The Life of Jaques de Couttre, or in its original title, La Vida de Jaques de Couttre, Manuscript no. 2780 of the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid and dated 1640, is in a parchment quarto of 268 leaves with versos, or about 110,000 words, including an appendix of some pertinent documents after the autobiographical narrative ends on fl. 247. The language of the narrative is Castillian; two of the appended documents are in Portuguese, a third, Jaques' death certificate, in Latin; while another; a judicial verdict exonerating Couttre, is translated from the Portuguese and printed. The author is given asi “Esteban de Couttre, son, Cavalier of the Order of Santiago,” but the first lines of the text modify this authorship by explaining that the son is merely responsible for “placing (the text) in the order in which it is.” Because the whole narrative of his father's life is told in the first person singular, it is reasonable to assume that Esteban has done little more than to arrange his father's autobiographical sketches and effect the division into books and descriptive chapter headings which are features of the manuscript. The title page is elaborately ornamented with an architectural drawing and coat of arms, while its verso contains another, larger, family shield. The writing is that of a professional scribe. This might suggest that publication was contemplated.