Rome: 1566, January-June | British History Online

Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Vatican Archives, Volume 1, 1558-1571. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1916.

'Rome: 1566, January-June', in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Vatican Archives, Volume 1, 1558-1571, (London, 1916) pp. 184-198. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/vatican/vol1/pp184-198 [accessed 25 April 2024]

1566, January–June



1566. Vat. Lib. Urb. Lat. 1040. f. 162d.	352. News Letter. … “In Scotland complete concord now reigns: in England the meeting of Parliament, which was to have taken place at Christmas, has been deferred so long that it is not now expected before February, when in one way or another the question of the Queen's marriage must be decided in order to settle the succession.” 5 Jan., 1566. Augsburg. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Arm. xxxix. vol. 64. p. 205. Arm. xliv. vol. 12. no. 9.	353. Pope Pius V to Mary, Queen of Scotland. Dilating on the distracted state of Christendom and his own insufficieny for the office which he holds, in which he is sustained only by trust in God and hope of aid from the Catholic Princes, and especially by the bright example set by the Queen and her consort, King Henry, in re-establishing the true religion throughout Scotland; exhorting the Queen to persevere in this pious work, to the eradication of heresy from the land, and the reclamation of her people to the true way of salvation; and assuring her that she may count upon every token of his fatherly love, and compliance so far as may be lawful with all her desires. 10 Jan., 1566. Rome. Latin. Minute. (fn. 1)
Ut supra, p. 203 and no. 10.	354. Pope Pius V to Henry, King of Scotland. To the like effect. 10 Jan., 1566. Rome. Latin. Minute. (fn. 2)
Vat. Arch. Arm. xv. Caps. xiii. no. 210.	355. Commission by Mary and Henry, Queen and King of Scots to William [Chisholm], Bishop of Dunblane, to present their obedience in due form to Pope Pius V. 31 Jan., 1565[–6]. Holyrood Palace, Scotland. Latin.
Vat. Arch. Varia Polit. vol. lxvi (Misc. Arm. ii. vol. 67). ff. 286 et seq. Vat. Lib. Barb. Lat. 4698. ff. 189–97.	356. [Sir Richard Shelley,] Prior of England to Pope Pius V. Urging him to spare no pains to effect the conversion of England, and endeavouring to prove that the task is less difficult than it appears, especially since the marriage of the Queen of Scotland with Lord Darnley affords a prospect of the eventual union of the two kingdoms. [Feb. ?] 1566. Rome. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Lib. Urb. Lat. 1040. f. 201d.	357. News Letter. … “We have tidings in this Court that the King of Scotland, being counselled by his friends that to secure peaceful possession of the kingdom he would do well to take the part of the Huguenots who were up in arms to avenge the death of the Earl of Arran, (fn. 3) had banished the priests, and taken other measures of so alarming a kind that the Queen had retired into one of her fortresses [Dunbar]. “According to other accounts she had taken refuge on shipboard, and it was not known where she had landed. But this intelligence is somewhat confused.” 26 March, 1566. The French Court. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Nunt. di. Spagna, vol. i. f. 303.	358. Pope Pius V to Philip II, Catholic King of the Spains. “Dearest our son in Christ, greeting, &c. On the discovery of mines of alum in a place (fn. 4) within the dominion of the Holy See and nigh to the City, that revenue was appropriated to the defence of the Christian commonwealth against the Turks, and to other pious uses: for which cause many of our predecessors made it the subject of many and diverse privileges, and inter alia forbade and interdicted under the most severe censures and pains of excommunication, and otherwise, the import of Turkish alum from that time forth into the parts of Christendom, or the purchase thereof by Christians, authorising at the same time by the same pains and censures the free and immune export of the alum of the Roman Church to all parts of Christendom. And this regulation with the utmost exactitude they caused to be everywhere observed, being accustomed as often as they learned of any breach thereof to make most grave complaint thereof to Christian Princes. “In which exactitude it is the more incumbent and imperative upon Us at this time to follow their example, that We find the Treasury of the Holy Roman Church much depleted and in debt, while it is yet necessary for Us to be at great expenditure, partly for the defence of our coast towns, partly to afford aid to those who are threatened with a war with the most powerful and ruthless enemy of the Christian name. Wherefore, since a great quantity of alum, has—not without great cost to the Apostolic Exchequer—been, and is still assiduously being, produced; and We desire that the usual quantity should be sent to Flanders and England, that with the money thereby gotten We may be able to assist our dear son the Master of the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, in the defence of the island of Malta against an immense Turkish fleet, and also to remit elsewhere necessary subsidies, We, after careful consideration, have sent Caesar Fontana to our dear daughter in Christ, the noble lady, the Duchess of Parma and Piacenza, Governess of Flanders, diligently to act in our behalf in this business of the alum. We crave, however, of your Majesty, that you also write to her touching the same matter, and direct her to comply with our desire, and lend your aid and influence to the completion of the business. Which office will be worthy of your Majesty's equitable mind and reverential regard for the Apostolic See, and most gratifying to Us.” 27 March, 1566. Rome. Latin. Copy.
