Don Fernando de Silva
Before me:
Andres Martin del Arroyo, royal secretary.
Decree for Don Fernando
The King. On behalf of you, Don Fernando de Silva, knight of the Order of Santiago, relation has been made me that you have served in the states of Flandes, and that you have served in other important affairs for more than ten years; that, having gone to Nueva España by the appointment of the marquis of Çerralbo, you served ad interim in the duties of my governor and captain-general of the Philipinas Islands, and president of my royal Audiencia therein, because of the death of Don Alonso Fajardo de Tença; that you did it excellently, maintaining that community in peace, which was supplied with what was necessary; and that my royal treasury was but little burdened. When Don Juan Niño de Tavora arrived to serve me in those offices, he found the finest fleet of galleons which those islands have had, with which they could defend themselves from the enemies who infest them; provision of the metals necessary for casting artillery, and fifty molds for casting the pieces every two days; and the infantry in good discipline, clothing in abundance, and the ships for Nueva España ready to lade. Possession had been taken in my name of the island of Hermosa, which is eighteen leguas from the mainland of China, in the year six hundred and twenty-six, by which it will always be safe for the wealth of that kingdom to pass by there, without the enemy being able to hinder them (their fortress being very well fortified by nature). You were married in those islands to Doña Maria de Salazar, granddaughter of one of the earliest and most prominent conquistadors and settlers of the islands, and your father-in-law was the first Spaniard born in the said islands;[7] and, in commemoration of the services which the aforesaid performed, the encomienda of Butuan and Oton was given to them, which they enjoyed. I conceded the favor of prolonging to the said Doña Maria de Salazar, your wife, the same encomienda for one generation more, by a decree of February twenty-four, six hundred and twenty-two; and to it shall succeed the person to whom it shall belong and pertain according to the law of succession. You went to the said islands solely for the purpose of serving me in the said duties, and incurred many expenses on the voyage, and enjoyed only slightly more than one year’s salary. You have a desire to continue in my service, petitioning me that, in order that you may be able to do so, and in remuneration of the forbears of your wife, I employ you without the prohibition imposed on absentees, ordering that they may not enjoy the income from their encomiendas of Indians, preventing you therefrom; and [that you be allowed] to appoint a representative [of the encomienda] to the satisfaction of my governor of the said islands as is the usual custom. The matter having been examined in my royal Council of the Indias, I have considered it proper to give the present. By it I give permission to you, the said Don Fernando de Silva, to be absent for the space of eight years from the said encomienda, together with all your household and goods, in Nueva España or in any other part where I may employ you, provided that you leave the representative and all the rest to which you, as an encomendero, are obliged, to the satisfaction of my governor of the said islands, to whom and to my royal Audiencia of the said islands, I order no obstruction to your voyage to be placed. During the said eight years, which are to run and be reckoned from the day on which you leave the said islands in order to make your voyage, they shall not take away from or deprive you of the said Indians; and shall allow you to enjoy freely the income from them and the other things which you shall possess in the said islands, notwithstanding any royal orders or decrees given to the contrary. Such orders and decrees, I do for this time, and so far as they touch this case, dispense with. Given in Madrid, October two, one thousand six hundred and twenty-seven.
I The King
By order of the king our sovereign:
Don Fernando Ruiz de Contreras
I copy this transcript from the original, which was in possession of the treasurer, Alonso de Santoyo, knight of the Order of Santiago, at whose request it was drawn. It is a faithful and true copy. Mexico, March twelve, one thousand six hundred and twenty-nine. Witnesses were Hipolito de Santoyo and Geronimo de Marquina, inhabitants of Mexico. I seal it in testimony of the truth.
Marcos Leandro, his Majesty’s notary.
We, the undersigned notaries, certify and attest that Marcos Leandro, by whom this copy appears to be signed and sealed, is a notary of his Majesty; and as such, entire faith and credit has been and is given to the writs and other acts which have passed and pass before him, both in and out of court. In order that it may be apparent, we give the present in Mexico, March twelve, one thousand six hundred and twenty-nine.