Documents of 1649–1658

  1. [Royal funeral rites at Manila]. [Unsigned;] 1649.
  2. [Royal aid for Jesuits asked by Manila cabildo]. Matheo de Arceo, and others; June 20, 1652.
  3. [Condition of the Philippines in 1652]. Magino Sola, S.J.; September 15, 1652.
  4. [Jesuit missions in 1655]. Miguel Solana, S.J.; June 30, 1655.
  5. [Letter from the archbishop of Manila]. Miguel de Poblete; July 30, 1656.
  6. [Two Jesuit memorials]. Francisco Vello, S.J.; [1658].
  7. [Jesuit protest against the Dominican university]. Miguel Solana, S.J.; [1658?].
  8. [Description of the Philipinas Islands]. [Ygnacio de Paz; ca. 1658]

Sources: The first of these documents is taken from Retana’s Archivo, ii, pp. 105–158; the second and sixth, from Pastells’s edition of Colin’s Labor evangélica, iii, pp. 786, 787, and 804, 805; the third and fourth, from the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), ii, pp. 385–389. The following are obtained from original MSS. in archives as follows: the fifth, in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla; the seventh, in the Academia Real de la Historia, Madrid; the eighth, in the Archivo general, Simancas.

Translations: The fifth document is translated by Robert W. Haight; the seventh, by Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.; the remainder, by James A. Robertson.

Royal Funeral Rites at Manila

Funeral ceremonies and the royal pyre of honor erected by piety and consecrated by the grief of the very distinguished and ever loyal city of Manila, in memory of the most serene prince of España, Don Balthassar Carlos (may he dwell in glory). By license of the ordinary and of the government. [Printed] at Manila, by Simon Pinpin, in the year 1649.

[This document is presented in translation and synopsis, because of the light it throws on the religio-social life of Manila in the middle of the seventeenth century. It is preceded by the license to print given (June 5, 1649), for the archbishop by Doctor Don Juan Fernandez de Ledo, precentor of Manila cathedral, judge-provisor, official and vicar-general of the archbishopric; by that of the government, given (May 27, 1649), on recommendation of Joseph de la Anunciacion, prior of the Recollect convent in Manila; and by a letter (dated Manila, December 15, 1648, and signed by Lucas de Porras, Gabriel Gomez del Castillo, and Diego Morales) addressed to the governor Diego Faxardo y Chacon, which amounts to a dedicatory epistle. The relation begins with the grief that comes to the city of Manila with the announcement of the sudden death (at the age of seventeen) of the prince Balthasar Carlos, heir to the throne and son of Felipe IV and Isabel of Bourbon, who had died but a short time before. The document continues:]

The first rumors of this so sad event reached this city in the middle of December, 1647, by means of the Dutch, who were harassing these islands at that time with a large fleet of twelve galleons, which sailed from Nueva Batavia with the intention of capturing this stronghold. But they, after having experienced the valor and boldness of our Spaniards in the severe and obstinate combat in the port of Cabite, of which a full relation has been written in former years,[1] attempted to terrify the hearts and take away the courage of those whom they had not been able to resist by hostilities, by sending a letter to Don Diego Faxardo, knight of the Order of Santiago, member of the War Council, and president, governor, and captain-general of these islands; and with it part of a gazette printed in the Flemish characters and language, which contained a copy of a letter from his Majesty to the Marqués de Leganés, in which was mentioned the heavy grief of his royal heart because of the sudden death of his son and heir, Don Balthassar Carlos. The minds of so loyal vassals were alarmed, and their hearts chilled, on hearing so sad news; and those who had not given way before the violent attack of cannon-balls yielded to the tenderness of grief, and to the sighs of sorrow; and they bore in their faces the effects of their dismay and the marks of their pain, as if the prince were seen dead in each one.... There was no doubt of the truth of that news, for its arrival with the superscription of misfortune gave it the credit of truth. But neither the condition in which we found ourselves, with arms in our hands, nor prudence allowed us to proceed with public demonstrations and funeral ceremonies until we received a letter from his Majesty, and with the letter the order, direction, and prudent management which so serious a matter demanded.