Vat. Lib. Urb. Lat. 1040. f. 202.	359. News Letter. … “There is arrived here a gentleman sent by the Queen of England to make offer of her assistance in war, and it is believed that the negotiation for the Queen's marriage with the Archduke Charles is renewed.” 5 April, 1566. Vienna. Italian. Copy.
Ibid. f. 206.	360. News Letter. “It is reported that Scottish affairs were in great confusion, the new King having taken the side of the Huguenots, and the Queen having taken refuge in a castle, perchance with intent to pass thence to France; and that she was six months' gone in pregnancy, and that her chief secretary had been slain in her and the King's presence.” 6 April, 1566. Clermont. Italian. Copy.
Ibid. f. 203.	361. News Letter. “Translated from a letter of the Queen of Scotland to the Bishop of Dunblane, dated 1 April [1566]. (fn. 5) ‘Since the last advices sent by Us to our uncle, the Cardinal of Lorraine, We have returned to our royal city of Edinburgh, and for greater security We have withdrawn into the Castle, believing that it is by way of conspiracy that the rebels have fled into England, seeing that they are of so malignant a spirit that, as We have convinced the Lords, We being in our realm, and they in England, they are bent on negotiating with those of that religion to raise men and money against Us, insomuch that, in default of aid from our Holy Father, We doubt force may be put upon Us to accept their terms, or verily to lose our kingdom and our life. Wherefore, We command you, in regard as aforesaid and of the destruction of our church, and as it nearly concerns Us and our subjects, all exhausted as We are by our past exertions, to explain to our Holy Father that without his aid, which is next to that which We hope from God, it is not possible in any manner to save the Catholic religion from final ruin. And therefore, We take God to witness to our diligence in this matter, imploring the help of the Pope for this realm now so distraught that, as We have already said, force may be put upon Us to accept the terms of our rebellious and heretical subjects. This know, however, for certain, that We will rather quit the kingdom and our life than take such a course; and so you will tell our said Holy Father that We disburden Ourself and refer all to his Holiness.’” 9 April, 1566. Ferrara. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Misc. Arm. i. vol. 108. Pt. ii. f. 19.	362. John Baptista Castagna, Archbishop of Rossano, [Nuncio in Spain] to Cardinal Reomano. … “There being arrived here from England an ambassador who is a most extreme and inveterate heretic, an archdeacon of a Cathedral who has a wife and children, one of whom he has here with him and treats him as legitimate, and all his dependants being of the same sort, I deemed it my duty to his Catholic Majesty to bid him bethink him—as I did—how great a peril it is to have such a plague in these kingdoms, and how contagious and readily caught the distemper is, and that it is impossible that this man should not practise with many, and his dependants likewise, the more so that they must needs talk with people of an inferior order, and that the jeopardy is great, and that if his Majesty would do no more, at least he should instruct his officers, and especially those of the Inquisition, to keep an eye upon him and upon those with whom his dependants practise, and note their discourse and all their actions; and this, though perforce I had no such, or other order from his Holiness, since he could not foresee the arrival of this man, I nevertheless did, because I could not omit so to warn his Majesty, considering the place I hold, and as a Christian, and having witnessed what happened in France in the time of King Henry, when there came from England to that Court, and to Paris, an ambassador of the like sort, and his dependants' practices infected many, as presently began to appear, and were in great measure the cause of the spread of that disorder by which France is still infected and afflicted. “His Majesty took my remarks in good part and thanked me for them, and said that it vexed him much that the Queen should have sent him so perverse a man, and that indeed he had already thought of sending him warning to say nothing against our religion, and that he will do so, and will give orders that an eye be kept upon him, that he do no harm, and that he will be on his guard and very vigilant.” 29 April, 1566. Madrid. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Arm. xliv. vol. 7. f. 47. vol. 12. no. 68.	