Venice: August 1539 | British History Online

Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 5, 1534-1554. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1873.

Citation:

'Venice: August 1539', in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 5, 1534-1554, ed. Rawdon Brown( London, 1873), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/venice/vol5/pp79-80 [accessed 29 November 2024].

August 1539



August 15. MS. St. Mark's Library, Cod. xxiv. Cl. x No date. Printed in v. ii. pp. 181–188. “Epistolarum Reginaldi Poli.” Dated 15th August 1539.	206. Cardinal Pole to Cardinal Gasparo Contarini.
	His desire would take him to the Pope's feet, but mental distress makes him wish for solitude, which he always loved, and now more than ever when sorrow not only goads but overwhelms him. Does not indeed despair of his country, as God cannot forget it, and his time must be awaited patiently. Acknowledges this, but still grieves, and wishes Contarini to request the Pope not to insist on his returning to the bustle of Rome (ad celebritatem istam urbis). It is not for the good of the cause that he should be seen there. Would it not be said that the case of England is utterly desperate? Let the Pope therefore grant him a little quiet. If he dwells on this it is because the words of Cardinal Farnese make it appear that the Pope insists on his being at Rome. Therefore refers everything to his (Contarini's) prudence and love. Some leave is conceded to those of their order, as to others. On the loss of kinsfolk, friends, wife, or parents, a few days for sorrow are taken by them, during which they abstain from public duty, and this custom, as observed with regard to one single loss, is acknowledged. He (Pole), who in a moment has lost not one relative but almost all, part by death, and part by imprisonment, (fn. 1) and above all, who sees his country well nigh exterminated (for nothing else can be said of a land from which faith and religion are banished), without indecorum may ask leave of absence from Rome, and leisure from the business of the Court to mourn these misfortunes. Thinks it would be indecorous not to make this request most earnestly, as were he to demand a vacation for life, to devote himself entirely to prayer and tears by reason of such great calamities as have befallen his family and country, he would perhaps act strictly in conformity with decorum and duty (qui si in tantis calamitatibus, et meorum et patriœ vacationem per omnem vitam peterem, ut orationi et lacrymis totus incumberem, meo fortasse et decori et officio maxime servirem). Knows that he (Contarini) has his welfare as much at heart as if it concerned himself, lamenting his adversity in like manner, and is so convinced of the Pope's benignity, that he is certain his lamentations alone will suffice to obtain for him the favour demanded.
	Carpentras, 15th August.
	[Latin, 114 lines.]