Rome: May 1577 | British History Online

Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Vatican Archives, Volume 2, 1572-1578. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1926.

'Rome: May 1577', in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Vatican Archives, Volume 2, 1572-1578, (London, 1926) pp. 304-312. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/vatican/vol2/pp304-312 [accessed 20 April 2024]

May 1577



1577. Vat. Arch. Arm. xliv. vol. 23. ff. 322, 323. no. 457.	599. Pope Gregory XIII: in Commendation of Richard Norton, Englishman. Soliciting the good offices of all Princes, Lords, Governors and Wardens of all places which he shall visit, for Richard Norton, an English Catholic exile of noble blood and exceptional piety, who in extreme old age, destitute and accompanied solely by his daughter, is on his way from Rome, where he has resided for more than two years, to Belgium. 1 May, 1577. Rome. Latin. Copy. Similar brief of the same date to Louis [de Berlaymont], Archbishop of Cambray.
Vat. Lib. Urb. Lat. 1045. f. 314.	600. News Letter. … “They write from Spain that the Catholic King was somewhat indisposed; and had debarred the Duke of Alva from access to the royal chamber, and suspended him from the Council of State, being certified that his Excellency had not only brought about the revolution of Flanders, but also had the closest possible relations with the Queen of England, to whom, in prejudice of his Majesty's affairs, he was very obliging in mercantile matters, cherishing the vain hope which she held out of marrying his son, the Prior.” (fn. 1) 4 May, 1577. Rome. Italian. Copy.
Vat. Arch. Nunt. d'Inghilt. vol. i. ff. 341–3.	601. [Philip Sega,] Bishop of Ripa, Nuncio in Flanders to [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como. “I have forborne to write to you since the 29th of last month, because of the difficulty of ensuring delivery; and from you I have no letters of later date than the 2nd of April; which irks me because the delay makes me doubtful whether mine have not miscarried. “By this letter I have to tell you that, though as soon as ever the soldiers had quitted Antwerp, it was the universal desire of these Estates to anticipate the terms of the capitulation and invite his Highness to assume the Government; nevertheless, as no way was discovered to make sure that the Prince of Orange would not take upon himself to refuse to acquiesce in carrying out the articles of the peace on the pretext that there had been no observance of them with him by the Estates, his Highness deemed it expedient not to quit Louvain till the Spaniards should have crossed the Meuse. So, on the 1st of May, his Highness came to Brussels, where he was received with the honour due to so great a lord. I enlarge not on the details, for it would occupy too much space; enough that on the 3rd the Estates besought him to accept the burden of government, which he assumed on the 4th in great state and to the general satisfaction, and with those evidences of religious devotion, masses and processions, of which you will be informed by another channel, to his own no small satisfaction. And since that day he has applied himself to business with such ability and so much to the satisfaction of all that, judging by the commencement, one may reasonably infer that the sequel will be prosperous, albeit there lack not difficulties, of which there are three that are most imminent; to wit, how to raise the funds to pay off these soldiers, Scots, Walloons and Germans, who were hired by the Estates, which is his Highness' chief care; and at the same time to ascertain the mind of the Prince [of Orange] in regard to this peace, for, not content with standing on his guard, he is fortifying some places in Holland and Zealand: for which reason some men have been sent express both by the Estates and by his Highness, to discover how the land lies at least so far as may suffice to enable them with more security to treat of the third article of the General Congregation of the Estates. Meanwhile, his Highness is busy endeavouring to win many over in order to promote as advantageous a result as possible of the deliberations of that Congregation, as I shall perhaps take the opportunity afforded by an express courier, whom his Highness has let it be known that he means to despatch to Italy, to explain more fully.” 11 May, 1577. Brussels. Italian. Copy. Postscript.—“His Highness has shown me the brief of the indulgence, which at the proper time will be much to the purpose. It is deemed, however, that it should not be published until the General Congregation of the Estates be held, as there should then be more likelihood of finding minds better disposed, and the difficulties, which are at present imminent, less formidable.” Further Postscript.—“I have seen the letter in cipher, and have considered the proposed design; and to-day I have an appointment with his Highness to discuss it. Enough that the business is not so easy as perchance it was represented there [at Rome], as, by the courier that I can count on as safe, I will write you fully. Meanwhile it will be well to walk warily in dealing with Stucley, because the Queen of England, I know not how, penetrates everything, as I have learned from her ambassador, so that I shall write by the courier aforesaid; and if Geraldine (fn. 2) have not already departed, or if the situation be such that the business might be kept in suspense under some pretext until the arrival of my first letters, no harm would be done, because then with full comprehension of the nature of the business it would be possible to take some riper decision in regard to it.” Decipher. Italian.
