke of Arcos. 1 page, folio. Valladolid, 11th September, 1522. £105 He states that he and the Queen [his mother, Juana of Castile] had resolved to prepare a fleet for the purpose of resisting the French Corsairs who robbed the clothing sent by Spanish contractors to the Indies and the Levant, and whose vessels were not sufficiently well protected by convoys. The fleet is to be acquired at the expense of the American and Levantine merchants whose merchandize is to be proportionately taxed. Meanwhile he requests the Duke to provide any necessary artillery. (Trans.) :—‘‘ To the Duke, my cousin: In view of the damage and theft which the French corsairs have committed this year in respect of merchandize belonging to our subjects and natives who ply their trade in the Indies and the Levant, through lack of sufficient provision for safeguarding the coast, Her Catholic Majesty my Lady [his mother] and I have convened to raise a fleet to resist and capture the said French corsairs, at the expense of all the merchandize and ships belonging to the merchants and contractors in the Indies and Levant, ievying (such charge) in the form of an average duty upon the said merchandize that may enter the ports of the cities of Seville, Jerez de la Frontera and Cadiz, and the towns of the port of Santa Maria, San Lucar de Barrameda, Rota, Chipionalepe, Ayamonte and La Redondela, and the towns of the County of Niebla and of other parts. In this matter, three deputies from among the merchants will have to confer with Juan Lopez de Recalde, our Treasurer of the Casa de Contratacion de las Indias [Indies Board of Trade], who resides in the city of Seville, who has been appointed by us, and to whom we have given authority for carrying out and complying with the aforesaid, as set out at greater length in the provisions and despatch which we have caused to be published in regard to it; because, as you see, the abovementioned is for the general well-being of our subjects and natives, and very much to our service. ‘‘ T am informed that the said fleet is in need of artillery which is so necessary, as you know. I therefore request and urge you to lend to the said deputies, the © pieces of artillery for which they may ask you, and which may be necessary for the said fleet, giving you adequate security and guarantees in the presence of the said Treasurer, Judge and Commissary, that they will return them to you after the fleet has been disbanded, or that they will pay you the assessed value of them, in the event of their being lost or damaged. In this I shall receive from you both pleasure and service. From Valladolid on the eleventh day of September, one thousand five hundred and twenty two.’’ (Signed) I. the King. TREATISE ON ASTRONOMY, COSMOGRAPHY AND THE ART OF NAVIGATION. 1537 A.D. [505] [SACRO BOSCO (Giovanni di)|. MAURO (M.). Sphera olgare novamente tradotta con molte notande additione di geometria, cos- mographia, arte navicatoria, etc. With woodcut coat of arms, title, emblematical woodcut of Navigation, Cosmography and Astronomy, and numerous diagrams in the text. Small gto. Old vellum. Venice, Bartholomeo Zanetti, 1537. {10 10s Harrisse, 219. The woodcuts include two globes depicting America.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3