Royal MS 14 A XIII

RELAZIONI of Venetian and other ambassadors, &c., circ. 1555-1586. In Italian, except art. 17. Artt. 1-8 and 10 occur also in a MS. at Oxford, Rawlinson D.

635. Contents:

1. Turkey, embassy of Giacomo Soranzo, sent from Venice to attend the festivities at the circumcision of Sultan Mehemeth, son of the reigning Sultan Amorath III, 24 Mar.-22 Aug. 1582. Two anonymous diaries, viz.:-(a) 'Memoria d'un viaggio', &c. Printed in Eugenio Albèri's Relazioni degli amb. Veneti (Florence, 1840), Ser. iii, tom. ii, p. 211. Another copy is in Add. MS. 8646, f. 79. Beg. 'Usano i Turchi nelia circoncisione'. f. 1;-(b) 'L' allegrezze fatte in Constantinopoli', &c. Beg. 'Dovendosi far il retaglio'. f. 44.

2. Turkey, an earlier relation of the same ambassador on his return from Constantinople in 1576; longer than that printed by Albèri, op. cit., iii, tom. ii, p. 195. Another copy in Sloane MS. 1826, ff. 10-21, is slightly altered. Beg. 'Il serenissimo Sultan Amurath, iii. di questo nome'. With two appendices, on the style, &c. of the Grand Turk (f. 81 b) and (f. 83 b) on the military resources of the country. The ink throughout is much faded. f. 57.

3. Persia, by Vicenzo degli Alessandri, on his return to Venice. In Albèri, iii, tom. ii, p. 105, dated 1574, but in Add. MS. 8646, f. 41, dated 14 Sept. 1572. Albèri's text differs notably at the end. Other copies are in Add. MSS. 8290, f. 121 b, 16519, f. 126, 16543, f. 187, and Harley MS. 3552, f. 214 (dated 1575). A translation by Charles Grey, published by the Hakluyt Society, 1873, is made from an abridgement (cf. Sloane MS. 1826, f. 1). Beg. 'Dovendo secondo il commandamento'. f. 95.

4. Poland, by Girolamo L'offamano (sic, for Lippomano) to the Venetian senate, 1574. In Albèri, i, tom. vi, p. 273, dated 1575. Other copies are in Add. MSS. 8290, f. 180 (dated 15755), 10209, f. 1 b (misdated 1552), 29444, f. 207 (dated 1574), Egerton MS. 1087, f. 180 (dated 1575), Lansd. MS. 840 B, f. 105 (dated 1575), and Harley MS. 1873, f. 1. This and the Harley MS. have at the end a note, dated 1583, referring to Queen Jagellona. Beg. 'Perche [al. Poiche] io sono stato ambasciatore'. f. 121.

5. Muscovy, an anonymous undated account [circ. 1555 ?]. For another copy see 14 A. XV, art. 1. Beg. 'Douendo descriuer le cose'. f. 197.

6. The Empire and Spain, Venetian relation by Fedrigo Badoero, returning from the courts of Charles V and Philip II, 1558. In Albèri, i, tom. iii, p. 177, dated 1557. Other copies are in Add. MSS. 8262, f. 1 (dated 1557), 29444, f. 440, and Lansd. MS. 840 A, f. 31 (both dated 1558). Beg. 'Iddio uolesse, serenissimo prencipe'. f. 225.

7. Spain, Venetian relation by Michele Soriano, 1560. In Albèri, i, tom. iii, p. 333, dated 1559. Other copies are in Sloane MS. 1973, f. 1 (misdated 1573 and imperfect), Add. MSS. 16483, f. 4 (dated 1560, has slightly different statistics of revenue at the end), 16517, f. 249, Harley MS. 3553, f. 299 (both dated 1560), and Lansd. MS. 840 A, f. 92 (dated 1559). The last three, and the printed text, are without the statistics of revenue. Beg. 'Serenissimo prencipe, padri et signori eccellentissimi, l'opinione uniuersale'. f. 385.

8. 'Itinerario ouero discretione di Portugallo et historia di quel regno del 1577': an anonymous tract. Another copy is in Add. MS. 8712, f. 1. Beg. 'Il regno di Portugallo, il qual confina con la Spagna'. f. 442.

9. France, by Giovanni Michele, Venetian special ambassador on the occasion of Henry III's coronation and marriage, dated 1576. The first part, descriptive of the journey, is here epitomized in a few lines. The whole is printed in Tommaseo, Rel. des amb. Vénitiens (Coll. des Documents Inédits, 1838), ii, p. 204, and Albéri, i, tom. iv, p. 345; cf. Add. MS. 29444, f. 1. Beg. 'Nella prima parte'. f. 473.