363. Pope Pius V to Philip II, Catholic King of the Spains. The Pope expresses his horror at the late attempt upon the life of the Queen of Scotland, the more atrocious by reason of her pregnancy. This outrage he imputes to the machinations of Queen Elizabeth, and urges the Catholic King to write to both Queens, to Elizabeth, sharply censuring her conduct and assuring her that, if she should openly or covertly abet, counsel or favour the Scottish rebels, their sovereign would not lack his support, and to Mary, promising her his aid. Such aid the Pope himself would furnish, were it not that he is so far from the scene of action, and compelled to assist alike the Knights of Malta and the Emperor in the impending war with the Turks, and also to expend large sums in putting his and the Roman Church's coast towns in a state of defence against their fleet, and that notwithstanding that the Apostolic See is heavily in debt. In such circumstances the King by succouring the Queen of Scots will oblige the Pope as much as her Majesty. 2 May, 1566. Rome. Latin. Copies.
Vat. Arch. Nunt. di. Spagna, vol. i. f. 331.	364. Michael Banally, Cardinal Alessandrino to John Baptista Castagna, Archbishop of Rossano, Nuncio in Spain. Note enclosing the foregoing brief for immediate presentation to the Catholic King. 4 May, 1566. Rome. Italian.
Vat. Arch. Arm. xliv. vol. 7. f. 45. vol. 12. no. 69.	365. Pope Pius V to Charles IX, King of the French. Exhorting him to undertake the defence of the Queen of Scots, and excusing himself on the same grounds as in the letter to the King of Spain. 4 May, 1566. Rome. Latin. Copies.
Vat. Arch. Arm. xliv. vol. 12. no. 70.	366. The Same to Mary, Queen of Scotland. “It was with mingled joy and grief that We learned what befell you after the departure of your ambassador the venerable Bishop of Dunblane on his mission to Us. The jeopardy in which you stood by reason of the nefarious machinations of the heretics, rebels against you and God, affected Us at once with horror and grief beyond measure; yet much greater was the rejoicing that was afforded Us by the courage and lofty spirit evinced by you in such a crisis and your admirable constancy, unperturbed by fear, no matter what the peril, to your pious purpose of defending the Catholic religion. For which end, doubtless, it is that by God's grace you are delivered out of the hands of the impious. We felicitate, therefore, your piety, that by such constancy you have not only won from men boundless and enduring renown, but have also secured from the Lord another and far more splendid crown than that which you wear in your temporal kingdom, the crown, to wit, which Christ has preordained and prepared for His faithful in Heaven. “But, as We deem that she, by whose contrivance, as very many suspect, these nefarious plots were laid against your life and realm, will not at such a time desist, We, at the instance of your uncle, our dear son Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, have written to our most dear son in Christ, the Catholic King of the Spains, most earnestly entreating him to use his influence to deter her from such execrable attempts. We have also exhorted the Most Christian King and Queen of the French to lend you aid, that what We were confident they would do of their own accord they might be encouraged by our exhortation and prayers to do more zealously. And though, despite a most grievous load of debt, We have been compelled to send aid to the Emperor Elect of the Romans and the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, war by the most powerful enemy of the Christian name being this summer imminent, by land against Austria, by sea against the island of Malta, and moreover We are compelled to be at great expense for the protection of our and the Holy Roman Church's coast towns against a hostile fleet, nevertheless, We are determined that at such a time We and our household should want rather than that you should want. And so We purpose speedily to send you money, not indeed as much as We could wish, but as much as We can afford. We will also send you a Nuncio Apostolic to be your associate on our part in your labours, and to lend you and yours all.such aid as he may. We exhort you, dearest daughter, to be comforted and strong in the Lord, and of good hope that not God's protection alone but man's succour will not fail you. The rest you will learn from the letter of the Bishop of Dunblane who is approved of Us no less than of you.” 12 May, 1566. Rome. Latin. Copy. (fn. 6)
