|
1572.
Vat. Arch.
Misc. Arm. ii.
vol. 100.
(Polit. 99.)
f. 202. |
92. Memorandum as to Papal Policy in Regard to England: probably by Sir Thomas Stucley.
“1. His Holiness should make it his first care to see that something be done for the weal of souls.
“2. He should enjoin any King whom he may see to be bent upon a policy, but apprehensive of hindrance on the part of another King, to carry it out sub obedientia: e.g., he should enjoin the Catholic King to lend aid to the Irish, and the Most Christian King to lend aid to the Scots.
“3. It should be just for the sake of the Catholic faith and for no other reason that he should suffer the invasion of England. For the result will be that a vast number will join the invader, and very few will oppose him.
“4. If any King should, in obedience to the Apostolic See, forthwith make war for the restoration of the Catholic religion, he should be promised indemnification for the costs of the war out of the property of the heretics of England and the Church.
“5. His Holiness should not desert the cause of the Queen of Scots, who after suffering much and sorely for so many years for the Catholic faith ought not now to be deprived of her realm.
“6. His Holiness should be apprised of the great detriment done to the cause of the Catholic religion by the neglect of so many opportunities; and that he would do well not to allow this opportunity to be neglected which is afforded by the slaughter of the Huguenots in France, whereby the spirits of the Catholics in England have been marvellously raised.
“7. As to the pretended [Queen] of England's overtures for a league with the Catholic King, she has no other purpose therein but to gain a little time in discussing the matter, until she may be able to adopt some policy more to her advantage.
“8. If there shall be occasion to employ any Englishman, there is none that either for courage or mind or wealth and power is comparable to that most brave nobleman Baron Leonard Dacre, especially if aught is to be attempted by way of Scotland.”
[October, 1572. Louvain.] Latin. Copy.
|
Vat. Arch.
Nunt. di
Francia,
vol. v. f. 186. |
93. [Antonio Maria] Salviati, [late] Bishop [of S. Papoul], Nuncio in France to [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como.
… “The news is still that the Queen of England is arming, vexed as she is at the death of the Huguenots of France, more suspicious than ever, and apprehensive of insurrection on the part of her subjects. She also desires troubles in Flanders, in order that the Spaniards, engrossed with the defence of their own possessions, may have no leisure to think of devising a way of avenging themselves for the unneighbourly treatment which they have experienced at her hands during the revolutions of Flanders; and so it is deemed certain that she must desire that the French should maintain their position.”
1 Oct., 1572. Paris. Italian.
|
Ibid.
f. 190. |
94. [Flavio] Cardinal Orsino, Legate to France to [the Same].
“There has just arrived here the courier sent by the nuncio of Spain, who writes me that his Majesty consents that there be a negotiation for the marriage of one of his daughters with M. d'Anjou, and that, provided honourable arrangements and terms be proposed, and he sees it to be a course that tends to the service of God and the public weal, his Majesty will gladly give ear thereto. He also writes that as to certain conditions affecting the conclusion of this business which his Holiness communicated to him, he had seen good reasons for not as yet mentioning them to the King, to which effect I suppose he is writing more at large to you, whom I have seen fit to apprise hereof, in order that if it shall be the Pope's pleasure that I go forward, and treat of this business, you may, if it seem good to you, give me a more explicit commission.”
4 Oct., 1572. Avignon. Italian.
|
Vat. Arch.
Nunt. di
Spagna,
vol. xvi. f. 123. |
95. [Nicholas Ormanetto,] Bishop of Padua, Nuncio in Spain to [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como.
“The news from Flanders being still good, as of the surrender of Mons to the Duke of Alva, and it being also understood that affairs go well in France, I purposed to turn from them to speak of the question of England and the match; but it is a grave matter to have heard nothing whatever of the arrival of the Legate [Orsino] in France, whence I infer that the advice which I had that the Most Christian King will have no legate is true.
