1787. Carta de Jaime Bosch, pseudónimo de Jaime Bosque, confitero y fusilero retirado, para Mateo Rosalén, administrador de la renta de tabaco.

Letter from Jaime Bosch, pseudonym of Jaime Bosque, a confectioner and a retired fusilier, to Mateo Rosalén, a tobacco income administrator.

The author asks Mateo Rosalén to provide a proof of name for him.

Following an accusation of playing forbidden games with cards and being a card sharp, a litigation against Jaime Bosch, a resident of Colmenar Viejo (Madrid), occurred in 1787. Jaime Bosch was arrested in October the 18th 1787 in Valladolid. During the questioning the defendant stated he left Colmenar Viejo in January the 6th that same year, passing through El Prado, Aranjuez, San Ildefonso and finally arriving to Our Lady of El Henar, where he decided to go in September in order to keep a promise. He made a living by baking bagels and doughnuts everywhere he passed through. Several playing cards were seized from the defendant, "some of them were seamed in fluted shape and the others were rolled up inside cylinders to make them appear". Jaime Bosch declared he had found the cards in a pilgrimage to El Henar, but he had never gambled. Eventually, being asked for his Passport, the defendant handed the only identification he had: a licence issued by the count of Ricla certifying he had served the king in the regiment of fusiliers.

The letter transcribed in here was written by Jaime Bosch from the prison of Valladolid to ask if someone could prove his identity in order to be released. At the end of the letter there are two proofs of name for Jaime Bosch: one from Mateo Rosalén (addressee of the letter) and the other, unsigned and incomplete, written by the assistant priest at the Parish of Colmenar Viejo. Both the letters are transcribed hereafter:

«As the administrator of the tobacco income in this village, I hereby certify that Jaime Bosch, having been a corporal from the Forest Warden of the Royal Regiment, is registered in this village and receives his invalidity pension of fifty reals per month, granted by His Majesty the King (God blesses him). There is no doubt that this is his signature in the letter. I verify it by singing it. Colmenar Viejo, November the 7th 1787. Mateo Rosalén (fol. [13]v-[14]r)».

«As an assistant priest at the church of Colmenar Viejo, I hereby certify that Jaime Bosch, a resident in this village, is lawfully married to María Valera Madridano, a native to this village. He is retired and receives a pension from His Majesty, let God [...] (fol. [14]r)».