Penn in Hand: Selected Manuscripts

Pedraça, Alonso de, 17th cent.

Instrucion para actuar los comissarios y notarios de el Sancto Officio [manuscript] / por Alonso de Pedraça.

Cuenca, 1667.

71 leaves : paper ; 229 x 172 mm. bound to 237 x 183 mm.

A book of instructions for commissioners of the Spanish Inquisition, a relatively low position in the hierarchy of the Inquisition, and notaries, a secretarial but slightly higher position, written in 1667 by Alonso de Pedraça, himself a notary and commissioner for over 30 years in the city of Cuenca, Spain, location of a permanent Inquisitorial tribunal established in 1489. Contains an elaborate dedication to the then Inquisitor General, Juan Everardo Nithard, containing a coat of arms, and letters of approbation from Pedro de Espinosa, Jacinto de Urturi y Ibañez, and Bartolome Francisco de Villaviciosa, all leading figures in the church and municipal government of Cuenca at the time. The instructions detail the process of determining or confirming genealogy and purity of bloodlines, referred to in the text as limpieça de sangre, including the summoning and examination of witnesses, as well as the evaluation of hearsay evidence.

Ms. codex.

Title from title page (p. 1).

Pagination: Paper, ii + 71 + ii; [i-xxviii], 1-104, [i-x]; contemporary pagination in ink, upper outer corners; modern pagination in pencil, upper outer corners.

Layout: Written in 28 long lines; ruled in lead, with ruled notes in margins.

Script: Written in a humanistic book script.

Decoration: Full page ink drawing of a complete heraldic achievement (p. iii), possibly the ecclesiastical coat of arms of Inquisitor General and dedicatee Juan Everardo Nithard, consisting mainly of a shield in four quarters, two with a crowned golden eagle on a white background and two with a white chevron on a blue background. Ecclesiastical attributes are also present which indicate it belongs to a bishop. Exterior ornaments include two Dominican friars, possibly Saint Dominic and Saint Peter Martyr; section titles in red and black (p. 1, 9); 4-line opening initial in gold; 3-line text initials in gold (p. 2, 3, 9).

Watermark: Unidentified coat of arms watermark consisting of a shield, a crowned eagle displayed and a bendlet, also a crest and a mantle.

Binding: Contemporary gilt leather; printed book plate inside upper cover reads San Pablo de Cuenca; spine reads Instrucion de comissarios 1667.

Origin: Written in Cuenca, Spain in 1667.

UPenn Ms. Codex 1334

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts University of Pennsylvania Ms. Codex 1334