“As there is now in Flanders an army so perfect in form and substance, no time should be lost in invading England.”
10 Oct., 1572. [Madrid.] Decipher. Italian.
|
Vat. Arch.
Nunt. di
Francia,
vol. v. f. 201. |
96. [Antonio Maria Salviati, late Bishop of S. Papoul,] Nuncio in France to [the Same].
… “On all hands it is understood that as Don Frederic, son of the Duke of Alva, advanced upon Mons, the place was abandoned by the garrison, and peasants were sent to crave an accord; but Don Frederic, not being disposed to decide the matter without his father's concurrence, sent to him to learn his mind; and in the meantime night coming on, his soldiers resolved to enter the place without more ado, being actuated by the desire of getting booty, as it befell they did, without difficulty and to their great profit.
“The Prince of Orange, they write, has retreated to Gelderland because the country is swampy and defensible by few against many, and thus very meet for him whose forces are not equal to those of the Duke of Alva: howbeit, there lack not those who say that he dallies in those parts to learn the mind of the Catholic King as to the accord which, they say, he has negotiated with the Duke of Alva; who, many say, has also in negotiation an accord with the Queen of England, it being at any rate known for certain that he has sent men thither. These considerations have led the Queen of Scotland's ambassador to ask me to write to the nuncio of Spain that he be on his guard, and concentrate himself in the negotiation upon promoting the interests of the Queen of Scotland, and endeavouring to include her liberation in the capitulation; nor have I failed to say somewhat on the subject for the ambassador's satisfaction, notwithstanding that I seem to see infinite difficulties on all sides. The ambassador, on the other hand, is instant that the King send hence one of his gentlemen post-haste to the Queen of England, to do some office for his mistress, now that in England the Estates are assembling to treat of matters concerning the government of all the realm; and therein he also craves my aid, to wit, that I should speak thereof to the Queen, as I have done and gotten for answer loving words, and such as confirm me in my opinion, long since formed, of the affection that she bears to that so sore afflicted princess rather than such as to afford me hope of any treating on this side with the Queen of England, either of this or of any other much less important business of a kind that might be distasteful to her, so long as there are pending between them any matters of a kind to affect the good or bad understanding that is to be between them.”
11 Oct., 1572. Paris. Italian.
|
Vat. Arch.
Nunt. di
Francia,
vol. v. ff. 205–8. |
97. [Antonio Maria] Salviati, [late] Bishop of S. Papoul, Nuncio in France to [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como.
“Some days ago I gave you a hint of what was bruited at Court as about to be negotiated with his Majesty by Cardinal Orsino, who comes hither as legate: you shall now have from me a report of what has been communicated to me by the Queen Mother, and is verified by the advices received from her ministers and others that have written to her: to wit, that the legate comes to treat as well of the League as of the marriage of Monsieur with one of the daughters of the King of Spain, which would be very agreeable to her Majesty if one of his Catholic Majesty's States were to be had as the girl's dowry; whereby the Queen might provide for Monsieur, whom she loves more, perchance, than ever the most affectionate of mothers yet loved son; and mighty anxious is she to find him an establishment without trenching on the jurisdiction and dominion of the King of France, whose empire and grandeur she would rather desire, so far as possible, to extend and augment, and on no account to limit or abridge. And so she desires the marriage, provided his Catholic Majesty give one of the States that he now possesses, which would delight her for the girl's sake also, seeing that she is her granddaughter, and as such the more honourably she be endowed and married, the more likely is she on all occasions to be complaisant to her; and she persuades herself that thus to endow his daughters would be quite (and merely) in accordance with justice on his Majesty's part, for it seems to her altogether reasonable that so great a King as the King of Spain, who has motherless daughters to marry, born to him of the sister of the King of France, should be so bounden to give them to great princes, and with States for dowries that, should he make default, the King of France, as bound to undertake the defence of his niece's cause, might justly make war upon him. And, moreover, her Majesty urges