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| Dec. 28. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
496. Alvise Contarini, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
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Six Ambassadors have arrived at this Court from six Protestant Princes of Germany, namely, three from the Electors of Saxony, Brandenburg, and the Palatinate, one from the Duke of Würtemberg, one from the Landgrave of Hesse, and one from the Duke Casimir. |
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They congratulated the King on his marriage, and exhorted him to observe the articles of the peace. They then made strong representations to his Majesty that he should give orders for the arrears of the pay which was due to the Roisters who had served him to be discharged at once. The President de Montfort, who is here to represent the Duke of Savoy, has told me, and also the Nuncio and the Secretary of Spain, that these Ambassadors of Germany have proposed to the King to make a league defensive and offensive, and have done so on account of the apprehension which they entertained respecting the league which has been negotiated in Rome, because they are under the apprehension that this league, although professing publicly to be made against infidels, is in fact also directed against heretics. The Nuncio affirms that the Cardinal of Guise, who was present at each audience, has assured the Germans there is no foundation for their apprehension, nor is it thought there is, for these Ambassadors are persons of but small consideration, and were only granted one interview, and were then dismissed with a present each of a chain of the value of 400 crowns. |
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It is also reported that a personage of rank is coming here in the name of the Queen of England, and some believe that it will be the Lord Robert, and that he will travel in great state and be accompanied by 100 gentlemen, and that besides his mission to congratulate the King on his marriage, he will propose a marriage between his Queen and Monsieur d'Anjou, the brother of the most Christian King; which proposal will be made more for the satisfaction of the people of the English nation, who are earnestly entreating her Majesty to take a husband, than for the belief that such an event can come to any conclusion whatever; but ever since
the Archduke, the brother of the Emperor, who for so long a time negotiated a marriage with the Queen of England, married the daughter of the Duke of Bavaria, the English nation have made a new and very strong appeal to the Queen to take a husband, in order to obtain an heir, for there being at the present time five claimants with equal pretensions to succeed her, their efforts must necessarily give rise to great trouble and disorder in that kingdom, which is already rent with so many dissensions on account of religious matters. Therefore her Majesty has sent hither to commence this new negotiation, and thus in the meanwhile to feed her subjects with hope. But besides this question, there is no doubt that one of the causes of the mission of this envoy of England, and perhaps the principal one, is in this kingdom to favour the affairs of the Huguenots, who exert themselves in every way to make known how intimately they are united with some provinces of Germany and with England, and to maintain the reputation which they have established, and which is so great that they are even represented by an Ambassador at this Court after the custom of foreign princes. |
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At La Rochelle a number of gentlemen have assembled to assist at the marriage of the Admiral, his future wife, Madame de Antramon, being on her way and not distant from these parts. It is also believed that the marriage of the eldest son of the Prince of Condé with a daughter of M. d'Andelot, who is the brother of the Admiral, will also take place at the same time. She is the heiress not only of her father but also of her mother, who was of the honourable and rich house of Laval. Nevertheless the Nuncio of the Pope is putting great pressure upon the King to prevent this marriage, alleging that it is contrary to the articles of peace, one of which sets forth that no marriage can be contracted contrary to the laws of the kingdom, and that the Prince and the lady of Laval, being first cousins are within the prohibited degrees. |
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La Ferté Melun, 28th December 1570. |
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[Italian.] |
