A unique pair of royal legal instruments tracing the life cycle of a Spanish noble title across more than a century, from its creation under Philip IV to its sale under the Bourbons.

Composite volume of two document, iii (paper) + 13 leaves (3 paper, 10 vellum) + iv (paper), unfoliated, flyleaves of paper, with watermark of two roundels accompanied by grape-like clusters and surmounted by a cross, the roundels respectively inscribed “A” and “F”, marbled paper pastedowns and inner flyleaf; First Document: collation: 2 paper + 4 vellum + 1 paper, paper folios with watermark of three vertically aligned roundels surmounted by a horizontal bar and cross, the upper roundel bearing a cross, the central inscribed “OA,” and the lower “O,” stamped with a block-printed letterhead incorporating a royal fiscal stamp dated 1650, written in a Spanish notarial humanistic cursive, with concluding signatures, vellum folios executed without visible ruling, in a single column of 23 lines (justification: 210 mm × 125 mm), each vellum leaf enclosed within an intaglio ornamental frame of concentric elements of double fillets, heavier rules, and dotted and dashed bands, interwoven with scrolling floral and vine ornament, large decorative ‘D’ initial forming incipit; Second Document: collation: 4 vellum folios + 3 paper flyleaves (blank), text executed without visible ruling in upright and slightly slanted chancery script, 22 lines (justification: 210 mm × 125 mm), within a triple-ruled red border, written in sepia ink, with selected words and phrases heightened in chrysography with red outline, THREE HISTORIATED INITIALS, each containing a vignette of a village or castle scene, painted in grisaille and gold, THREE FULL PAGE MINIATURES (c. 285 mm × 190 mm), the first depicting a female saint holding an arrow and palm frond, depicted in flowing, gilt-edged robes of blue, yellow, pink, grey, white, and green, possibly signed (illegible), the second with the coat of arms of the Conde de Villalvilla, the third with a composition with two cartouches, the upper inscribed in gilt Baroque lettering “EL REY,” the lower in Roman capitals “DON ANTONIO AGUADO,” all miniatures protected by crimson silk guards. Bound in eighteenth-century gilt-tooled red morocco, covers with a wide border of scrolling foliate ornament and a central lozenge-shaped arabesque medallion, edges gilt, traces of original silk ties preserved, some fading of inks in the first document and minor wear along paper chain lines, otherwise in good condition. Dimensions c. 315 mm × 215 mm (folios of varying dimensions),

Provenance
(1) The title was first granted in 1650 to Don Juan Francisco Balbín, possibly connected to the Genoese Balbi family, who played a central role in financing the Spanish Crown during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Hispanicized form of the surname (“Balbín”) is consistent with patterns observed among foreign financiers who entered royal service, often receiving ennoblement in return for financial or administrative contributions. Don Juan may have been Gio Francesco II Balbi (1617–1652), whose death in close proximity to the issue of the carta may have prompted the addendum concerning the legal inheritance of the title to female members of the family.

(2) Toribio Gasca de la Vega y Blanco de Salcedo, Marquis of Revilla (1720–1779), a high-ranking aristocrat and senior diplomat in the service of the Spanish Crown. The title was subsequently alienated, likely in response to the financial burdens associated with his noble estates.

(3) Don Antonio Aguado Delgado, Count of Montelirios (1714–1794), who purchased the title from Gasca de la Vega in 1764. Upon purchase, the Countship of Villalvilla was annulled and replaced with the Countship of Montelirios and vice-Countship of Casa Aguado, prompting the execution of the second carta bound within this volume. Originally from Corella in Navarre, Aguado was a figure emblematic of the rise of mercantile elites to noble status in 18th-century Spain, reflecting a common pathway to ennoblement among Cádiz-based merchants enriched by Atlantic trade.

(4) The Philadelphia Rare Books and Manuscripts Company, sold 21 January 1994.

(5) Collection of Dr. Scott Schwartz, New York, his bookplate and catalog number “MS 51” on front pastedown.

Text
f. 1, Legal instrument dated 27 May 1650 concerning succession of a mayorazgo (entailed estate); ff. 2–3, outerdocket (blank); ff. 4-5, Royal carta dated 21 March 1650 conferring the title of conde de Villalvilla to Don Juan Francisco Balbín; f. 6, blank; ff. 7–8, Royal carta (clerical copy), dated 6 March 1650 conferring the title of conde de Villalvilla to Juan Francisco Balbín; ff. 9–11 painted frontispieces; ff. 11–13, Royal carta dated 14 August 1764 formally extinguishing the title conde de Villalvilla and confirming succession of nobility for the conde de Montelirios and Vizconde de Casa Aguado.