considerations of expediency and religion that should weigh with his Catholic Majesty as tending to preserve the peace, which would be the result with the Most Christian King, and occasion loss to potentates not well-affected to his Majesty, as the Germans, English and Turks, which loss might safely be reckoned upon so long as these two great kings were united in policy and arms. And so, starting with the maintenance of the peace, her Majesty has recourse to this alliance as the strongest bond for yet more closely uniting the two Kings, as more closely united they ought to be, seeing that, notwithstanding their past alliances, it is daily matter of doubt whether they may not come to blows, far indeed though they are from desiring it. And this would be more to the advantage of the King of Spain than to him of France, because Monsieur, in whose control are all the forces of the King of France, would, considering the wife and State that the King of Spain had given him, become his son and his bounden dependant, and both he and the King, having no right either strict or presumptive to the dowries belonging to the girls, would be under a strong obligation to pit the forces of the realm and their own persons—or at least Monsieur would—against the potentates that are most grievous to his Catholic Majesty, and especially against those that are estranged from the Christian religion and the Catholic faith. Consequently, now is the time not merely to desire but to solicit his Catholic Majesty's alliance, especially as he makes so great a profession of pure and holy religion, and of postponing thereto all other interests of State, giving out that he makes war against the Turk in order to save souls and so to reduce the Turk's forces that he may never again have Christians captive in his hands, and constrain them to renounce the faith, and that every victory that he may gain over him may afford him means and opportunity to liberate those that he keeps in durance and reclaim them for our blessed Lord God. And as the King of France also loathes the Protestants and the English because they are estranged from the true religion, this alliance would cause him to rupture the understanding that he has with them as well as with the Turk, which understanding he maintains for no other reason than that he has his suspicions of the Spaniards, for which they daily give him cause; and pondering how he may defend himself against them he thinks to effect his purpose by an understanding with those that are alien to them, and have plenty of men and forces, of which the aforenamed have abundance.
“But to afford their Majesties here assurance of his promises the King of Spain must send the girl to the Queen Mother, who would take no less care of her than if she were her own daughter, and he must put the dowry State forthwith in Monsieur's possession; nor would his Catholic Majesty, on the other hand, in demanding from the Most Christian King such securities as he should deem meet and necessary, find that he would ever swerve from what was honourable. But as the protracted negotiation of this affair would of itself, during the suspense, cause the King of France no little harm by the suspicion that it would beget in the Germans and English of his Most Christian Majesty's estrangement from the confederation already made; and they might turn their thoughts elsewhere, and perchance take another way of safeguarding themselves against the King of Spain, and undertake some enterprise against the dominions of the King of France in concert with the Spaniards, though not without a certain secret reserve, as with some at least apparent reason it might even of one who professed less zeal for religion than the Catholic King be doubted whether it were quite credible that he could have so far forgotten the rules by which those who have had the governance of States have ordered their conduct and of which his Majesty is thoroughly master; therefore on this side it is resolved not to put up with a prolonged negotiation, especially as the girl is ready, and the State, which should be her dowry, in being, and both are at the disposal, whenever he choose, of his Catholic Majesty, who has so many States besides Spain, to wit, Flanders, Naples, Sicily and Milan, not to speak of Sardinia, which, considering the great importance of the arrangement, is deemed inadequate. Nor yet, it seems, should any account whatever be taken of the talk of such as think that the dowry State should be acquired de novo; for in the first place the King of France would have to give up the friendship of the English and Germans, and forgo also that of the Turk, which is in some measure advantageous to Christendom by reason of the many souls that by his mediation daily obtain grace, as