The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898

The Philippine Islands,
1493-1898

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Title: The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 Volume VI, 1583-1588
Author: Emma Helen Blair
Release Date: August 6, 2004 [EBook #13120]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898
explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their
peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in
contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political,
economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from
their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the
nineteenth century
Volume VI, 1583-1588

Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander
Robertson with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward
Gaylord Bourne.

Editorial Announcement
The Editors desire to announce to their readers an important
modification in the scope and contents of this work. As originally
planned and hitherto announced, the series was intended to furnish the
original sources, printed and documentary, for the history of the
Philippine Islands only to the beginning of the nineteenth century. To
most of our readers, the reasons for this are obvious: the fact that the
classic period of Philippine history is thus bounded; the comparative
rarity and inaccessibility of most material therein to the general public;
the vast extent of the field covered by Philippine history, and the
necessary limitations of space imposed upon the selection of material
for this work; the closing of foreign archives to all investigators after an
early date in the nineteenth century; and the greater difficulty, in that
later period, of securing a proper historical perspective. But so many
and urgent requests have come to us, from subscribers and reviewers,
for such extension of this series as shall cover the entire period of
Spanish domination, that we have decided to modify the former plan in
the manner here briefly indicated.
It is our purpose not to exceed the number of volumes already
announced, fifty-five. We are able to do this because in our original
plan, to avoid a subsequent increase in the number of volumes, a
certain amount of space was purposely left for possible future changes
as a result of later investigations to be made in foreign archives, or on
account of the necessary excision of extraneous or irrelevant matter
from the printed works which are to be presented in this series. The
new title will be "The Philippine Islands: 1493-1898." The early and
especially important history of the islands will be covered as fully as
before. For the history of the nineteenth century, we will present
various important decrees, reports, and other official documents; and
provide a clear, careful, and impartial synopsis of some of the best
historical matter extant, down to the close of the Spanish régime.
Throughout the series will be used, as has been done from the
beginning, all the best material available--historical, descriptive, and

statistical--for reference and annotation. With the copious and
carefully-prepared bibliography of Philippine historical literature, and
the full analytical index, which will close the series; the broad and
representative character of the material selected throughout; and the
impartial and non-sectarian attitude maintained, the Editors trust that
this change will still further enable scholars, historical writers, and
general readers alike to study, with reliable and satisfactory material,
the history of the Philippine Islands from their first discovery by
Europeans to the close of the Spanish régime, and incidentally the
history of the entire Orient.

Contents of Volume VI
Preface ... 13
Documents of 1583-85
Foundation of the Audiencia of Manila (concluded). Felipe II; Aranjuez,
May 5, 1583 ... 35
Two decrees regarding the religious. Felipe II; San Lorenzo, June 21,
1583, and Aranjuez, April 24, 1584 ... 45
Annual income of the royal exchequer in the Philippines. Andres
Cauchela, and others; Manila, June 15-30, 1584 ... 47
Letter to Felipe II. Melchor Davalos; Manila, July 3, 1584 ... 54
Letter to the archbishop of Mexico. Santiago de Vera; Manila, June 20,
1585 ... 66
Two letters to Felipe II. Fray Geronimo de Guzman [Madrid? 1585];
and Fray Jhoan de Vascones [1585?] ... 76
History of the great kingdom of China (extracts relating to the
Philippines). Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza; Madrid, 1586 ... 81
Documents of 1586
Memorial to the Council by citizens of the Filipinas Islands. Santiago
de Vera, and others; Manila, [July 26] ... 157
Letter to Felipe II. Alfonso de Chaves, and others; Manila, June