Vat. Lib. Barb. Lat. 3376 (xlii. 61). f. 139d.	367. John Andrew Caligari to [John Francis] Commendone, Cardinal Legate at the Imperial Diet at Augsburg. … “To-day in Consistory the Pope spoke of aiding the Queen of Scots, and praised her masculine spirit, which put to shame many of the Catholics of Germany, who lacked the courage to confess their faith openly. It seems that our affairs have taken a good turn, and so his Holiness may be of good cheer and take what measures he may choose, if they subserve the cause of God.” 15 May, 1566. Rome. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Arm. xliv. vol. 7. f. 57.	368. Pope Pius V to Maximilian, Emperor Elect of the Romans. “Your desire for an increase of your pecuniary subsidy communicated to Us by your letter dated 23 April, and by your ambassador, We regard with such benignity that, were our resources as great as our spirit is willing, We should abundantly comply with your request. For indeed in the stress of so great a war We deem you so deserving of all our aid that We should think it right to succour you not with money alone, but, were it possible, with our own blood. But since that time when, as your Majesty writes, We afforded you hope of an increase of the subsidy, it has chanced that We have been unexpectedly compelled to grant pecuniary assistance to the Queen of Scotland, harassed as she is by the heretics and put in the utmost peril of her kingdom and her very life, since it would have been impious to desert so Catholic a Queen in such extremity of need. It has also chanced that We are compelled to provide great garrisons for the defence of the towns of both the sea-coasts of our and the Holy Roman Church's dominions; for which purpose much more money is needed than may have to be sent to our dear son the Master of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem for the defence of the island of Malta; howbeit We too may be compelled to furnish a sum not much below the same amount for the protection of the island. And this expenditure We are compelled to make, although We are able to raise no subsidy from the peoples within the Church's dominions, being fain to spare them by reason of the very grievous burdens that have been laid upon them in past years. In these circumstances We will furnish your Majesty with our promised pecuniary subsidy, for raising 3,000 foot. If, however, We at present promise your Majesty no greater sum of money, be assured that it is not that We lack the will but the power; and nevertheless, if We shall be able, We will furnish you with yet more than We have promised.” 15 May, 1566. Rome. Latin. Copy.
Vat. Lib. Urb. Lat. 1040. f. 229d.	369. News Letter. … “His Holiness is sending a Nuncio to Scotland and ample aid in money to enable the Queen to cope with the insidious designs of her rival of England and to keep the realm Catholic, besides briefs of a kind to leave her no ground for dissatisfaction with the fatherly assurances received hence… “This morning some Knights of the Teutonic Order were publicly honoured together with the Ambassador of their Religion: among them was said to be the Grand Master of Germany. They are going to Malta, and they went to receive the Papal benediction. It is believed that the Prior of England was there also.” 18 May, 1566. Rome. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Lib. Barb. Lat. 3376 (xlii. 61). ff. 145–6.	370. John Andrew Caligari to John [Francis] Commendone, Cardinal Legate at the Imperial Diet at Augsburg. ”Before dinner on Monday the 20th inst. I visited on your business the Imperial ambassador, by whom I was evidently anxiously expected: and he at once fell upon the business that had brought me with the view, I suppose, of tripping me up and eliciting something, his knowledge of the affair being imperfect, as indeed in regard to other matters his information is apt to be pretty stale. “I said that the question of the public peace was on the tapis when I left, and that that was as much as I knew, and so I adroitly passed to another topic, the more easily because he perceived that I could not dance to that tune, and I recounted to him the story of the succour and some other like matters, answering such questions as he put to me. He touched chiefly on two points: 1. That he was not sure whether the Pope by aiding the Queen of Scotland had not put it out of his power to furnish, not merely the 3,000 infantry for the Emperor's use, but also that further aid which he had promised him in the event of the subsidy for Malta proving unnecessary; 2. That the posture of affairs in Germany was as bad as he had ever known it, and, indeed, such that if the Pope should not make up his mind to concede something to the Princes and the peoples their subjects in regard to religion and freedom of life—he instanced eating meat at all seasons—they would never return to the church. “As to the first matter I said that his Excellency had seen his Holiness so prompt to succour his Imperial Majesty according to the measure of his power that he had no reason to doubt of aught, and that, albeit the Holy See was reduced to great pecuniary straits, his Holiness had, nevertheless, shown himself as liberal as his predecessors had done in the plenitude of their wealth. Here he interposed, saying that by aiding the Queen of Scotland, while she lacked the support alike of the Most Christian King and of the Catholic King, the Pope would do more harm than good and defeat his own intention by fomenting the hatred of the heretics of Scotland and England against her.” 20 May, 1566. Rome. