Hey Historians.
So, my Dutch grandfather was given an old Dutch picture bible by some friends in New Jersey. It's a bit ragged but beautiful. He was flipping through it recently and found inside a piece of parchment with the resignation of an Antonio Perez, the secretary to Philip II, King of Spain, in mid to late 16th century. The resignation is written in English and looks authentic. I'll post pictures of both the items ASAP.
After reading quickly on wikipedia about Antonio Perez it seems that the resignation is in relation to the murder of Juan de Escobedo, secretary of Don Juan of Austria. The story goes: Perez was friends with Escobedo, convinced King Philip that Escobedo should become secretary to Don Juan of Austria, Escobedo would then act as a spy for Perez so Perez could use royal secrets to his advantage but Escobedo ends up becoming friends with Don Juan so Perez has him killed. From there, Philip II gets pissed, wants Perez to pay (because Perez was basically manipulating the King for some time) and Perez somehow manages to escape multiple imprisonments and death and lives the rest of his life in France and England.
What's interesting is how the resignation letter got in the bible, what it means, whose bible it was, and how it got to New Jersey and then in the hands of my Dutch Grandfather who lives in Florida.
My guess is that the bible belonged to Philip II as he was quite religious and, for a time, was also King of Netherlands (and England and Ireland).
Nevertheless, I'm not sure if Perez ever officially resigned as secretary. Perhaps the letter was a plan to resign before everything got messy? Anyway, this Perez guy seemed to be a badass with a silver tongue who could manipulate lots of people, from royalty to the public (which is how he managed to often escape imprisonment).
I'm interested to know if you all could provide any more information on this topic, concerning the history as well as the items themselves as my grandfather seems to think they're worth something.
Thanks!
That seems pretty weird. I doubt the bible belonged to Philip himself, as he was staunchly Catholic, while the Netherlands - and presumably your bible as well - was protestant at that time. There aren't a lot of differences between the two types of bibles, but it would be weird for Philip to have a Dutch bible considering they were in open revolt during the late 16th and early 17th century. And if this is really was made in the 17th century, then it couldn't have belonged to Philip - because he was dead by then.
It would also make little sense for Perez to write his resignation letter - if he resigned at all - in English. Spanish, Latin or French, yes, but not English.
What would make some sense was that it - and I'm just guessing at this point - was a piece of English propaganda against the Spanish crown. Spanish-English relations during Philip's reign were tempestuous, to say the least. Depending on what's in the letter, it could've been used to put Philip in a bad light. It seems like Perez continued to agitate against Philip after his exile, so that's certainly a possibility. Seems like this would be the best explanation, but we'll be able to tell you more once we actually see the letter.
My guess is that the bible belonged to Philip II as he was quite religious and, for a time, was also King of Netherlands (and England and Ireland).
Small correction. The Netherlands did not have a king until Napoleon created the (short lived) kingdom of Holland and made his brother king of it. Phillip had a whole collection of titles (count of Holland, count of Flanders, duke of Brabant, and so on and so forth) Collectively this gave him control over the area that is now the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.