MEDIEVAL SPANISH MANUSCRIPT AT U.VA. LIBRARY
 IS EVIDENCE OF SPAIN'S EARLY PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 24 -- A medieval royal privilege
granted to the Spanish city of Alcal de Henares has been found by
College of William and Mary professor George D. Greenia, director of
the Program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and 1994-95 visiting
professor at the University of Virginia.
	The parchment document, dated Aug. 8, 1295, was a modern
acquisition of U.Va. and in the process of formal cataloging at
Alderman Library when Greenia was contacted to consult on its
identity and origins.  "I was astonished at the find, and we spent
several months convincing ourselves that it was not a forgery, a
late copy or something already studied to death," said Greenia.
	The initial transcription and study of the document were
carried out under Greenia's direction by David Flores and Elizabeth
Amman, two U.Va. graduate students in the Department of Spanish,
Italian & Portuguese.
	The privilege is among the oldest records of the ancient
city of Alcal de Henares and also serves as early evidence of
Spain's emerging parliamentary democracy, Greenia said.
	To secure his rule, King Fernando IV issued royal privileges
of this sort to guarantee his constituents the rights that they had
secured under his ancestors.  According to Greenia, the conferral of
the privilege indicates that the city apparently sent its own
representatives to the royal parliament in 1295.
	Greenia described the document's state as "pristine in
almost every respect."  Sometime in the late 19th or early 20th
century, Greenia speculates, a book dealer painted in a red dragon
that decorates the opening initial.  "He probably did it in hopes of
raising the price of the unread charter," said Greenia.
	The manuscript is one of only a few known survived from the
late 13th century in Spain.  It has been missing from Spain for more
than a century.
	Greenia and U.Va. library officials are not certain how the
charter made it to the United States.  U.Va. acquired it in 1972 as
part of a collection of medieval manuscripts purchased by the
University.
	Greenia, who contacted Alcal de Henares about the find,
traveled to the city last month where he presented the mayor and
other Spanish officials with a photographic reproduction of the
document and a copy of the preliminary study of the charter.
	In return, the mayor asked Greenia to write a book on the
manuscript and its historical context.  It will be published in
honor of the 700th anniversary of the granting of the privilege, now
considered among the most important foundational documents of the
city.
	A home page on the World Wide Web will also soon be
established that will include a scanned version of the document and
information from Greenia's study.
	For more information, contact Greenia at (804) 253-8852.
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October 23, 1995