This extremely luxurious example of a 16th-century Spanish Golden Age Carta executoria, finely bound in red velvet, incorporates two full page paintings, and a small portrait of King Philip II, as well as two contemporary extra-illustrated hand-colored engravings laid into the front and back binding. The document is dated 1587, and again in 1590 in a later notarial receipt of the document.

This formal legal petition comprised of depositions and other evidence was filed with authorities by Diego de Frias Salazar of the Villa de Alfaro, establishing his family’s limpieza de sangre (“purity of blood”) and, thus, his right to serve in the Cortes and enjoy freedom from taxation.

The two full page paintings reveal the Salazar family’s loyalty to Philip II, many generations of Catholics (i.e., no Jewish or Moorish ancestors), and the family’s role as defenders of the kingdom against heretics.

The first painting is divided in two parts. Top: The Blessed Virgin Mary surrounded by musical angels, as the petitioning family kneel piously before her, in full contemporary attires, mostly made of black cloth, as was customary for Philip’s court. Bottom: Typical image of a battle scene portraying Santiago Matamoros slaying Moors on horseback. The frame is of particular notice, as it contains images of St. Jerome and Mary Magdalen, as well as birds and floral swag arrangements of unusual quality.

 

The second full-page painting, again within a wide frame showing a variety of motifs, shows a genealogical tree, modeled on the biblical Tree of Jesse, with the coats of arms of Salazar’s loyal Catholic ancestors. The Salazar family armorial at the base of the genealogical tree, 13 red stars upon a yellow field, is mirrored as well in the unusual, handsomely embroidered textile binding.

The two large hand-colored engravings are especially unusual.

The first extra illustration portrays Mary Magdalene with her familiar legend Ne desperetis vos qui peccare soletis exemplo qui meo vos preparate Deo (“Don’t despair, you who habitually sin, since through my example God will restore you”).
The second extra-illustration is a rather popular engraving, probably Spanish as well, portraying events from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, including the main image of the saint holding a crucifix, and ten smaller images surrounding it portraying his deeds. On the lower frame of the Franciscan engraving, the legend in Spanish reads: “Francisco was born in the city of Assisi in a stable, in the year of the birth of our Redemptor 1152, his father was called Pedro Bernardez and his mother, Dona Picha, both natives of the city of Assisi del Valle Spoletano, at age 17, he renounced all his assets before of the bishop of Assisi.”