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Arm. lxiv. vol. 28. f. 111.	371. Information by Bernardino Ferrario, Gentleman, of Pavia, to be submitted to Pope Pius V. “How great has ever been my devotion to the Holy Apostolic See, and how much, when and wheresoever I have found opportunity, I have laboured and suffered in its service, I shall pass over in silence, seeing that it is known to God and the world. This only I will say, that on the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the English throne, I, after wearying myself with fruitless exertions on behalf of the said See, retired with the Queen's gracious permission to my native Pavia, where I have still continued constant to my purpose, as I shall do while I live. I kissed with all humility the hand of the Cardinal, who is now Pope Pius V, in the chamber in S. Tomaso, being introduced by Father Don Vincenzo then Prior, and I apprised him of the condition of England, and offered him my aid, such as it might be, towards bringing the Queen back to the obedience of the Holy Apostolic See. He very kindly promised to broach the matter to his predecessor, Pope Pius [IV]; and now I make the same offer to his Holiness, in whose service I am ready to expose myself to every sort of imminent peril and to death itself, being confident that, dying for so meet and holy a cause, I should be numbered with the blessed spirits who have suffered death for the Catholic faith. Most humbly, therefore, I supplicate his Holiness, that if he should be minded to endeavour to bring that most unhappy kingdom back to the true light, he would deign to make use of my aid.” [1566.] Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Arm. lxiv. vol. 28. f. 110.	372. Bernardino Ferrario to John Cardinal Moroni. Soliciting his aid in furtherance of his projected mission, the purpose of which appears from the enclosures. 22 May, 1566. Pavia. Italian. Copy. Enclosure I:—
Ibid. f. 113.	373. Tomaso Scoto, Bishop of Terni, to Bernardino Ferrario. “We have shown the Pope the information containing your offer of your services for bringing Queen Elizabeth back to the obedience of Holy Church at the risk, if need be, of your own life; and, marking the just solicitude which is and has ever been yours for the exaltation of the holy faith, his Holiness is much gratified, and says that he desires you to send him a succinct account of the means which you would use to bring her Majesty back to the true faith; and if they should seem to him meet and expedient for the salvation of those people and the exaltation of Holy Church, he entirely approves their adoption, even though it were necessary to stake his own life upon the venture. Wherefore, desirous as We well know that you are to accomplish so good and holy a work, you will not fail to send a brief information of the method you purpose to employ for bringing that kingdom back to Holy Church, to which undertaking We doubt not that God will shew Himself favourable and propitious.” 21 March, 1566. Rome. Italian. Copy. Enclosure II:—
Ibid. f. 112.	374. Bernardino Ferrario to Tomaso Scoto, Bishop of Terni. “Never in all my life did aught afford me more consolation than your most judicious letter in which you apprise me that you have done your most Christian office with his Holiness, and that it is his most holy will to bring the Queen of England back to the true faith, to which end he requires of me a succinct account of the means which I purpose to use in so pious an undertaking. Accordingly, after kissing in all humility the Pope's most holy feet and rendering due thanks to you, I say that, placing my main trust in Almighty God, whose it is to aid just and holy enterprises, I purpose with the blessing and at the behest of his Holiness to journey towards England, and with all the address and assiduity of which I am capable to acquaint myself with the religion, the divers interests, and the government of the kingdom, my principal informants being not a few gentlemen who have quitted the kingdom for religion's sake, having been high in authority at the Court of Queen Mary, and also many gentlemen my friends and confidants who are Catholics, but dissemble for worldly reasons and fear of penalties, and are high in favour and in chief authority under her Majesty. To them I shall open my mind frankly, burning as I am for the glory of the most High God and of the most holy Apostolic See, and yearning for the honour and weal of the Queen and her people; and as a Christian, and a most devoted and attached servant of her Majesty, I shall set forth the loss and the gain that may ensue should she