Illumination
Preserving both an official chancery record and a lavishly illuminated presentation copy separated by more than a century, this composite volume provides a rare glimpse into the legal and financial mechanisms that orchestrated aristocratic status in the Spanish Empire. The manuscript documents both the creation of the title of Count of Villalvilla in favor of Don Juan Francisco de Balbi in 1650 and its subsequent transfer and transformation in favor of Don Antonio Aguado in 1764. The earlier document is a clerical copy bearing official chancery seals and signatures, likely retained as the archival record of the grant, while the later instrument is a lavish presentation copy produced for Aguado and richly decorated to commemorate his acquisition of the title. Together, the documents provide a remarkable record of the evolution of noble titulature in Spain, demonstrating that noble honors, while rooted in hereditary privilege, could also be transferred, sold, extinguished, and reconstituted through royal authority. The volume further illustrates the substantial fiscal burdens associated with noble status, including the recurring obligations of media anata (treasury tax) and other taxes levied upon succession and transmission of titles.

The first instrument grants the title of Count of Villalvilla to Don Juan Francisco de Balbi and his legitimate heirs according to the laws of primogeniture, subject to a succession payment of 572,500 maravedís. A related addendum, likewise bearing the autograph signature of King Philip IV, modifies the original concession to permit succession through the eldest female heir in the absence of a male descendant. Although the grantee cannot be identified with certainty, he may be connected to the prominent Genoese Balbi family, whose members played a significant role in financing the Spanish Crown during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By the mid-eighteenth century, the title had passed to Don Toribio Ventura de Lagasca, Marquis of Revilla, who sold it to Don Antonio Aguado for 22,000 ducats in order to satisfy obligations owed to the Royal Treasury and relieve financial pressures on his entailed estates (see Anes Fernández 2009, 117–18). The second presentation document, ratified in 1764, formalizes the transaction, which extinguished the title of Villalvilla and replaced it with the newly constituted titles of Count of Montelirios and Viscount of Casa Aguado. The illumination of this document is characteristic of late eighteenth-century presentation copies and was likely executed by the same workshop responsible for another legal instrument in this sale (Lot 60). The historiated initials, with their distinctive biomorphic letterforms and accompanying landscape scenes, are closely related in design and almost certainly derive from the same workshop template.

The subjects of the three full-page illustrations are: f. 9, Standing female martyr in yellow tunic, rose mantle, and blue underskirt, wearing sandals and patterned veil, holding a palm and arrow, in a detailed riverside landscape with bridge and town in the background, with celestial putti holding lilies in clouds; f. 10, A full-page heraldic frontispiece, centered by an intricate multi-fielded escutcheon featuring a lion rampant, towers, and wolves, cauldron, and eagle surmounted by an ornate coronet and framed by voluminous Baroque acanthus-scroll mantling in rich polychrome; f. 11, frontispiece presenting the name of Don Antonio Aguado beneath the royal heading “EL REY,” all set within a grand martial composition featuring an oval cartouche flanked by banners, cannons, and suits of armor, surmounted by crown-bearing putti and supported by kneeling figures.

LITERATURE
Unpublished; Related literature: Enrique Soria Mesa, La venta de señoríos en el reino de Granada bajo los Austrias, Granada, 1995; Lidia Anes Fernández, “Comercio con América y títulos de nobleza: Cádiz en el siglo XVIII,” Cuadernos Dieciochistas 2 (2009), pp. 109–48; María del Mar Felices de la Fuente, “Del comercio a la nobleza titulada: La compra del título nobiliario de marqués de Dos Fuentes,” in El mundo urbano en el siglo de la Ilustración, vol. 2, 2008, ed. Rey Castelao, and R. J. López, Santiago de Compostela, 2009, pp. 515–27; ibid, “Enajenación de títulos nobiliarios durante el reinado de Felipe V: La venta a través de los cabildos municipales,” in Nobleza hispana, Nobleza cristiana: La orden de San Juan, vol. 2, ed. Rivero Rodríguez Madrid, 2009, pp. 1021–43.

We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale. 

Collection of Dr. Scott Schwarz