is known to all men; and he would be bound to repose entire trust in the Catholic King, which would seem to him to be courting excessive peril and affording the Spaniards opportunity of no little gain, to his great loss. For the King of France has no thought of employing Spaniards to acquire new States for him, or of needing a closer alliance with them if he were minded to undertake such enterprises; nay, so high an opinion has he of his own forces that even though the Spaniards were to make common cause with his enemy, he would nevertheless be confident of accomplishing his purpose; and just as little account makes he of the other method that might be proposed, to wit, of separate operations, and the advantages that might result to him if he and the Catholic King should in concert make attempts in different quarters, and thence converging lend aid the one to the other; and so, in fine, it results that all the business depends on Spain, i.e. on the decision which it is to be wished his Catholic Majesty would make to give one of his better States in dowry to the daughter that should wed Monsieur. As to which, having no commission, I have used my ears more than my tongue, resorting only to common topics, as that, before deciding, it is necessary to hear what is proposed, and that on the part of the Pope I know for certain that a good and holy and loving disposition governs all the negotiation, as there is nothing that he has more at heart than by all possible means to strive after that which may redound to the honour of His Divine Majesty, and the grandeur and reputation of Christian princes; and also that it seems to me reasonably possible now to hope from the King of Spain, by reason alike of his goodness as of the interests by which he will be actuated, that which formerly, while his and the world's affairs were in a very different position, we might have doubted would have been otherwise regarded. And to leave nothing unsaid, I will not omit to add that the said alliance is now being negotiated, as well by the Catholic ambassador resident here as by the Most Christian ambassador resident in Spain, with little hope on either part that the King of Spain would dispossess himself of one of his States for such a purpose, but on the other hand with great confidence in the good disposition of his Catholic Majesty, if here they would be content to await the new acquisitions that one might reckon easy if all those forces were united.”
11 Oct., 1572. Paris. Italian.
|
Vat. Arch.
Nunt. di
Spagna,
vol. xv. ff. 88–90. |
98. [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como to [Nicholas Ormanetto,] Bishop of Padua, Nuncio in Spain.
… “The Pope has further considered his [Catholic] Majesty's answer as to the business of the marriage; and perceiving that his Majesty is prepared to attend to the negotiation if the proposals are just and honourable, and he sees that the public weal is kept in view, his Holiness has considered all the possible means of rendering this matter feasible, necessary as it is not only for the establishment of peace and friendship between France and Spain but also for effecting the union desired and sought of the Most Christian King and the other Christian princes against the infidels; to which his Holiness sees no prospect of his Most Christian Majesty ever acceding (considering the understanding which for his own advantage he maintains with the Turk) except under the influence of some more potent particular interest. And among the many that may be thought of his Holiness deems this of the alliance between his Catholic Majesty's daughter and M. d'Anjou the most likely to have weight with his Most Christian Majesty, and also the most practicable. And seeing that the chief let and hindrance thereto is the question of providing M. d'Anjou with a State, since it would be impossible to wrest from the hand of the Catholic King a State of importance, and the young man would not be content with a small one, his Holiness, having before now thought that it might be possible to find a remedy by addressing the mind to the conquest of the realm of England, has bidden me to what I have already written to you on this matter to add the following:—1. That this design, though at first sight it seems difficult, is nevertheless extremely easy of execution, if, putting aside the rivalry and regard to their private interests, which has hitherto prevented either of the two Kings from acquiring the said kingdom for himself, the two Kings were to join their forces to acquire it for this couple, related alike to each of them. In which case their joint forces would be adequate to ensure the success of the enterprise without the least difficulty, especially as the weakness of the kingdom is notorious.