continue or change her present policy, urging her to reconcile herself betimes with this most holy and merciful Pastor from whose infinite goodness, piety and clemency she will obtain all those honourable terms and graces that she can crave, and yet more besides. Suit shall be made to the Council as time and occasion shall serve and it shall please God to afford me light and his Holiness to command me, ever most ready as I shall be to risk my own life for his service. “Meseems I may not omit with all reverence to inform you that it is necessary for me to negotiate with great secrecy and caution as there is a law that no man may talk of reconciliation with the Holy Roman Church on pain of high treason; and I subsist on a pension of 300 crowns per annum for life, which is remitted to me at Milan, and a noble per day during the Queen's pleasure. I will say no more, that I be not burdensome to his Holiness.” 25 April, 1566. Pavia. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Lib. Urb. Lat. 1040. f. 232.	375. News Letter. “The Bishop of Mondovi is making ready to go as Nuncio to Scotland. He is a creature of the Pope and a servant of the Cardinal of Ferrara. The report goes, but is ill founded, that the Pope may make some Cardinals at this time…. “It is said that his Holiness has remitted moneys to Antwerp and other places in aid of the Queen of Scotland.” 25 May, 1566. Rome. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Lib. Barb. Lat. 3376 (xlii. 61). ff. 147–8d.	376. John Andrew Caligari to [John Francis] Commendone, Cardinal Legate at the Imperial Diet at Augsburg. “Yesterday after long waiting, I was ushered into the Pope's presence; and in your name presented to him the book which I carried bound in russet leather and gold, very beautiful in design, with his Holiness' arms in the middle. His Holiness, when he understood what the book treated of, and by whom it was sent, was greatly delighted with it, particularly when he perceived that it controverted the Centuries of Magdeburg, against which, I understand, he is putting the Bishop of La Cava, the friar, upon writing; and so, the author being an Englishman, (fn. 7) he found occasion to enter into the affairs of Germany and England, deploring the pitiable plight of those nations, and praising the English as for the most part pious Catholics and very zealous. “I said that though there were many sad folk in Germany, there were also in that country many good Catholics, who maintained the cause of his Holiness and the Holy See and the truth, and that in England, as the Pope said and I had understood from you, there were also many Catholics, among them some that do honour to their great zeal, insomuch that they had even the courage to brave imprisonment by celebrating and hearing Mass, recking nought of the capital penalties which they have there; and that there were many English theologians in exile at Louvain and elsewhere, all toiling assiduously in vinea Domini, among whom I mentioned with commendation your theologian, Dr. Nicolas Sader (sic), a man of letters and good life. I also spoke to him of that English Earl's son who came accompanied only by Dr. Nicolas to Augsburg to kiss your hand this last Lent, duping the attendants, and leaving them in the cathedral church, and of his father's great station and influence in that kingdom, and how good a Catholic he was and what a friend to you, and how well you knew his great beneficence to the poor Catholics banished from the realm, especially such as suffered for religion, which had occasioned his first exertions on behalf of the Apostolic See, to all which his Holiness listened with the utmost delight. I then told him of the cross found on that tempest-torn ash tree in England, of which an exact depiction was in the book, and as he was curious to see it, I opened the volume at the page, and he gazed upon it with wonder and great solace.” 27 May, 1566. Rome. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Nunt. di Spagna, vol. i. f. 320.	377. [Michael Bonelli,] Cardinal Alessandrino to John Baptista Castagna, Archbishop of Rossano, Nuncio to his Catholic Majesty. “… For the very reasons set forth in your letter the arrival at His Catholic Majesty's Court of the ambassador from England is viewed by his Holiness with no small displeasure, which will increase the longer he stays there, as it may readily be believed that his presence is likely to be hurtful rather than otherwise to souls in that kingdom on all accounts. In regard to which matter you will do your office on his Holiness' behalf, representing to his Majesty, discreetly and adroitly, the zeal and piety with which his Holiness ever watches over Christendom in general and these kingdoms in particular. “This is all that needs to be said at present.” 29 May, 1566. Rome. Italian.
