Add MS 8708

HISTORIA DE GABRIEL DE ESPINOSA, PASTELERO DE MADRIGAL; late 17th cent. Spanish. Copy. The text is an anonymous account of the impersonation of the deceased King of Portugal, Don Sebastian I, by Gabriel de Espinosa, a pastry-maker of the Spanish town of Madrigal de las Altas Torres. Title (f.1) 'Historia del Pastelero del Madrigal Gabriel de Espinosa, fingido Rey Don Sebastian de Portugal'. In the present MS. the text which is divided into 18 chapters, begins with the arrest of Gabriel de Espinosa at the end of Sept. 1594 and ends with his execution on 1 Aug. 1595. Inc. (f. 2) 'A los ultimos de Septiembre del año de 1594 llego a Valladolid un hombre llamado Gabriel de Espinosa'; expl. (f. 92) 'Este es el fin de un hombre de tan grandes prendas, y partes'. Table of contents (ff. 93-94). According to Gayangos, I, p. 588, the present text is a copy of Historia de Gabriel de Espinosa, Pastelero en Madrigal que fingio ser el Rey D. Sebastian de Portugal, y assimismo la de Fray Miguel de los Santos, en el año de 1595 (Jerez, 1683). This seems unlikely, however, as several discrepancies exist between the present text and the published account. The Jerez edition contains 17 chapters and at its conclusion there is an extra paragraph not included in the MS. The MS. is more accurate than the Jerez edition which, for example, gives the year of Espinosa's arrest as 1595 (p. 3) and the date of Doña Ana de Austria's sentence as 24 July (p. 49). The MS. gives the correct dates of 1594 (f. 2) and 21 July (f. 71v). It is more likely, therefore, that the present text is a copy of a late 16th - early 17th-cent. MS. held in the Library of the Escorial (Z-IV-2), entitled 'Historia de el fingido Rey de Portugal' and attributed to Padre Fernando de la Cerda by Padre Julián Zarco Cuevas, Catálogo de los Manuscritos Castellanos de la Real Biblioteca de el Escorial (Madrid, 1924-29), III, p. 150. Another version of the present text is in Egerton 357. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '254' in pencil at top of f. 1. Purchased, together with Add. 8685, 8687, 8689, 8691, 8700, 8703, 8705, from R. H. Evans, 9 Dec. 1830, lot 254 (part).

Paper; ff. 94 + iv. 293 x 211mm. Modern foliation in pencil. Guilford binding of quarter vellum with decorated paper covers over pasteboards.