Appointment by King Ferdinand I of Naples, of Giulio Antonio Acquaviva (d.1481), as Lieutenant General to Ferdinand’s son, Alfonso, in Latin; dated at Castello Aragonese, Aversa, 27 July 1479

large single-sheet document, 450x550mm, vellum, 22 lines in elegant humanistic script, beginning with display capitals and ending with Ferdinand’s signature, the lower 65mm folded up, with a red wax and paper seal, partly torn and crumbled, signed behind the fold by the notary Antonello de Petruciis, with typical creases, light staining, and a small hole affecting the middle of the first and second lines

‘Ferdinandus dei gratia rex Sicilie Hierusalem etc. Illustro viro Julioantonio … Datum in castello civitatis nostre Averse … Honoratum Gaytanum de Aragona … Die vicesimo septimo mensis Julii MccccLxx nono, regnorum nostrorum anno vicesimosecundo [signed:] Rex Ferd.’ Endorsed several times by different hands, including ‘1479. Privilegio di Ferrante dove constituisce Giuliantonio Luogotenente generale dell’essercito d’Alfonso d’Aragona etc.’

Giulio Antonio, founder of the town of Giulianova in the Abruzzo, was from an aristocratic family; his titles included Duke of Atri, Count of San Flaviano, Giulianova, and Conversano, Lord of Forcella, Roseto, Padula, and first Duke of Teramo. The present document was written three months after King Ferdinand (d.1494) granted him the right to add the title ‘of Aragon’ to his surname, and to add the arms of Aragon to his heraldry. By this document he was appointed lieutenant general (‘locumtenentem generalem’) to Ferdinand’s son Alfonso, the future King of Naples. A distinguished soldier, Giulio Atonio died two years later at the Battle of Otranto; his head was sent to Constantinople as a trophy.