Add MS 8280

MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTION of relazioni, discourses, tracts, letters, treaties, papal instructions and investitures relating to the Papacy, Venice, Turkey, Siena, Tuscany, the Council of Trent, Aragon, Sardinia and Corsica, Sicily, Genoa, Portugal, France, Poland, Spain; circa 1297-1302, 1518-1573. Italian and Latin. Copies, 17th cent. The MS. includes (ff. 335-420) a long excerpt from the diary of Paris de Grassis relating to the papacy of Leo X (February 1518 - July 1521). For a complete MS. of Paris de Grassis' diary see Add. MSS. 8440-8444; for the section of the diary covering the papacy of Leo X (1513-1521) see Add. 48071 (Yelverton MS. 77); for the section relating to the reign of Julius II (17 Aug. 1506 - 4 April 1512) see Add. 8439 (ff. 43-219v). The present MS. also includes: - (a) discourse in favour of Venice relating to peace with Turkey, after 1572 (ff. 3-9v); - (b) discourse of Gian Giacomo Medici (1495-1555), Marchese di Marignano, called Medeghino, and correspondence between him and Pietro Strozzi relating to the war of Siena, 1554 (ff. 10-23v); - (c) philosophical treatise on the nobility of man and definition of the soul, in Latin and Italian, n.d. (ff. 24-50v); - (d) letter against the Imperial Diet of Worms from Marco Girolamo Vida, Bishop of Alba, to the legates at the Council of Trent, 1545, in Latin (ff. 51-58v); - (e) instructions to the papal legate relating to Siena and Florence, in Latin, n.d. (ff. 59-64v); - (f) treatise relating to papal elections from St. Peter to Pius IV (1559-1565), in Latin (ff. 65-126v); - (g) tract by Giovanni Battista Preti relating to the threat posed by the Turkish empire to Christian countries, addressed to Cardinal Marco Antonio Da Mula (or Amulio), 1571 (ff. 127-158v); - (h) election of James II of Aragon as King of Sardinia and Corsica by Pope Boniface VIII, 1297, in Latin (ff. 159-181), another copy of which in Cotton Nero C II, ff. 41-46v; - (i) bull of Pope Boniface VIII confirming the treaty of peace between the King of Naples, Charles II d'Anjou, and Frederick II of Sicily, 1302, in Latin (ff. 182-196v); - (j) relazione of Genoa, [1575] (ff. 197-214v), other copies of which in Add. 8566 (art. 2, ff. 47-86v), and 48148 (Yelverton MS. 160; art. 3, ff. 27-40); - (k) discourse to Pope Gregory XIII and his son Giacomo Boncompagni, Generale della Chiesa, relating to the organisation of the papal army for a new crusade against the Turks, possibly by Scipio di Castro, secretary of Boncompagni, n.d. (ff. 215-242v): another copy in Add. 8262 (art. mm, ff. 530-543v); - (l) political discourse relating to the League against the Turks, 1572 (ff. 243-254v); - (m) discourse by Uberto Gambara, Bishop of Tortona (see DBI, 52 (1999), pp. 63-68), advising Pope Paul III to form an alliance with the Emperor, 1539 (ff. 255-260v); - (n) relazione of the marriage of an unidentified admiral, n.d. (ff. 261-262v); - (o) letter from Prester John to the Portuguese viceroy in the Indes, n.d. (ff. 263-264v); - (p) treatise on the creation of an alphabet in cipher, n.d. (ff. 265-290v), of which another copy in Add. 8294, art. 12, ff. 133-145v; - (q) relazione of the League by the Count of Santa Fiora [Mario Sforza ?], possibly addressed to King Charles IX of France, n.d. (ff. 291-292v); - (r) heads of agreement between France and Poland on the coronation of Henry of Valois as King of Poland, 1573, in Latin and Italian (ff. 293-295v); - (s) warning letter to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese the younger following the death of Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese the elder), [1549-1550] (ff. 296-309), of which other copies in Add. 8304 (art. 13, ff. 236-247v) and 8417 (art. 12, ff. 410-421v); - (t) instructions relating to the Carafa war given to Don Pietro d'Agostino on his way to the court of Philip II of Spain, [1559] (ff. 310-317v): the instructions are attributed to Paolo Filonardi, superintendent of the Carafa family, by a later hand annotating the copy in Add. 16397 (ff. 280-287v), while another copy in Add. 8262 (ff. 214-216v) is anonymous; - (u) relazione of wines with reference to Pope Paul III's favourites, 1549 (ff. 318-334); - (v) tract relating to human physiognomy, in Latin, n.d. (ff. 421-427v). Table of contents (ff. 1-2), added later. Marked '19' in ink at centre of lower edge. Stamp of the Colonna library 'Libraria Colonna' in red on ff. ii, 1, 265, 427v, iv (verso); for the Colonna library stamp see Bragaglia, vol. iii, T 32: circa 1750. From the library of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali, according to a note in Evans sale catalogue at lot 284. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '284' and 'Tomo XIX / A' in pencil in upper right corner of f. ii. Purchased, together with Add. 8262-8279 and 8281, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 284 (part).

Paper; ff. 427+iv, plus one unfoliated blank after ff. 9, 50, 181, 196, 295, 334, two after ff. 58, 242. Old foliation in ink '1-436' (ff. 3-427, iv), including blanks. 266 x 198mm. Horizontal catchwords on each leaf. Several Italian hands: same hand for arts. (k), (p), (u), (v), and the excerpt of Paris the Grassis (ff. 335-420), to be found also in Add. 8277, arts. (b) and (e), 8279, arts. (g) and (k), and 8281, arts. (b)-(c), (g)-(h), (k), and for the tract (ff. 87-106v) by Lucian.