Vat. Lib. Urb. Lat. 1040. f. 234d.	378. News Letter. “An envoy from the Queen of England arrived here and proceeded to Vienna to negotiate with his Highness her marriage with the Archduke Charles.” 1 June, 1566. Augsburg. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Arm. xliv. vol. 12. no. 77.	379. Pope Pius V to Vincent [Lauri], Bishop of Mondovi. Accrediting him as Nuncio Apostolic to Mary Queen of Scots. 3 June, 1566. Rome. Latin. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Misc. Arm. i. vol. 108. Pt. ii. f. 25. Borgh. I. vol. 606. f. 50.	380. John Baptista Castagna, Archbishop of Rossano, Nuncio in Spain] to [Michael Bonelli,] Cardinal Alessandrino. “I send this letter by a gentleman who is going to Milan, risking it because it cannot be long before a, courier departs for Rome or Sicily by whom I shall send you a longer letter. This is only to apprise you that on the 24th of last month I received the brief that his Holiness sends his Majesty touching the case of the Queen of Scotland, and therewith your letters of the 29th April and 4th May, with the other brief addressed to me, to the effect that credence be given to your letters in form &c., and another to the Duke of Alba.” 5 June, 1566. Madrid. Italian. Copy.
Ibid. f. 26. Borgh. I. vol. 606. ff. 52–54.	381. The Same to the Same. “I have just returned from the audience of his Majesty, at which I presented his Holiness' brief, accompanying it with many words designed to make him understand how great is the degree of his Holiness' grief and displeasure at this persecution of the Queen of Scotland, and how earnestly he exhorts and beseeches his Majesty to afford her such aid and succour as he can, at least by writing, ambassages, influence and countenance, if in no other way, and how honourable and holy an enterprise it will be to undertake the defence of a Queen oppressed by her own vassals and neighbouring tyrants for no other cause than that she is a Catholic and a meritorious adherent of the faith of Christ and the Holy Apostolic See, and with no other object than to compel her to prevaricate, and to dispossess her. “Likewise I told him how desirous his Holiness is that his Majesty should comfort and confirm the Queen in adhering to her holy purpose, and at the same time give the Queen of England to understand that he would be well pleased if she would desist from troubling the Queen of Scotland in any way, and think not that he is going to suffer her to be thus ill-treated without any cause or reason, &c. “His Majesty gave me a hearing and a gracious answer, as is his wont, saying that he kisses his Holiness' feet, and is obliged to him for desiring to enlist his service in the cause of God and the holy faith, and that he has given the Queen of Scotland aid ever since the first action taken by the rebels, when he sent her 20,000 crowns, though, as ill luck would have it, the ship that carried them was wrecked on the English coast, and he that was in charge of the money was drowned, and it is not yet known what became of it. “True it was that he gave his aid privily because it was expedient not to discover himself, and he did so at the request of the Queen herself, and as in their common interest they had agreed. He added that the king of France had behaved well, and directed that open countenance should be shown the Queen, and that if he himself had likewise declared in her favour, the Queen might perhaps have had some reason to doubt whether those who are her nearer neighbours and in a better position to afford her help, to wit, the French, might not grow lukewarm, while the Queen of England would have been more incensed. Moreover he had already given orders to his ambassador in England to countenance the Queen of Scotland as much as may be. He acknowledged that all the favour aforesaid was done when occasion first arose, to wit, when the rebels first took action against her, and that upon this second emergency he has done nothing, nor been asked to do aught. But now he assures and promises his Holiness that he will do as he bids in his brief and all else that he shall deem expedient. He believes that by this time the Queen may have been delivered of a child, and that this may, perhaps, afford the kingdom some quietude. He says that he knows well that the Queen of England had a hand in the first revolution, but he does not believe that she has any part in the second. “In the course of the conversation, having mentioned that the Queen's husband is not as sound in the faith as he should be, and that the heretics had sought to corrupt him by offering to to secure him the succession to the throne as a native of the kingdom, I saw fit to observe that in this matter also his Majesty might do much in aid of religion, not only by strengthening and inspiriting the Queen, as I have said, but also by giving her husband to understand either in a friendly way, or in terms of menace, as the occasion might demand, that he must either be a Catholic or count upon the enmity of the Catholic King. “In short his Majesty evinced a firm resolve to afford all opportune assistance.” 7 June, 1566. Madrid. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Lib. Urb. Lat. 1040. f. 238d.	382. News Letter. “It is believed that the negotiation for the match between the Archduke Charles and the Queen of England will go no further, because she says she would have a husband that conforms to her religion, and this his Highness will not do.” 13 June, 1566. Vienna. Italian. Copy.
