Nobleza Española - Manuscrito - 1654

SPANISH NOBILITY - 1654

Document on behalf of María de Hoces y Córdoba, Countess of Hornachuelos and widow of Lope de Hoces y Córdoba, 1st Count of Hornachuelos, requesting a warrant granting her the right to vote in the elections of generals concerning the Royal Chancery of Granada. Issued in Córdoba in 1654.

4 pp.; Fol.

Stamped paper (1654), sewn binding. Notarial and noble signatures.

Don Lope de Hoces y Córdoba was a celebrated 17th-century Spanish admiral who distinguished himself as Captain General of the Ocean Fleet during the Thirty Years’ War. A member of Córdoba’s nobility and a knight of the Order of Santiago, he devoted much of his career to protecting the Spanish treasure fleets from Dutch corsairs and leading relief expeditions in the Atlantic, such as the 1635 campaign in Brazil.

His military career was marked by two major battles against the Crown’s rival powers. In 1638, he suffered the disaster of Getaria, where the French fleet destroyed his squadron with fireships, forcing him to swim to safety. The following year, on October 21, 1639, he met a heroic death at the Battle of the Downs. While he was commanding the galleon Santa Teresa, the ship was surrounded and consumed by fire; Hoces refused to surrender and died on the quarterdeck. In recognition of his years of service and sacrifice, King Philip IV granted his family the title of Count of Hornachuelos in 1640.