Add MS 8323

DIPLOMATIC INSTRUCTIONS AND RELAZIONI relating to the peace congress in Cologne during the Thirty Years War and the mission of Cardinal Legate Marzio Ginetti; 1636-1641. Italian and Latin. Copies. In 1635 Cardinal Ginetti was appointed by Urban VIII as legatus a latere at Cologne to preside over a peace congress between France, Spain, and Germany. He left Rome only in 1636. After four years of fruitless efforts to organise the congress he was called back to Italy in 1640 and his mission was ended. Table of contents (f. 1), added later. Old signatures in pencil 'Tom. LXXXIX' in upper right corner of f. i, and '[533]' in very faint ink in fifth spine compartment: identifiable with Mattei MS. 533 (vol. 89 of 'Materie diverse') in Guilford's catalogue Add. 8220, f. 24. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '106' in pencil in upper left corner of front pastedown. Purchased, together with Add. 8317-8322, 8324-8332, 8346, and 8347, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 106 (part).

Contents as follows:

1. ff. 2-113v. 'Instruttione al Signor Cardinal Ginetti legato al Convento da farsi in Colonia', instructions of Cardinal Francesco Barberini to Cardinal Marzio Ginetti, written by Ginetti's secretary Pietro Benessa; [1636]. Italian. Copy. Inc. 'Le discordie e li scomponimenti tra Cattolici', expl. 'ma che il Capitolato con li eretici si faccia à parte'. Other copies of the text in Add. 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.

2. ff. 114-136v. 'Viaggio fatto dall'Eminentissimo Ginetti destinato Legato a Latere dalla Santità d'Urbano Ottavo in Colonia per trattare la pace universale', anonymous relazione of Cardinal Ginetti's journey from Rome to Cologne; circa 1636. Italian. Copy. Inc. (f. 115) 'Mia intentione non è di fare un esquisito e puntual racconto', expl. 'ove tuttavia si trattiene co' i Prelati, e con la fameglia'. For a journal of the Cologne mission written by Pietro Benessa, Ginetti's secretary, see Add. 8772, art. 4, ff. 178-353v.

3. ff. 137-153v. 'Relatione della legatione di Colonia per la pace universale nel tempo del servitio di Monsignor Carlo Pavolucci 1641 / Alla Santità di Nostro Signore Papa Urbano VIII formula o Della Plenipotenza dell'Imperatore e di diversi passaporti', relazione of Cologne to Urban VIII from Monsignor Carlo Paolucci de Calboli, nephew of Cardinal Francesco Paolucci; 1641. Italian. Copy. Inc. 'Beatissimo Padre / Per seguire l'antico costume di questa Santa Sede'.

4. ff. 154-157v, 201-204v. 'Facoltà data dall'Imperatore a suoi Plenipotentiarii in Colonia per concedere a gli alliati di Francia o ad altri secondo il bisogno passaporti', relazione relating to the authority of issuing passports granted by the Emperor Ferdinand III to his ministers in Cologne; 1638. Latin and Italian. Two copies. Inc. 'Ferdinandus 3 Agnoscimus et notum facimus ... et concedimus nostris ad tractatus pacis in nostra et S.R.I. Civitate Coloniae ... (ff. 154v, 201v) Viennae 21 Aprilis 1638 / Inherendo dunque li ministri cesarei alla Plenipotenza sudetta'.

5. ff. 158-200v. 'Relatione delle difficoltà frapostesi nel radunar il Congresso in Colonia avanti l'Eminentissimo Signor Cardinal Ginetti Legato a Latere nel 1637, 1638, 1639 fatta dall'Abate Domenico Salvetti', relazione of the difficulties met by Cardinal Ginetti in organising the peace congress at Cologne, attributed here to Abbot Domenico Salvetti; [1639]. Italian. Copy. Inc. 'Correva l'anno 1635, et 36 delle turbolenze portate da Gustavo Adolfo Re di Svetia', expl. 'à quella de Signori Cardinali Barberini, e Legato conceda ogni maggior grandezza, e felicità'. Domenico Salvetti was an assistant to Pietro Benessa, Ginetti's secretary (see f. 200). Another copy of the relazione in Add. 8772, art. 3, ff. 128-177v.

Paper; ff. 204+xvii, plus one unfoliated blank after ff. 1, 136, 157, 200, and two after f. 113. Old foliation in ink '1-202' (ff. 2-204), omitting f. 114. 297 x 213mm. Horizontal catchwords on each leaf. One Italian hand. Late 17th-cent. Italian binding of full vellum; '13 / L (?)' in pencil in lower edge.