Ibid. f. 241d.	383. Same. “There is still here an Ambassador of the Queen of England lodging quasi incognito in the house of Signor Prainer, Chancellor and President of his Highness' Chamber of Receipts. It is the same that was Ambassador to the Emperor Ferdinand in the business of this marriage of the Archduke Charles. He is to have an audience to-morrow, his Highness being now completely cured of his pox.” 13 June, 1566, Vienna. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Lib. Urb. Lat. 1040. f. 240.	384. News Letter. “The marriage of the Archduke Charles of Austria with the Queen of England is understood to be arranged…. “They say that the Bishop of Mondovi will depart on the 17th for Scotland.” 15 June, 1566. Rome. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Varia Polit. vol. lxxxiii. f. 57.	385. Pope Pius V to Mary, Queen of Scotland. “As soon as We learned how you were harassed by the machinations of seditious men and strangers to the true and Catholic religion, We failed not with all the heartfelt and fatherly affection that befitted the circumstances to have recourse to God in prayer; and fearing lest by reason of our sins We were not worthy to be heard, We caused prayer to be made to Him by many religious and servants of the great God; and as it was with regret that We were not able to give our own blood and life to succour you, so We did not fail to do our office with our most dear sons in Christ, the Catholic Princes, that they should lend you aid. Afterward it pleased the Divine mercy and clemency to temper in some degree the severity of our sorrow by giving Us to know of your deliverance from so great a peril, for which grace We gave thanks, not indeed such as were due, but such as our petty powers and feeble spirit rendered possible. And being unable by reason of our advanced age and many burdens to come to you in person, We have seen fit to send our venerable and dear brother, the Bishop of Mondovi, the bearer of this letter, a man of rare virtue, goodness, learning and prudence, our prelate and nuncio, that he may be at your service in all emergencies, as he, in whom you will repose full faith, will explain to you. And rest assured that We cannot and will not fail to afford you whatever help is in our power. And so We pray Him who in His providence, and for no merits of ours, has made us His vicar, to grant your Royal Highness constancy and invincible courage.” 16 June, 1566. Rome. Italian. Draft in the Pope's own hand.
Vat. Lib. Urb. Lat. 1040. f. 245d.	386. News Letter. “The Bishop of Mondovi departed on Tuesday for Scotland: he takes with him the wherewithal to succour the Queen at her need and many an Agnus Dei and Indulgence to present to her.” 22 June, 1566. Rome. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Nunt. di Spagna, vol. i. f. 319.	387. [Michael Bonelli,] Cardinal Alessandrino to [John Baptista Castagna,] Archbishop of Rossano, Nuncio to his Catholic Majesty. “… The Pope has seen fit for the consolation of that so Catholic Queen [of Scots], and for the confirmation likewise of the good people of that country, to send as nuncio to Scotland Mgr. of Mondovi, who departed eight days ago.” 25 June, 1566. Rome. Italian.
Vat. Arch. Misc. Arm. i. vol. 108. Pt. ii. f. 28. Borgh. I. vol. 606. f. 56d.	388. John Baptista Castagna, Archbishop of Rossano, [Nuncio in Spain] to [Michael Bonelli,] Cardinal Alessandrino. “His Majesty has given the English ambassador (fn. 8) to understand that he must take heed how he speaks, and how his dependants converse, and he has also ordered that an eye be kept upon him. They say the ambassador is now in his senses, and that for some days past during the processions of the Corpus Domini, which the King and all the Court attended all the way, very long though it was, with great devotion, and without once covering the head, the said ambassador stood at a window and raised his cap to the Sacrament, which was remarked and reported to the King; nor will they cease to watch him carefully. But whether his stay be long or short rests with her that sent him and not with his Majesty.” 30 June, 1566. Madrid. Italian. Copy.