Add MS 8732

DIPLOMATIC INSTRUCTIONS AND MEMORIALS RELATING TO COLOGNE AND FRANCE, together with a tract on ambassadorial precedence at the papal court; 1478-1638. Italian, and Latin. Copies, 17th cent. Compilation relating to diplomatic missions of papal nuncios at Cologne and French ambassadors in Rome. Table of contents (f. 1) by a later hand, possibly the same hand as the old foliation. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '392' in pencil in top left corner of front pastedown. Purchased, together with Add. 8675 and 8702, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 392 (part).

Paper; ff. 340+iv, plus three interleaved unfoliated blanks after f. 194, and one after f. 199. Composite volume. Old foliation in ink 1-343 (ff. 2-340), comprising blanks after ff. 194, 199. 270 x 204mm. Horizontal catchwords on each leaf. Several Italian hands. Early 19th-cent. binding of vellum.

Contents as follows:

1. ff. 2-194. 'Istruttione data all'Eminentissimo Signor Cardinale Ginetti destinato da Nostro Signore suo Legato a' Latere nel congresso di Colonia per trattare la Pace universale', with later additions 'del Cardinale Francesco Barberino' (inserted after Istruttione) and 'nel Ponteficato di Urbano VIII' (added at the end), instructions from Cardinal Francesco Barberini to Cardinal Marzio Ginetti, written by Ginetti's secretary Pietro Benessa; [1636]. Inc. (f. 3) 'Le discordie e li scomponimenti tra Prencipi Cattolici', expl. 'ma che questo Capitolato con gl'eretici si faccia à parte'. 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 cancelled. Another copy of the text in Add. 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. 195-199v. 'Instructio Sixti 4.ⁱ pro RR. DD. A. Episcopo Foroliviense et A. Episcopo Alariense, vel eorum altero de ijs que acturi sunt pro liberatione Reverendissimi Domini Roberti Archiepiscopi Coloniensis. Data .18. Aprilis 1478', instructions of Pope Sixtus IV to Alexander Numai, Bishop of Forlì, and Ardicinio della Porta, bishop of Aleria, for the freeing of Ruprecht von der Pfalz, Count-Palatine of the Rhine, Archbishop of Cologne; 14 Apr. 1478. Latin. Inc. (f. 196) 'Et primo adeant serenissimum Dominum Imperatorem cum brevi', expl. 'circa hoc faciant pro ut melius, et expedientius sibi videbitur servata tamen mente Sanctissimo Domino Nostro ut supra Datis Romae apud Petrum ... Die xviii Aprilis 1478 Pontificatus Sanctissimi Domini Nostri divina providentia Papae Quarti Anno Septimo'. Another copy in Add. 48068 (Yelverton MS. 74), ff. 18v-20v, dated 18 April 1477.

3. ff. 200-311. 'Sommario lasciato dal Duca di Nivers a Nostro Signore Clemente VIII.^o alla sua partenza di Roma, di quel che trattó il detto Duca à Sua Benedizione con lettere del Navarra poste in fine', relazione to Pope Clement VIII from Ludovico Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, of his mission to Rome on behalf of Henri IV of France; 14 Jan. 1594. Inc. (f. 201) 'Santissimo Padre / Secondo, ch'io sempre ho indirizzato le mie attioni alla gloria de Dio', expl. (f. 302v) 'per il bene della Francia et della Cristianità, et particolarmente della Santa Sede. Di Roma questo di 14 di Gennaro 1594 ... Ludovico Gonzaga'. Followed by: - (a) two letters (ff. 303-306) from Henry of Navarre to Clement VIII, the first dated 18 Aug. 1593; - (b) two memorials (ff. 306-310v) from Ludovico Gonzaga to Clement VIII; - (c) brief (f. 311) of Clement VIII to Ludovico Gonzaga in Latin, 1593. The texts are an Italian translation of a French publication entitled Discours de la Legation de Monsieur le Duc de Nevers envoyé par le ... Roy de France ... Henry III vers le pape Clement VIII (Paris: Iean Maurice chez Iamet Mettayer & Pierre L'Huillier, 1594), of which B.L. copy 1088.c.36 and a MS. copy in Add. 30628.

4. ff. 312-340. 'Discorso sopra la precedenza fra il Residente della Regina Madre del Rè di francia, e quello del Rè di Polonia, fatto dà Michel Lonigo', a political tract on the order of precedence at the papal court for the ambassadors of Marie de' Medici, Queen Regent of France, and Sigismund III Vasa of Poland; [1610-1614]. Inc. (f. 313) 'Beatissimo Padre / Che il Residente in Roma per il Re Serenissimo di Polonia', expl. 'longa vita, sanità, e felicità della Santità Vostra'. Michele Lonigo was prefetto dei registri e delle bolle in the Vatican Library at the time of Paul V (1605-1621) and was the first organiser of the newly founded Vatican Archives.