2. Moreover the reasons that should induce both their Majesties readily to undertake the said enterprise are many and most cogent as well on the one part as on the other. And to instance some of them: the Most Christian King, besides the good turn that he would do to his brother, would also make himself master of that realm, which has ever been and still is troublesome to his Crown; while, as for the Catholic King, the mere fact that by this means he would bring the Most Christian King into the League ought to suffice to cause him to desire and promote the accomplishment of this design. For, to say nothing of the public weal, for which his Majesty shows himself so zealous, his private interest in the establishment, as I have said, of peace with France, of which he has just cause to doubt by reason of the slight congruency that has ever been betwixt these two crowns, should incite him thereto. And should they come to a rupture, Flanders would be exposed to most manifest peril; for if during her troubles France gave Flanders cause for most notable suspicion, much more will she do so now that she is on the way to a pacification and the recovery of her pristine strength. Whereof the result would be yet another very great misfortune, to wit, the total dissolution of the League; for as it is manifest that, upon the said rupture between the two crowns the Most Christian King would avail himself, as on other occasions he has done, of the forces of the Turk, his Catholic Majesty, being compelled to defend his States on several sides, would by consequence withdraw from every other enterprise, and the more so that it is presumable that the Turk, by reason of the peculiar enmity that has ever been betwixt him and Spain, now aggravated by the loss inflicted on him last year, would take the offensive in all the more strength against his Catholic Majesty, whereby the Venetians also would be compelled to come to some accord with the said Turk, and that perchance by the mediation of France.
3. This arrangement therefore seems to his Holiness the best and most honourable that either of their Majesties could desire, for, besides that they would thereby subserve their particular interests, they would also wrest that kingdom from the hands of that Queen who is unmeet to hold it, having been deprived thereof by Pius V, of holy memory. But if perchance for some reason this arrangement should not commend itself to his Majesty, his Holiness has thought of another, to wit, that his Majesty should give to his daughter in dowry the County of Burgundy [Franche Comté], as he might do with little disadvantage to himself, that State being detached from the rest of his States and of little importance. And as it would also be but a small provision for M. d'Anjou, it would embolden his Holiness to prompt the Duke of Savoy to cede to him his State of La Bresse, which adjoins the said county, and to solicit, on the other hand, the concession by the Most Christian King, by way of compensation, to the said Duke of the Marquisate of Saluzzo. By which exchange his Catholic Majesty would reap another advantage of much moment, to wit, that the French would be totally ousted from Italy.
“These are the means that at present occur to his Holiness for carrying the said match into effect. And he would have you submit them to his Majesty's consideration with the urgency that the importance of the matter demands, endeavouring by all means that you shall deem needful to further either the one or the other negotiation, and, if possible, to bring it to a successful issue as soon as may be.”
11 Oct., 1572. Rome. Italian. Draft.
|
Vat. Lib.
Ottob. Lat.
3184. f. 175d.
|
99. Onofrio Vigili to [Flavio,] Cardinal Orsino, Legate to France.
“I have had and shall still have my eyes in the quarter whereof you warn me by the postscript under your hand in cipher; nor have I been nor am I altogether without suspicion, albeit the course taken by their Majesties has been consistent and reassures me in great measure.
“Still I shall not fail, as I have said, to be on my guard. One thing causes me anxiety, to wit, that I can discover no reason for this delay, unless they were minded to await an answer from the Pope, because from Germany, whither it was said that they had sent to make excuses and do offices, their envoy has already returned.
“Nor have I been able to discover that anyone has been sent to England to do any manner of office; perchance it was nothing but a desire to mystify. We have yet to see the result; nor shall I fail meanwhile to do my endeavour in all respects to the best of my knowledge and power.”
12 Oct., 1572. Paris. Italian. Decipher. Copy.
|
Vat. Arch.
Nunt. di
Spagna,
vol. xv. ff. 91–3. |
100. [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como to [Nicholas Ormanetto,] Bishop of Padua, Nuncio in Spain.
Written by way of postscript to the letter of 11 Oct., 1572, upon receipt of Ormanetto's letters of 18 and 23 Sept., and in rejoinder to the Catholic King's objections to the proposed match; touching which the Cardinal submits that all the difficulties raised by the Nuncio in this business have been foreseen by the Pope.
