Venice: November 1540

Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 5, 1534-1554. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1873.

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'Venice: November 1540', in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 5, 1534-1554, (London, 1873) pp. 88-89. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/venice/vol5/pp88-89 [accessed 25 April 2024]

November 1540

Nov. 14. Original Letter Book of Francesco Contarini in St. Mark's Library. 228. The Same to the Same.
The Prior of Naples, Knight of Rhodes, tells me that the King of England has appropriated to himself all the English revenues of the Knights of Rhodes, and made them lay down the White Cross; and from what the English ambassador tells me, his Majesty acted thus because they did not hazard their lives, still less their substance and revenues, against the Infidels, as they are obliged and bound to do, under penalty of confiscation of all their effects.
Brussels, 14th November 1540.
[Italian.]
Nov. 21. Original Letter Book of Francesco Contarini in St. Mark's Library. 229. The Same to the Same.
At Antwerp, a number of Portuguese, who lived as Christians and were in reality Jews, have been arrested, their synagogues and much other evidence to that effect having been discovered, so they can scarcely excuse themselves. Their purses will be cut, especially those of some of the chief of them, and it is believed that 100,000 crowns will thus be obtained.
Mons. de Granvelle has arrived at Worms on behalf of the Emperor, the persons appointed to hold the conference (colloquio) being already assembled there, and they are expecting the Papal Nuncios; may God grant that it prove for the benefit of the Christian religion.
Brussels, 21st November 1540.
[Italian.]
Nov. 30. MS. St. Mark's Library. Cod. xxiv. Cl. x. Without date. Printed in v. ii. p. 18. “Epistolarum Reginaldi Poli,” dated as above. 230. Cardinal Pole to Stanislas Osio.
After an interval of years, answers his congratulatory letters on Pole's election to the Cardinalate. Was prevented from replying sooner, first by the arduous negotiations in course at the time, and secondly by his sojourn in a province where there was no opportunity for the transmission of his reply. Has now made inquiries about Osio from some of his countrymen, (fn. 1) and sends him this letter, complimenting him on his success in life, which Pole anticipated, when he saw him studying at Padua, and now offers him his good offices.
Rome, 30th November 1540.
[Latin, 24 lines.]

Footnotes

  • 1. By the printed edition of this letter, it appears that Osio was a native of Poland, which is confirmed by the biographical dictionaries, and these show that his intimacy with Reginald Pole commenced at the University of Padua. On his return to Poland he became secretary of King Sigismund, and eventually Bishop of Warmia. When Pius IV. sent him to the Emperor Ferdinand about the continuation of the Council of Trent that Sovereign said he “could not resist a man whose mouth was a temple, and whose tongue an oracle of the Holy Spirit.” In acknowledgment of so important a service Pius IV. created Osio Cardinal, on the 26th February 1561. The Catholics styled him “pillar of the Church,” and the “Saint Augustin of his age;” the Protestants found him one of their most formidable adversaries. Cardinal Osio died at Capranica, in the Roman States, in the year 1579.
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