Sixteenth Century | Two legal documents, Italian and English, 1556-77

Sixteenth Century

Two legal documents:

i) Philip II. Judicial sentence, as King of Spain and England and Duke of Milan, in Latin, signed on his behalf by Francesco Pietranigra, about the murders of two Tonso brothers, for which Girolamo Tonso ("Hier[ola]mo Tonso") and six associates have been arraigned, condemning Girolamo to three years as a galley-slave and banishment from Milan forever, Antonino Tonso ("Toninum Tonsum") to be tortured to find out if he had ordered the murders, and the others to be banished with their possessions sequestrated ("[translation:]...Our decision is that you interrogate Tonino Tonso and diligently put him to the torture, whether he ordered the said murders to be committed...")

1 page, oblong 4to, address-panel to verso, papered seal, Milan, 26 September 1556

ii) Presentment to a court held before Thomas Raverlay at Chester le Street for offences in the Royal Woods of Congburn and Stanleyburn, Co. Durham, England, 1 page, folio, 19 April 1577