Add MS 8326

MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTION of treatises relating to dynastic, administrative and ambassadorial matters involving the Papal Court, Naples and Sicily, Spain, and France, during the papacies of Urban VIII, Innocent X and Alexander VII; circa 1623-1667. Italian and Spanish. Copies. The MS. also includes (art. 1) a discourse relating to the investiture of Roger II as King of Sicily by Innocent II in 1139, written by Giovanni Ciampoli (1590-1643). Another copy of this text in Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, cod. 5556, ff. 1-41; the discourse was published posthumously as 'Difesa d'Innocentio Secondo. Si difende l'attione d'Innocentio Secondo Pontefice catturato, che diede in Napoli l'investitura della due Sicilie a Ruggieri Guiscardo usurpatore vittorioso' in Prose di Monsignor Giovanni Ciampoli nuovamente venute in luce... (Rome: Fabio di Falco, 1667), pp. 251-335, B.L. copy 12225.a.5; for Giovanni Ciampoli see DBI, 25 (1981), pp. 147-152. Table of contents (f. 1), added later. Old signatures in pencil 'Tom. XCII' in upper right corner of f. i, and '536' in ink in fifth spine compartment: identifiable with Mattei MS. 536 (vol. 92 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. 8317-8325, 8327-8332, 8346, and 8347, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 106 (part).

Contents as follows:

1. ff. 2-98. 'Discorso dove s'essamina la cagione dell'Investitura delle due Sicilie data in Napoli da Innocentio Secondo Pontefice catturato a Ruggeri Guiscardo usurpator vittorioso / Opera di Monsignor Giovanni Ciampoli', discourse by Giovanni Ciampoli relating to the investiture of Roger II as King of Sicily in 1139 by Pope Innocent II; n.d. Italian. Copy. Inc. (f. 3) 'Le mutationi de Principati grandi non sono materie di pochi discorsi', expl. (f. 92v) 'infallabile autorità della Censura Romana'. Text divided into three discorsi (ff. 3, 24, 59), and followed by (ff. 93-93v) one letter from Giovanni Ciampoli to Duke [Giuliano?] Cesarini, 7 April 1641, and two letters (ff. 94-95, 95v-98) to Cardinal Francesco Angelo Rapaccioli congratulating him upon his promotion to Cardinal, [13] and 20 July 1643. Another copy of the first letter to Cardinal Rapaccioli in Add. 44982 (f. 2), another former Guilford MS. containing a discourse relating to tithes also by Ciampoli. Another 17th-cent. copy of the main text and following letters in Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, cod. 5556, ff. 1-41. Ciampoli's letter to Duke Cesarini is published in Lettere di Monsignor Giovanni Ciampoli..., parte prima (Venice : Curti, 1676), p. 112, B.L. copy 10910.aa.9.

2. ff. 99-105v, 106-132. Memorial to Urban VIII from the Spanish ambassadors extraordinary Friar Domingo Pimentel, Bishop of Cordova, and Don Juan Chumacero Sotomayor y Carrillo Laso de la Vega, followed by a reply from Monsignor Michelangelo Maraldi, Secretary of Briefs, relating to the matter of ecclesiastical beneficies and pensions in Spain; 1634 (see f. 100v). Spanish and Italian. Copies. Inc. (f. 99) 'Copia di scrittura presentata alla Santità di Nostro Signore Papa Urbano VIII dalli ambasciatori straordinarii del Re Cattolico Monsignor Vescovo di Cordova e Signor Don Giovanni Chiumazero, sopra i sussidii che dimandono per sua Maestà Cattholica / La religion cattholica y los fieles a ella en Alemaña', expl. 'para anparar causa tan indefensa'; inc. (f. 106) 'Risposta al primo Capo circa le pensioni / Carlo Arciduca di Austria e Prencipe della Spagna' (text divided into ten chapters). Texts differ from the ones in Add. 8320 (art. 6, ff. 124-302v), published as Memorial dado por Don Juan Chumacero y Carrillo y Don Fray Domingo Pimentel, Obispo de Cordova, a la Santidad del Papa Urbano VIII año de M.DC.XXXIII de orden y en nombre de la Magestad del Rey Don Phelipe IV sobre los excessos que se cometen en Roma contra los Naturales de estos Reynos de España, y la Respuesta que entregò Monseñor Maraldi, Secretario de Breves, de orden de su Santidad, traducida de Italiano en Castellano, y Satisfacion à la Respuesta. [Madrid?]: [s.n.], [1635?], B.L. copies 1609/1042 and 5107.bb.4.(1); another edition, B.L. copy 5107.bb.5. A related instruction from Urban VIII to the ambassadors in Add. 8392, art. 19, ff. 444-451.

3. ff. 133-142v. 'Se a Nostro Signore Papa Alessandro VII convenga lo stare qualche nobil parte dell'anno al Vaticano, o solo ne giorni della Settimana Santa e della Pasqua et in altre somigliante solennità, fermandosi nel resto del tempo nel Quirinale', anonymous treatise discussing whether Pope Alexander VII (1655-1667) should reside for longer periods in the Vatican Palace; n.d. Italian. Copy. Inc. (f. 134) 'Primieramente io reputo indubitato'. With marginal notations, cropped by the binder. Another copy in Add. 8754, art. 23, ff. 335-345.

4. ff. 143-151. 'Raggioni per le quali deve il Duca di Bracciano sperare dall'ambasciatore christianissimo l'honore della man dritta nel Palazzo di Sua Santità e per la propria qualità e per trovarsi in possesso di detto trattamento', treatise relating to the ambassadorial rights of Paolo Giordano Orsini II, Duke of Bracciano, in the papal court in respect to the French ambassador; n.d. Italian. Copies. Inc. 'Raccontano tutti gli autori classici d'Alemagna la Casa Orsina haver posseduta la Sassonia'.

Paper; ff. 151+xx, plus one unfoliated blank after f. 1, two after ff. 98, 142, five after f. 105, and three after f. 132. Old foliation in ink '1-148' (ff. 3-151), omitting f. 133. 304 x 215mm. Horizontal catchwords on each leaf. Four Italian hands: same hand for arts. 1 and 4. Late 17th-cent. Italian binding of full vellum; '7 / PM' in pencil in lower edge.