MANUSCRIPTS ON VARIOUS DIPLOMATIC SUBJECTS

Folio. 325 x 250 mm., (12 ¾ x 9 ½ inches). 636 folio leaves. Bound together in original large full vellum, with fore edge ties, title in ink on spine. High quality paper stock for first 2/3 of the volume; the final third shows some foxing and ink damage to stock of paper. Texts written in various secretarial hands.

Some of the authors represented in the Miscellany include Orazio Della Rena (Colle Val d'Elsa, 1564 - 1630), a diplomat and member of the Grand Ducal Secretariat at the court of the Ferdinando I de 'Medici of Tuscany. From 1590 until 1604 he was part of the Secretariat to Spain for Ferdinand I. His report on the government of the West Indies, Peru, Chile and Brazil is the second and third "Relazzione" included in the collection.

There are a number of reports on Poland by the Abate Fantucci, Rodrigo Alidosi a Medicean diplomat sent to Poland in 1605, Paolo Minucci, and Christofano Piero Masini. They describe fore the most part the political and economic conditions in this eastern province. They also discuss the succession of the new King of Poland, the influence of Rome in Polish affairs and information about their military capacity.

Francesco Lenzoni, the Tuscan ambassador to the Court of Spain (1591-93) reports on South America and there is a copy of Luigi Guicciardini's "Report on the Sack of Rome" in 1527 (188 pp.), originally written while he was stationed there on a military mission.

One of the more surprising reports to appear in this manuscript is Paolo Seruita's (Pietro Sarpi) "Opinioni Politiche, della Serenissima Republica di Venezia" (184 pp), a statement about the separation of Church and State that aggravated the relationship between the Papacy and the Venice.

Many of the other 36 reports are unsigned. Subjects include "relazzione" of the Grand Duke of Tuscany with the Savoy, Genoa, Mantua, Parma, Lucca, the Democratic Republic of Grisoni in the north, and Fiano. There is a description of the conclave which elected Alexander VII (1655-1667) and the instructions to ambassadors issued by the Vatican during the Papacy of Gregory XV (1621-23).
Also of interest are the series of instructions on international politics issued by Pope Gregory which appear at the end of the bound volume.

One example is the 1623 Treaty of Paris where France, the Savoy, and Venice recovered the territory of Valtellina and the document describes the Vatican's role in mediating the withdrawal of Spain. The documents also reveal that the "issue of Valtellina" was tied up with Counter-Reformation efforts by the Vatican. An example of this is Gregory's diplomatic efforts with Germany and France seeking sought support for a military intervention to free the city of Geneva from the hold of Huguenots. Tobia Corona, a learned Barnabite and faithful disciple of Gregory XV, is one of the recipients of these letters which outline that the French will be promised to return Avignon in exchange for help taking back Geneva for the Papacy.