10. 'Le capitolationi a lo imperator di Francia tradotto di Turco in Italiano da Jacha dragomano del Gran Signore e delo imperator di Francia nelia eccelsa Porta': twenty-four capitulations between France and Turkey, July, 1581. A copy is apparently in Rawlinson MS. D. 618 at Oxford. For a French text see Add. MS. 30571, f. 170. Beg. 'Iddio solo. Segno sacro Murad sciahehe'. f. 492.

11. Venice, Italian translation of a Spanish relation made to Philip II, n.d. Other copies are in Sloane MSS. 697, f. 35 (undated), 1826, ff. 57-66 (undated), and Add. MS. 29444, f. 256 (dated 1567); cf. also Rawlinson MS. D. 590, f. 40. It does not appear whether this is the same as the relation of Francesco de Vera dated 1577 in Rawl. MS. D. 613. Beg. 'Se ad alcuno ambasciatore, cattolico re'. f. 502.

12. 'Della republica di Venetia', probably not of diplomatic origin. Much of it occurs in a different order in the printed Tesoro Politico (Cologne, 1589, sig. I ii, and Milan, 1600, p. 151). The words 'al presente anno 1586' occur at f. 527, but the reading in Sloane MS.

697, f. 1 b, is 1584. Beg. 'Tutto il governo della republica'. f. 526.

13. Political tract, written in 1573, in defence of the Venetians for making peace with Turkey. Other copies are in Harley MSS. 1869, f. 2, and 6793, f. 30, both somewhat shorter. Beg. 'Non ib gran marauiglia'; ends 'le loro uitc proprie'. f. 561.

14. Savoy, Venetian relation by Francesco Molino [or da Molin] dated here 1586, probably wrongly. In Albèri, ii, tom, ii, p. 227, dated 1574. Other copies are in Harley MS. 1313, f. 1 (undated), Add. MSS. 8550, f. 1, 18176, f. 1, and 29444, f. 177. The last three (all dated 1576) and the printed text want the statistical tables at the end. Beg. 'Douendo in seguir' [al. Douendo io esseguire]. f. 620.

15. Tuscany Venetian relation by [Andrea?] Gussoni on his return from Florence, 1576, It appears to be a later recension of the relation of that date and author as printed by Albèri, ii, tom. ii, p. 355, being written some time during the life of Francesco de' Medici's young son (1577-1582). Most of the MSS. omit the Christian name, and similar relations are quoted by Marsand (I MSS. Italiani della regia bibl. Parisiana) under the names Francesco and Vincenzo Gussoni, but Albèri's best MSS. appear to give Andrea. A copy resembling the present is in Sloane MS. 1826, f. 29b. Others, 14 A. XV, art. 6, Harley MS. 1313, f. 94, and Add. MS. 16495, f. 134, contain more at the end. Beg. 'Contiene la Toscana per longhezza'; ends 'appresso questo prencipe'. f. 650.

16. Ferrara, Venetian relation by Emiliano Manolesso on his return, 1575. Printed in Albèri, ii, tom. ii, p. 401, and, with considerable alterations, in the Tesoro Politico (1589, sig. O, and 1600, p. 259). Other copies are in 14 A. XV, art 5, and Sloane MS. 697, f. 63. An abridgement is in Sloane MS. 1826, f. 49. Beg. 'Hauendo io humilissimo'. f. 668.

17. 'Presidenza de Fiorenza et Ferrara': a Latin argument on behalf of Florence, n.d. Another opinion on the same point is in Lansd. MS. 223, f. 126. Beg. 'Presupponitur in facto Tusciam'. f. 694.

18. 'Discorso dell' isola de Cipro', anonymous and undated. Other copies are in Egerton MS. 1087, f. 233, and Add. MS. 8281, f. 53. The text in the latter is somewhat different. Beg. 'Douendo, eccellentissimo signor mio, trattar delle cose'; ends 'in uso in questo luoco'. f. 701.

19. 'Discorso di Ragusa', anonymous and undated. This and the preceding article are probably the same as in the Oxford MS. Rawlinson D. 638, ff. 321, 331. Beg. 'Il principio della citta'. f. 719.

Paper; ff. 727. Folio. 11¹/₂ in. x 8 in. End of XVI cent. Red leather binding (rebacked), with stamps of Charles II [by Samuel Mearn]. Not in the old catalogues.