Collection of Documents Relating to Manuel de Godoy, Pepita Tudó, Diego Clemencín and the House of Osuna (1791-1870)

mostly Spain: 1791. No Binding. A collection of handwritten and printed documents and miscellaneous papers, totalling 54 items, many mult-paged, in Spanish, French and German, partly from the library of Diego Clemencín, broadly dated between 1791 and ca. 1870, in various hands. This collection brings together a significant set of documents of diverse nature, which can be divided into four distinct sections. Its chronological scope spans from Manuel de Godoy's early rise to power at the court of Carlos IV to succession proceedings in the second half of the 19th century concerning his family estate. Both the heterogeneity of the corpus and the thematic coherence of its core sections make this collection a primary source for understanding Hispanic courtly, political, and administrative culture between the late 18th century and the decades following the exile of the former royal "valido", the technical name of the royal favorite. Section I: The first group of documents brings together official papers, credentials, communications, and military and administrative appointments directly or indirectly linked to Manuel de Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, from his early promotions in 1791 to those of 1807, just before his political fall. This collection allows us to understand the organization of the Spanish armed forces during this period, reformed since the arrival of the Bourbons and structured into two main branches: the army and the navy. The army, in turn, was organized into three main corps: the Royal Household Troops, the Permanent Service Troops, and the Militia. The first two corps are the most represented in the documents gathered here. Against this institutional backdrop, the documents allow us to follow, almost year by year, the rapid rise of the future "Prince of Peace" (Godoy's honorary title and courtly nickname) within the military, administrative, and courtly structure, revealing both the progressive concentration of power around him and the strategic placement of many of his close associates and relatives in key positions. Manuel de Godoy, indeed, enjoyed a meteoric rise: with the favor of Queen Maria Luisa of Parma, he ascended in just a few years from cadet to State Councilor, before reaching the age of twenty-five. After the signing of the peace treaty with France that ended the War of the Pyrenees (1793-1795), he received the title of "Prince of Peace," an exceptional distinction linked to the end of a long conflict and which marked the beginning of a highly valued Franco-Spanish alliance, of which he himself had been the principal architect, gaining thus enormous political capital, which he used as soon as he could. Taken as a whole, this documentary block provides a precise view of the internal dynamics of a court in transformation: heir to enlightened reformism, but already beset by tensions between absolutism, noble resistance and the pressures derived from the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, the governmental task of the king and his entourage oscillated between random foreign affairs and internal revolts and pressures, which marked with their rhythm, the day-to-day life of the royal scriptorium. Section II: The second group of documents consists entirely of records relating to the so- called El Escorial Trial and Godoy's abrupt fall from grace between October 1807 and April 1808. By then, Godoy had ruled Spanish politics with authority for almost two decades, and his figure had become increasingly unpopular. The heir, the future King Fernando VII, began to lead an opposition party and ended up implicated in a plot against Godoy and the queen, with the aim of removing him from power. Once the conspiracy was discovered, the young Fernando was arrested: the judicial proceedings became known as the El Escorial Trial, etc. SERIOUS INQUIRIES PLEASE EMAIL FOR COMPLETE DESCRIPTION. Very Good. Item #013825

Price: $25,000.00