TWO ROYAL DECREES
BESTOWING TITLES ON MANILA AND LUZON
Don Phelipe, by the grace of God, etc.
Inasmuch as we have been informed by the council and by the judicial and executive departments of the city of Manila, in the island of Luzon of the West, that the citizens and inhabitants of the said city have served us with much faithfulness and loyalty, and have endured great hardships; and that, after the said island was discovered and pacified, and the said city founded therein, the governor, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (now defunct), in our name, gave to the latter the title and designation Ynsigne e siempre leal Cibdad, ["Distinguished and ever loyal City"], and to the said island of Luzon that of Nuevo Reyno de Castilla ["New Kingdom of Castilla"]; and inasmuch as supplication has been made to us, for the greater welfare of the said city and the perpetual remembrance of the services of its citizens, that we order the confirmation of the said title Insigne e siempre leal Cibdad de Manila, and to the said island of Luzon that of Nuevo Reyno de Castilla, and that it might be our will that they be so designated and named, or however else might be our pleasure: now therefore, we, after careful consideration of the above, and of the good and loyal