Vat. Arch. Nunt. d'Inghilt. vol. i. f. 367 et seq.	602. [Philip Sega,] Bishop of Ripa, Nuncio in Flanders to [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como. “I had been nearly two months in these parts without the least attention being paid to me by the Queen of England's ambassador, Thomas Wilson by name; nay, we had not so much as had an opportunity of meeting, when, after the arrival of his Highness [Don John] I discovered that this man wished to know if I would be willing to receive a visit from him, and I told my informant that I should be glad to see him; and three days after he had sent to apprise me of his intention, he came. And after making a sort of half protest that he came but of his own accord to visit me as one public man might visit another, without any commission from his Queen, although he had already written to her that he desired to do this office, he made a long discourse by way of persuading me that his Queen desired to live at peace and on good terms with all the world; adding that umbrage had been taken at my coming, because it was supposed that I had come to establish a league against the said Queen and others whom we call heretics; and that it was understood that the Pope was entertaining Thomas Stucley at Rome, because he gave his Holiness to understand that he wished to do the Queen a mischief, but that if the Pope knew that Stucley was a broken braggart and impostor who would squander the resources of the King, not to say of the Pope, his Holiness would have nothing to do with him, particularly if he knew that the said Thomas had been dismissed alike by the King of Spain and the King of France; and that he marvelled to learn that I was the bearer of letters of his Holiness to the said Stucley, thinking to find him here, and that I was also the bearer of a list of all the Catholics of England. “I answered him in substance that I could not but be gratified by his attention, and glad to see him as a public man; but that I should have been yet more gratified by the attention, and yet more glad to see him, if, as ambassador of the Queen of England, he had come to visit me as nuncio of the Pope with that due ceremony which for so many years had been observed by all the monarchs, the Queen's predecessors, who, living after the Catholic fashion, kept all that realm stedfast in the Catholic faith, doing due reverence to the Pope and his Ministers; but, as the times were to blame for this, I could not but pray God to re-illuminate their minds with the truth; and that meanwhile I had this to comfort me, that the Queen, being wise, as the ambassador himself acknowledged her to be, and they (the Ministers) having been born and for many a year bred in the Catholic faith, they must needs many a time be conscious of a conflict between that natural and true instinct and this casual, unlawful sectarianism in religion; and that therefore I hoped in God that the truth would prevail; and that I knew not how the Queen could desire to live in peace if she were not at pains first of all to make her peace with God, and be on good terms with His Divine Majesty; that this conflict done with, I knew not who would molest her; that she might now be well assured that I had come neither to form a league nor for any other purpose than that which I had publicly announced; that his Holiness' present endeavour was to form a league with God to see if with the arms of prayers and tears he might vanquish this enemy, who with such astuteness is ever going about to dismember the flock; and that if the Pope entertained Stucley or other Englishmen (of which I had no knowledge), it must be to relieve the distresses of those that are banished from their homes, and have forfeited their own substance for zeal in the cause of the faith: that I did not believe that they themselves believed that his Holiness was so resourceless that, if he had had a mind to hurt the Queen, it would have been necessary for him to make use of a private person, able as he is in such affairs to command the services of Kings and Emperors; and that, as I saw that this which had been told him of the league, and the letter and the list of which I was said to be the bearer, was the very contrary of the truth, so I thought that the rest of his information was likewise false; and that I could have wished that the Queen and he had been in such a position that I could safely have offered them my service, as I would have been prompt to do, and no less prompt to pray God for their salvation; for this I knew I might do, as I could assure him that the Pope, like God, non desiderabat mortem peccatoris, sed quod converteretur et viveret. “What he said in reply I shall not record, for, as my discourse was long, the dialogue would be inordinately so; enough that in the course of the conversation he said that upon occasion of a dispensation for marriage he had been at Rome in the time of Paul IV, and that, at the suggestion of Cardinal Pole, he had been imprisoned by the Inquisition, and had been nine months in prison, and had got out at the sack of Ripetta, (fn. 3) during the vacancy of the See, and that in the business of the dispensation he had received many favours from his Holiness, then in minoribus: and that he had a son, twelve years old, whom in the course of two years he meant to send to