—“Nay, it has not been overlooked that it would be much easier to negotiate and effect a match between a son of the Emperor, or an Englishman born and bred, and the Queen of Scotland; and that either arrangement would be expedient for Christendom as a step towards the recovery of the realm of England. But since in regard of the design of drawing the King of France into the League, which, as the affairs of the world now stand, is of the utmost importance, the said arrangements would be of no use whatever; for, unless some proposal be made to his Most Christian Majesty in the interest and to the advantage of his brother M. d'Anjou, it is useless to think of inducing him to join this League, as by my former letter I told you; therefore it is necessary to have this and this alone in view, and to direct all our actions and thoughts to its attainment. And though difficulties and obstacles are apparent, there must be no failure on our part to do our best to surmount them; for all great and good things are apt to be difficult.
“As for his Holiness there will be no failure on his part to do whatever is possible; and the legate [Orsino], as soon as he has his Most Christian Majesty's permission to go to Court, will cause his Majesty to be plied on all sides, to win him, if possible, and draw him into this holy union. But, seeing that, as I have often repeated, the enterprise is difficult, nay, rather, impracticable, without the proposal to his [Most Christian] Majesty of some arrangement in which he may discern his advantage and interest, it is needful that his Catholic Majesty also understand this difficulty, and so suffer himself to be brought to consent to some arrangement, which would be to him the lesser evil. And if for jealousy in regard of his States the arrangement proposed as to the realm of England would be displeasing to him, he should at least consent to the other, to wit, that which concerns the County of Burgundy, of which I wrote you in my former letter. On this you must lay great stress, submitting to his Majesty's consideration that it might prove to be much more to his profit to oust the French entirely from Italy, a result which he might thus compass, than to his loss to give up the County of Burgundy, not to mention that the common weal and advantage of Christendom, as well as his Majesty's particular interest demand that he should make some sacrifice to carry this negotiation into effect.”
13 Oct., 1572. Rome. Italian. Draft.
|
Vat. Lib.
Ottob. Lat.
3206. f. 238. |
101. John Baptista Castagna, Archbishop of Rossano to [Nicholas Ormanetto,] Bishop of Padua, Nuncio in Spain.
Announcing his arrival at Avignon where he has found Cardinal Orsino, legate to France, who tarries there some days in deference to the wishes of the Most Christian King, whose reasons for thus retarding the legate's progress he understands to be in substance as follows:—
“Whereas his Most Christian Majesty professes to desire that it may be understood that the execution done upon the Admiral and the rest was unpremeditated, and done under stress of circumstances in self-defence, and not with intent to infringe the compact of peace: it would seem probable that, if shortly thereafter a Papal legate should present himself, the Protestants of Germany and England and their likes might perchance take occasion to say that the affair had been plotted long before and arranged and decided upon with the counsel and at the instigation of the Pope; and therefore to preclude such suspicion the Most Christian King has deemed it well that the legate tarry here some days, as he will. And though I suppose that you will have fuller and more detailed advice of all this from Rome, nevertheless I would not omit to write thus briefly thereof upon occasion of doing you my reverence.
“To-morrow, please God, I shall continue my journey towards Mont Genèvre and so to Turin.”
18 Oct., 1572. Avignon. Italian.
|
Vat. Arch.
Arm. lxv.
vol. 28. f. 79. |
102. Intelligence from Flanders.
“The pretended Queen of England, marking the immense execution done upon the French Huguenots, recalled about 2,000 soldiers that she had sent to Flanders and Zealand against the Catholic King, and resolved to rupture her alliance with the French, and make a new alliance with the House of Burgundy, allowing the war in Zealand to drag on in order that for very weariness thereof the Catholic King might the sooner make a new alliance with her. As to this new alliance, besides the accounts given by the English, the ambassador of the Queen of Scots at the Court of the Most Christian King has written at large. On the other hand the Catholic King, mindful of the petitions daily presented to him by Catholics, as well English as Irish, has resolved to lend aid to the Catholics, which aid the English Catholics supplicate his Holiness to take care that the King postpone not, no matter what just terms be inserted in the treaty.
