Add MS 48137-48142

'RICORDI POLITICI', by Lelio Marretti; 17th cent. Italian. Copies. Two sets, each in three volumes. On Maretti, who calls himself 'Gentil' huomo Sanese', see I. Ugurgieri Azzolini, Le Pompe

Sanesi . . . , Pistoia, 1649, pp. 41-42. Marretti was a retainer of the Sforza family and 'familiare', presumably secretary, of Cardinals Alessandro (d. 16 May 1581) and Francesco Sforza (created Cardinal 16 Jan. 1584, d. 2 Sept. 1624). For Marretti's account of the conclave of Pope Gregory XIV in 1590 see Add. 8418, f. 350 and also Vat. MS. Urb.Lat.1661, f. 155; for his account of the conclave of Pope Clement VIII in 1592 see Vat. MS. Vat.Lat.10714, f. 437. For a copy of Marretti's 'Instruttione al sigor. Cardinal de Medici del modo como si deve governar nella Corte di Roma', see Add. 48134, art. 14. The 'Ricordi Politici' are dedicated to Cosimo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany 1609-1621, and in his preface to them the author says that their composition occupied many years and that they were often put aside and taken up again (see Add. 48137, f. 5). Their purpose was 'sopra le cose scritte da graui e famosi scrittori d'Istorie, cauarne auuertimenti, et Ricordi da seruirsene in tutti gl' affari di consideratione, che possin accadere nell' attioni humane politiche, uestitomi nel trattarle dell' habito d'huomo Ciuile, e di Stato, et non d'essatto, e seuero Filosofo morale' (Add. 48137, f. 3). They consist largely of commentary on Tacitus and other Roman historians. Add. 8807 is an early 17th-cent. copy of part ii of the 'Ricordi Politici' and Add. 31049 a late 17th-cent. copy of part i. Marsand, pp. 59, 60, 64 mentions early MSS. of the 'Ricordi' under the numbers 7719, 77195 bis, 77196 and there are two 17th-cent. copies of part ii of the 'Ricordi', Vat. MSS. Vat.Lat.9946 and 10311. For a discussion of Marretti and this work based on Florence Biblioteca Nazionale MSS. Magliabechiana II, III, 374-376 see G. Toffanin, Machiavelli e il 'Tacitismo', Padua, 1921, pp. 147-153.

Paper. Six volumes. Folio. XVII cent. Various Italian hands. Vellum bindings, numbered and titled on spines. The Yelverton MS numbers were duplicated for each set of volumes.