Italy, there to be brought up, with an allowance of 400 crowns by the year. I proposed that he should give him to me, in which case I would present him to his Holiness, who would have him brought up in that holy discipline in which are reared those of Germany and other parts whom the Pope nurtures entirely at his own expense in the German College at Rome. This offer he neither accepted nor refused; but on leaving he said that he would write the Queen word of our conversation; and that if it would not be disagreeable to me, he would pay me some other visits. I replied that I should always be glad to see him, protesting that I should ever talk with a view to his conversion. I have not seen him since, and I am persuaded that that visit was paid at the Queen's instance, perchance for the purpose of discovering whether I had any other commissions, thanks to the false report that was raised that I had come about the business of the league; and though nothing of importance passed in this conversation, yet I could not refrain from giving you an account of it.” [c. 11 May, (fn. 4) ] 1577. Brussels. Decipher. Italian.
Vat. Arch. Nunt. d'Inghilt. vol. i. f. 369.	603. [Philip Sega,] Bishop of Ripa, Nuncio in Flanders to [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como. “I did not speak with the English ambassador until I had consulted his Highness, to whom I also gave an account of the conversation, and we then took occasion to discuss your cipher of 2 April. The net result was that his Highness would like to attempt the enterprise, but affairs are becoming so tangled here that he cannot positively determine either the when or the how, because his departure hence at the time that he thought of verges on the impossible, nor would it be a safe plan for him to go in person to Italy, as aforetime he talked to me of doing, because she [Queen Elizabeth], who stands in great dread of him, and observes all his actions, and has her spies everywhere, would have time to provide for her defence, thereby increasing the difficulty of the enterprise, which, in any case, must be essayed with great caution, considering the forces which the Prince of Orange commands, and the understanding that he has with her: not to mention that by what I gather from his and Escovedo's talk it may be a very difficult job, calling for dexterity on our part, to induce the Catholic King to aid us in another way, since the hopes that were entertained of the Spanish troops have come to nought. “Escovedo, with whom I have conversed at large, evinces great ardour, knowing as he does how necessary it is for reasons which I will set forth hereafter; and he is inclined to think that in the first operation troops from Biscay and Guipuzcoa should be employed, the fleet starting from the port of Laredo, and making for two places in the North, the one at the end of the longest cape of the island, about nine days' distance from the Queen's forces, the other about a day and a half from Scefild [Sheffield], where the Queen of Scotland is kept, in order to attempt her liberation as soon as possible; and that it should be supported by the fleet of the Germans and Italians, which should sail from Italy and make for whatever part of the coast might seem most convenient. And he says that it would be above all things needful that the enterprise should be made in the name of his Holiness, the better to authorize it and to prevent either the French or any others moving to thwart it, as perchance they might do if the attempt were made in the name of the Catholic King. “As to the general to command the enterprise, though he thinks his Highness would be very suitable, nevertheless, besides the objection to his quitting the country, he sees not how his exit could be made without discovery. However, all matters would be set right if the Catholic King would make up his mind, and we were quit of apprehension of this Prince of Orange, who is an obstacle of capital importance, as you will be able to gather both from the enclosed discourse (fn. 5) and from the letter. The arguments to be used to gain over his Majesty are as follows:—That since it was of his own doing that that realm [of England] was lost to the House of Austria and the Apostolic See, when against the will of all men he resolved to quit England, whereby, being absent, he was ousted thereof at the death of Queen Mary, he is now bound in conscience to recover it for both the one and the other. “That having been well served by the brother [Don John], who, moreover, was warmly commended to him by the Emperor Charles [V], he is therefore under obligation to requite him; and as the brother desires no part of the hereditary realms, he should lend him aid in arms to acquire some State; and, turn whither one may, there is none more meet for the purpose than this, nor to which there is a better claim. “That as he has given the Queen no just cause to injure him as she has done during these troubles in the Low Countries, he is bound to resent it, so as not to lay himself open to similar presumption on the part of others encouraged by his supineness. “That if his Majesty desire to recover the reputation that he has lost by making this peace on such disadvantageous terms, and while such perils are imminent, he must needs attempt this enterprise in order to show the world