Beschreibung:

PHILIP II, KING OF SPAIN LETTER SIGNED AS THE SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD INFANTE OF SPAIN ("YO EL PRINCIPE"), TO THE COUNT OF AGUILAR, ABOUT HIS MARRIAGE TO PRINCESS MARIA OF PORTUGAL, in Spanish, referring to the previous decision of his father the Emperor [Charles V], that the marriage should take place after the heat of summer has passed, now confirming that Maria will come to Spain on the fifteenth of October, and that the Emperor has ordained that they should be married in Salamanca; consequently he will leave Valladolid to be there at the same time, expressing confidence in the Count's good health and friendship and that he can be present at the ceremony ("... alli verna al la ciudad de salamanca donde plaziendo a n[uest]ro señor se celebrará nro matrimonio y por que yo me partire de aquí para ser alla al mismo t[iem]po..."), 1 page, folio (c.29 x 21cm), countersigned by Gonçalo Perez, address-panel to verso ("A lo Conde de Aguilar Supariente"), Valladolid, 24 September 1543 Philip married his first cousin Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal, at Salamanca on 12 November 1543, when he was sixteen. He was accompanied by Gonçalo Perez, who has countersigned this letter as personal secretary to Philip's father, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The only issue of the marriage was the notorious Don Carlos in 1545, and Maria died from a haemorrhage four days after giving birth. The addressee is Alonso Ramírez de Arellano and Zúñiga, Count of Aguilar de Inestrillas. PROVENANCE:Sotheby's, New York, 23 May 1984, lot 91; Spiro family collection; their sale, Christie's, London, 4 June 2003, lot 165. To view shipping calculator, please hereCondition Reportremains of red seal, dispatch slits to left-hand margin The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The