“A new parliament is summoned in England, in which it is deemed certain that some great wrong will be done against the Queen of Scots, unless God and the Catholic princes lend her timely aid. Certain indeed it is that, while she is safe, England and Scotland will be more readily reclaimed to the Catholic faith than after her removal. Humble petition is therefore made to his Holiness that by his prudence he prevent the neglect of such opportunities of noble action; especially as it is certain that every delay will tend to the disadvantage of the Catholic King, for the result can but be fresh machinations against him on the part of his own subjects, whereas now, on the other hand, the spirits of the English Catholics are so raised by the execution done upon the heretics in France, that, if some attempt be now made, it cannot by God's grace fail of success.”
18 Oct., 1572. Latin. Copy.
|
Vat. Arch.
Nunt. Germ.
vol. lxxvi. f. 39. |
103. [Anne,] Countess of Northumberland, Leonard Dacre and Sir Francis Englefield to Pope Gregory XIII.
Imploring him to bestir himself for the reduction of England to the unity of the Catholic Church, and accrediting to him Dr. Nicholas Sander as the exponent of the policy of the exiles.
20 Oct., 1572. Brussels. Latin.
|
Vat. Arch.
Nunt. di
Francia,
vol. v. ff. 222–3. |
104. [Flavio,] Cardinal Orsino, Legate to France to [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como.
“On the 20th inst. I received from Paris two letters from my secretary of the same tenor as one from the nuncio, by which they advise me that his Most Christian Majesty consents to my going thither, but requires me to wait some days, as you will better apprehend from the letters themselves, which will be given you by my brother Virginio. Meanwhile I tarry here, most anxiously expecting the decision….
“In these countries and particularly in the Pope's own State there are numberless abuses in matters of life and ecclesiastical government, about which I am gradually getting information, and by and by I will apprise you in detail of those that seem to me most notable. Suffice it for the present that not a word of the Council [of Trent] is observed here, nor is any notice taken of the bulls that have been issued in matter of reform.
“The other day there came hither the Scottish gentleman, Irving, who gave me your letter with a brief of the Pope. When I am at Court I shall not fail to do all that I am bidden, as it is meet I should.”
25 Oct., 1572. Avignon. Italian.
|
Vat. Arch.
Nunt. di
Francia,
vol. v. f. 241. |
105. [Flavio,] Cardinal Orsino, Legate to France to Ptolemy Galli, Cardinal of Como.
“Yesterday by way of Turin I wrote to you, as I had in the first instance done by way of Lyon, that my secretary, Onofrio, and also the nuncio write me from Paris that his Most Christian Majesty is content that I go thither, but that he will let me know when; which will be soon; and I sent you the very letters. Though I have nothing else to say at present, I would not miss the opportunity afforded by the gentleman of the Grand Duke, who is the bearer of this, to do you reverence.”
27 Oct., 1572. Avignon. Italian.
|
Vat. Lib.
Urb. Lat.
1043. f. 171. |
106. News Letter.
“Letters are to hand from France by which it is understood that 2,000 Huguenots have just been slain, and that tidings thereof being brought to the King while he was at church, he devoutly gave thanks to God that it has so befallen, and announced that he was firmly resolved to tolerate no religion in his realm save the Catholic: it seems also that he has recalled his ambassador from England.”
29 Oct., 1572. Rome. Italian. Copy.
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Vat. Arch.
Nunt. di
Francia,
vol. v. f. 242. |
107. [Flavio,] Cardinal Orsino, Legate to France to [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como.
“At this very moment by express courier, bringing three letters from his Most Christian Majesty, I am advised that I may go thither at my pleasure; and so to-morrow morning, by God's grace, I put myself in motion, being duly desirous to do somewhat that may be of service to the Apostolic See, and of satisfaction to the Pope. Be pleased to communicate the fact to the Pope; and if he shall have any further commands for me, you will do me a singular favour if you advise me thereof forthwith.”
30 Oct., 1572. Avignon. Italian.
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