Beschreibung:

MARY OF MODENA (1659-1718, born Maria Beatrice d'Este, queen of James II of England). Document signed, Whitehall, 5 March 1688 , appointing procurator Alessandro Caprara her representative at the Court of Rota at Rome to act on her behalf in matters concerning her late mother, Laura d'Este, endorsed at foot by Giovanni Carilli, ½ page, 300 x 187mm , papered seal (a few tiny holes in integral blank leaf). The only daughter of Laura and Alfonso d'Este IV, Duke and Duchess of Modena, Mary was married by proxy in 1673 to James Stuart Duke of York and later King of England. Mary maintained her religion in her adoptive country, rife with religious conflict, and she maintained close ties to her own country and her family. Her mother, Laura d'Este, often visited England and so Laura's death in July 1687 was a particular blow. The present document was written 8 months after her mother's death in July 1687; in it Mary names Alessandro Caprara to represent her at the Court of Rota in Rome in settling the affairs of her mother. At the same time she was six months pregnant with her son James, Prince of Wales (later the Old Pretender). At the end of this year, in December 1688, Mary took the fateful decision to flee with the infant prince to France, thereby trustingly aiding the political plotting by Louis XIV against the English throne.