THE VALUE OF ROYAL DOCUMENTS IN THE JUDICIAL TRIALS OF THE ROYAL CHANCELLERY OF VALLADOLID

The purpose of the work is to show how, due to the absence in Castile of a royal archive until 1540, and thanks to the care taken by cathedrals and monasteries of their institutional archives, they were able to defend their rights and their estates before the Royal Chancellery of Valladolid in case of a dispute by presenting as evidence the actual documents that they preserved in their archives. Copies of the documents presented in the trials of the high tribunal of Valladolid were taken from and kept in its archives. Hence, part of the evidence of royal grants that the Castilian monarchs conferred on monasteries and cathedrals that were not kept in a royal archive were preserved in those of the Chancellery. This is the case of the monastery of Santa Maria la Real de las Huelgas of Valladolid, whose documents have been an essential source for this study.