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Manuscript DS, in Spanish, signed “Yo La Reyna,” one page, 8.5 x 12.25, February 5, 1504. Order from Queen Isabela of Castile to her notaries to credit Sancho de Paredes, her Chamberlain, with 52,327 ½ maravedis, which he gave her. The nature of the coins used in this payment to the Queen is then specified, as ducats, etc. The money, apparently, was given to the Queen in December of 1503. Issued from Medina del Campo, and signed below the first paragraph by the queen, and countersigned by her secretary, Gaspar de Trizio. The lower left bears an applied artistic rendering of Queen Isabela. Mounted and framed to an overall size of 15 x 18.5. In fine condition.
In early 1504, Queen Isabella entered the final year of her reign amid deep personal and dynastic uncertainty. Although Spain was emerging as a unified and expanding power, the question of succession grew increasingly fraught due to the deteriorating mental condition of her daughter and heir, Joanna of Castile (1479–1555), remembered by history as Juana la Loca (‘Joanna the Mad’).
Isabella traveled from Segovia to Medina del Campo to attend to Joanna, who was being housed at the nearby Castle of La Mota during a period of severe mental agitation. Joanna’s distress was reportedly intensified by her enforced separation from her husband, Philip the Handsome of Burgundy, to whom she was passionately attached. Contemporary accounts describe episodes of emotional volatility and violent outbursts, alarming the Castilian court and casting serious doubt on her capacity to rule.
Spain at this time had no fixed capital, and the royal court moved frequently between cities; during this period, Medina del Campo became a temporary center of governance, with Isabella and her husband Ferdinand of Aragon residing at Las Casas Reales. By March 1504, Joanna was permitted to return to Flanders to rejoin Philip, after which Isabella relocated to Olmedo, already gravely ill with dropsy (edema). Her condition worsened over the ensuing months, and she returned to Medina del Campo, where she died on November 26, 1504, her death marking the close of one of the most consequential reigns in European history.
From the collection of Mark S. Robbins.
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