PHILIP OF SPAIN.

£5,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

Fascinating legal manuscript recording the judgement of the council of Novara in a dispute between two important noble families on the one side and the extremely prominent Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma on the other. The document is dated 7th July 1566 and concerns Johannes Francicsus Tornielli and Marcus Antonius Brusati and Franciscus Maria Plotus who is named as their associate. The court proceedings are richly described with a sense of immediacy; almost in the style of a stenographer. The manuscript commences with an address to Philip II, King of Spain, Sicily and Milan, and entreats him to approve the judgement of the council as presented to him and in making his final decree, to remove all discord. It is also stated that his judgement will set a precedent for future disputes of this kind. The council members and their relative superiority and status to one another are described, naming key members as subscripti . The scene is then set: Sunday 7th July 1566, in the evening, at the palazzo of Novara. The case concerns Vasa Argentea , silver cups or vases, that should be given or returned to Alexander Farnese and his wife by Tornielli and Brusati. However, the two accused state ipsa vasa penes se se non adesse, nescrire quid de eis factus sit , they don t have the vases and they don t know what has happened to them. They then state they don t want to be members of the council anymore and withdraw from proceedings. A lengthy case follows including a long history of both f

• Binding: Hardcover

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