that it was not without reason that those concessions to his vassals were allowed, the reason being that they served to facilitate that which was of more pressing importance against the foreigners. “That if his Majesty desire to reduce the Low Countries to the pristine Catholic religion, obedience, and righteousness, he must needs attempt their subjugation with the forces of that realm and a strong Spanish garrison; which will serve to curb not only the peoples of the realm itself, but also those of the Low Countries and the neighbouring districts, especially as it will have so famous, valiant, prudent and religious a commander. “But if we essay not this enterprise, the nefarious Queen, who aspired to assume openly the protectorate of Holland and Zealand while the Duke of Alva was in arms in these countries, will now be emboldened to run every risk in concert with the Prince [of Orange] and the lords of the country, to his Majesty's loss and shame, in order to insure herself against possible hurt from this side; of which she has ever been and is apprehensive in the event of matters quieting here, where she is still as ever bent on causing disturbance; and so it seems that the Catholic King should not await the delivery of a greater and indeed irreparable blow; particularly as he has now the advantage of the present troubles in France and the zeal of his Holiness. For bearing as he does the title of Catholic King, even though none of the reasons aforesaid existed, yet, solely for regard to that title, he should to this end exert all his strength, especially since under the standard of Holy Church, and wafted by the salutiferous gale of the Holy Ghost, the expedition will safely attain its goal, the glory of God, seeing that it will at one and the same time liberate an innocent captive [queen], chastise a most iniquitous woman, extirpate many an error and heresiarch, restore and aggrandise the Catholic, faith, and bring guerdon to a meritorious gentleman [Don John], his Majesty and the Apostolic See, the perpetual felicity of which all Christendom is bound to desire. “I need not say that the enterprise is not of so difficult a nature but that with due care one may count on carrying it to a successful conclusion; for his Majesty, who has been in touch with the facts, knows very well the quality and quantity of the forces of the country. “These among other reasons in abundance I have touched on, in order that, if his Holiness see fit, he may quicken the King, whom for the common good one needs at this juncture, as it were, to constrain to his own good; and as I presume that he is likely to kick at this enterprise, I see nought that is better calculated to dispose him thereto than the authority of his Holiness; failing which you may be sure that in a little while the Catholic religion and his Majesty's sway will be matters rather to be desired than to be enjoyed in the greater part of these countries; for by degrees many of the people are manifesting so licentious, seditious, disobedient and disorderly a spirit that, were I to narrate the things that have been and are seen and heard since his Highness has been in power, I should astound you. But let me seal, so to say, this letter thus: the infection is great and rooted in the nobles, in the magistrates qui labiis nos honorant, cor autem eorum longe est a nobis; and deliverance there is none save in this enterprise, for it is manifest that there is need both of the whip and of the curb, and for lack alike of the one and of the other, his Highness is, as it were, compelled to let himself be borne in the wake of the whims of the multitude, to the neglect of what good government demands to bring matters back to some sort of soundness. However, all his compliance with this necessity is, managed with so much prudence as to keep up, as far as possible, his reputation. “As to the designs of Stucley and Geraldine (fn. 6) it seems that for the present no good whatever is likely to come of them; nay, rather, harm, especially since the Queen on occasion of his Highness' coming to these parts has mustered a numerous force. It will therefore be well to postpone them until it is decided either to adopt or reject the principal scheme. “I had written thus far when for my own satisfaction I resolved to speak with Signor Ottavio [Gonzaga (fn. 7) ], and discuss with him the reasons which I had in part suggested to his Highness, as requiring his Majesty to essay the enterprise; and not only did I leave with him a full account of them in the shape of a discourse, together with that of the Prince of Orange, but upon his saying that he wished to send them to Spain to one of his Majesty's secretaries, I, being urged by him to return to his Highness and take occasion to rediscuss with him all these matters, have done so to such purpose that his Highness has resolved to write to the King in good ink, sending the letter by the courier whom he despatches to-morrow; and so I hope that his Majesty may ponder the matter well, because his Highness has promised me to write in energetic terms, and also to let me see the copy of his letter; whence I am inclined to infer that those offices which are yet to be done in the name of his Holiness with his Majesty will be no less timely than necessary.” [May], 1577. [Brussels.] Decipher. Italian.
