"YO EL REY… YO LA REYNA": MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENT SIGNED BY KING FERDINAND AND QUEEN ISABELLA OF SPAIN IN 1492, DATED ONE MONTH BEFORE COLUMBUS SIGHTED AND LANDED IN THE NEW WORLD
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA . Manuscript document signed. Zaragoza, September 15, 1492. Single sheet, measuring 8-14 by 7-3/4 inches, writing on recto and verso. Handsomely matted and framed with portrait, entire piece measures 13-1/2 by 20 inches. $25,000.
Official manuscript document from 1492 signed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain just one month before Columbus sighted and landed in the New World, framed with an image based on John Vanderlyn's "The Landing of Columbus," now in the Rotunda of the Capitol building in Washington.
1492 was a momentous year in the joint reign of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. On January 2, the Emirate of Granada surrendered, making all of Iberia under Christian control for the first time in over 700 years. At the end of March, the Alhambra Decree expelled all of the Jews from Spanish territory who refused to convert to Christianity. By April Ferdinand and Isabella had formally agreed to support Christopher Columbus' expedition, which left in early August. Columbus first sighted land on October 12, landing that same day on an island he named San Salvador—one of the Bahamas, to this day unidentified.
This document commands Don Juan de Ribeiro to the town of San Sebastian to carry out royal orders. Written in a clear Spanish court hand, the document reads (in translation): "Don Juan de Ribera there we have given orders concerning matters relating to San Sebastian and especially as regards the provost and goal of the said town. As you will see by our letters in which we command you, for our service, to repair to the said town, and carry into execution the orders we give you in this matter, and to work for the establishment of the said town and its residents in peace and concord, as benefits our service, Zaragoza, XV day of September of ninety and two years [signed] I the King [signed] I the Queen."
A fine Ferdinand and Isabella document, signed within a month of Columbus arriving and claiming the New World for Spain.