La legitimación regia de los hijos naturales en Canarias en la primera mitad del siglo XVI / Legitimization by the crown of natural children in the Canaries in the early XVI Century

Resumen

La «ilegitimidad» fre­cuente en tierras de frontera no era considerada un hecho excepcional, al menos en Canarias en la primera mitad del siglo XVI. Analizaremos algunos casos de hijos habidos de padre y madre solteros que fueron legitimados por la Corona y tuvie­ron el mismo reconocimiento social que los concebidos de legítimo matrimonio.

«Illegitimacy», found so often in frontier territories was not considered to be exceptional, at least in the Canary Islands, in the early XVI century. We analyze some cases of children whose father and mother were not married, who were legitimized by the Crown, and received the same degree of social recognition as children conceived within legal wedlock.