Vat. Arch. Nunt. d'Inghilt. vol. i. f. 342.	604. Secretary Escovedo to [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como. Reporting that the country, being now evacuated by the Spanish troops and well disposed towards Don John, is likely, if the Prince of Orange cease to give trouble, to revert to its former condition of tranquillity. 12 May, 1577. Arlon. Spanish.
Vat. Arch. Nunt. di Spagna, vol. ix. f. 437.	605. [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como to [Nicholas Ormanetto, Bishop of Padua,] Nuncio in Spain. … “It is now many days since there arrived here an ambassador from the King of Sweden, who, though he has not rendered obedience to his Holiness in public consistory, has nevertheless done so in camera, in the presence of many Cardinals, with much reverence and submission, assuring the Pope in the amplest terms, and also in writing, that that King has been and is minded ever to be a good Catholic, and most obedient to this Holy See. The said ambassador will go to Naples to collect some moneys advanced by the Queens of Sweden and Poland, and, on his return, which will be soon, I will write more at large to you as to the other matters which have brought him hither. We have no news from France since the offer made, as I wrote you, by the Pope to his Most Christian Majesty, of 4,000 paid infantry; so we know not as yet whether they will be accepted. “The Pope is awaiting some decisive answer from you to what I wrote you as to the affairs of England and Ireland; for it is a great sin to desert James Geraldine, (fn. 8) who has gone forward; and we are no longer able to restrain Stucley, who is as full of ardour as he is destitute of funds.” 24 May, 1577. Rome. Italian. Draft for cipher.
Ibid. vol. x. f. 571.	606. [Nicholas Ormanetto, Bishop of Padua,] Nuncio in Spain to [Ptolemy Galli,] Cardinal of Como. “I have again done my office with the King in the matters of the league and the man to be sent to the Persian and the Muscovite, and I have also spoken of the English enterprise, and in particular as to the appointment of the captain and as to the 100,000 crowns, and also as to Irish affairs and James [Fitz]Maurice, who is here with the Franciscan Bishop of Mayo, and also as to Father David [Wolf]. “It is his Majesty's will that I furnish Antonio Perez with full information as to all these matters, and discuss and handle them in concert with him, as I have already done. Perez is just as desirous as I am, i.e. most desirous that some good and holy decision be speedily arrived at, and to that end we shall address ourselves jointly with all zeal. His Majesty is very eager to learn what has happened in Flanders, as he has had no news for many days, two of Don John's despatches having been intercepted; which causes him to be rather loath to commit himself to the English business, as he deems it in the last degree necessary to know the state of affairs in Flanders before so committing himself; and so far it seems that no move is to be made in Ireland until our fleet goes thither, and that then all are to move at the same time; not that I mean to announce at present any decision, having none from his Majesty, but only to report what is under consideration.” 31 May, 1577. Madrid. Decipher. Italian.