Small archive of documents which record the sale of an orchard and a four-room house in the Barrio de la Calera in medieval Burgos, Spain by Gonzalo de Santa Maria and His Wife Ynes, to an apothecary (“boticario”) of the town named Diego de Breviesca, with the purchasers to assume annual donations to the Confradia de la Creazon, the religious order on whose land the property was located.

Dated 1473 (though perhaps a few decades later) and June 9th, 1490. These documents were once part of the Schoyen Collection, one of the largest private manuscript collections in the world, mostly located in Oslo and London.

Burgos is a historic city in northern Spain, renowned as the former capital of the Kingdom of Castile and a key stop on the Camino de Santiago. Founded in 884, it is famous for its stunning French Gothic Cathedral.

Two booklets:

(i) 30 leaves of paper (including 4 blank leaves), each with a single column of 36 lines of 20 lines of calligraphic script with numerous penwork cadels, opening with a single large initial leaving foliate shapes in blank paper within its body and an opening line of text in large calligraphic script, notarial endorsements of Rodericus, “apostolicus et regalis notarius”, watermark of a hand with four raised fingers and a thumb surmounted by a trefoil crown related to Briquet nos. 10,894-10,900 (mostly recorded for the first half of the sixteenth century for the French side of the French-Spanish border), with elaborate penwork notarial devices, the first leaf has a later “No. 63. A.” and archival notes on contents, small spots and stains, otherwise in good condition, 260 by 200mm., contemporary limp vellum binding marked “No. 63. A.” with further later inscriptions describing contents;

(ii) bifolium of vellum, with a single column of 26 lines of a rounded Spanish secretarial hand, containing two sections each opening with enlarged ornamental capitals, one large opening initial, contemporary notarial endorsements, some small stains and cockling to the vellum, otherwise in excellent condition, 230 by 150mm., bound in modern cloth-covered pasteboards, Burgos, Spain, [dated 1473 (but perhaps a couple of decades later) and 9 June 1490].