Add MS 8299

MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTION of relazioni, papal instructions, and discourse relating to Rome, Siena, France, the German Empire, Spain, Mantua and Monferrato; circa 1554-1636. Latin and Italian. Copies, 17th cent. The MS. includes (art. 1, ff. 4v-81v) the account of the conclave for the election of Pope Pius IV by Antonio Guidi, in Latin, preceded (ff. 3-4v) by a letter of dedication to Cardinal Carlo Borromeo. Table of contents (f. 1), added later. Old signature '490' in ink in fourth spine compartment: identifiable with Mattei MS. 490 (vol. 46 of 'Memorie diverse') in Guilford's catalogue Add. 8220, f. 23v. Marked 'Tomo 114' in ink in upper left corner of f. 2, and 'Tomo 40' in ink in upper left corner of ff. 90, 94, and 97. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '103' in pencil in top left corner of front pastedown. Purchased, together with Add. 8294-8298, 8300-8303, 8305-8314, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 103 (part).

Paper; ff. 167+xxii, plus two unfoliated blanks after ff. 81, 89, 93, one after f. 92, and three after f. 96. Old foliation in ink '1-165' (ff. 2-167), omitting f. 93. Composite volume. 254 x 193mm. Horizontal catchwords on each leaf. Several Italian hands. Late 17th-cent. Italian binding of full vellum.

Contents as follows:

1. ff. 2-81v. 'Relatione delle cose più notabili seguite dalla morte di Paolo 4^o alla creatione di Pio 4^o' [title in the table of contents, f. 1], account of the conclave for the election of Pope Pius IV by Antonio Guidi (elected Bishop of Traú in Dalmatia in 1574), preceded by an address to Cardinal Carlo Borromeo; [1560]. Latin. Copy. Title (f. 2) 'Carolo Boromeo Cardinali amplissimo Antonius Guidus salutem plurimam dicit', dedication letter (f. 3) 'Collegi quanta potui maxima diligentia', inc. (f. 4v) 'Ad XV Calendis Septembris cum Pauli Quarti Pontificis Maximi morbus ingravescere', expl. 'ut vix tormentorum sonitus exaudiri possent'. Other copies of the account in Add. 6901 (ff. 27-38v: anonymous), 8265 (art. c, ff. 96-161v: preceded by the letter of address to Borromeo), 8397 (art. 10, ff. 63-76: anonymous), 48073 (Yelverton MS. 79; art. 15, ff. 593-620: attributed to Antonio Guidi and dated 1560); Italian translation in Add. 8418 (art. 1(v), ff. 118-154v: anonymous). Published in Merkle, pp. 603-632. For references to other accounts of the same conclave and their copies see entry for Add. MSS. 8412 (art. 18).

2. ff. 82-89v. 'Discorso del Signor Pietro Strozzi sopra la giornata di Toscana e la causa che si risolse a combattere', discourse by the condottiere Piero Strozzi relating to the war of Siena; circa 1554-1555. Italian. Copy. Inc. 'Essendo nella guerra di Siena stato concluso da Sua Maestà Christianissima che la Vittoria', expl. 'perseverata da noi felicemente'. Another copy in Add. 8266 (art. a, ff. 45-52v). For Piero Strozzi see Argegni, series xix, vol. iii (Milan, 1937), pp. 297-298.

3. ff. 90-92, 93v. 'Replique de Monsieur de Sabran a l'Empereur' [title on f. 93v], reply to the Emperor Ferdinand II from Melchior de Sabran, resident of King Louis XIII of France at Genoa, regarding Mantua and Monferrato; [1629]. Italian. Copy. Inc. 'Sacra et Imperial Maestà / Nella risposta ch'è piaciuta a Vostra Maestà Cattolica di fare alle prepositioni che io le presentai', expl. 'e al giusto desiderio del re in primo'. Another copy in Add. 8544, art. 1, ff. 11-13v.

4. ff. 94-96. 'Relatione del negotiato passato con il Signor Cardinal Antonio per parte del Signor Ambasciatore di Francia', relazione of a meeting between Cardinal Antonio Barberini, François Hannibal II d'Estrées, Marquis de Coeuvres and son of the French Ambassador François Hannibal I, and Aimé Du Nozet, auditor of the Rota (1626-1657); circa 1636. Italian. Copy. Inc. 'Essendo martedì mattina 25 ottobre venuto di Francia un corriero straordinario', expl. 'standosi attendendo con gran desiderio dalla Corte le risolutioni'.

5. ff. 97-167v. 'Instruttione data all'Eminentissimo e Reverendissimo Signor Cardinal Ginetti, legato a latere per la pace universale l'anno MDCXXX', instructions of Cardinal Francesco Barberini to Cardinal Marzio Ginetti, appointed legatus a latere in 1635 to preside over the peace congress at Cologne, written by Ginetti's secretary Pietro Benessa; [1636]. Italian. Copy. Inc. (f. 98) 'Le discordie e li discomponimenti tra Prencipi Cattolici', expl. 'ma che questo Capitolato degl' heretici si faccia à parte / Fine'. Other copies of the text in Add. 8264 (art. e, ff. 374-554), 8323 (art. 1, ff. 2-113v), 8732 (art. 1, ff. 2-194), and 8772 (art. 1, ff. 1-123v). Neither copy is listed in Pastor, vol. xxviii, 1938, p. 353. Original drafts of the instructions are in MS. Vat. lat. 6915 and in Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Misc. III, t. 36, ff. 536-670, 672-691v. Partially printed by K. Repgen in 'Die Hauptinstruktion Ginettis für den Kölner Kongress (1636)', Quellen un Forschungen aus Italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, xxxiv (1954), pp. 268-287. For Ginetti and Benessa see 'Marzio Ginetti' in DBI, 55 (2000), p. 16, and 'Pietro Benessa' in DBI, 8 (1966), p. 478.