Venice: July 1568 | British History Online

Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 7, 1558-1580. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1890.

Citation:

'Venice: July 1568', in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 7, 1558-1580, ed. Rawdon Brown, G Cavendish Bentinck( London, 1890), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/venice/vol7/pp426-427 [accessed 27 July 2024].

July 1568



July 24. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	446. Sigismondo di Cavalli, Venetian Ambassador in Spain, to the Signory.
	The English Ambassador has lately departed from the villa to which he had retired, in order to return to England, and he goes to Biscay to embark, but his Majesty would not permit him to kiss hands; so the Ambassador has gone away in a rage and without audience. According to the professions of the Queen, another Ambassador may be expected in his place, but I am not sure whether, after the arrival of the late Ambassador in England, and on receiving the information which he will give, her Majesty may not change her mind.
	Madrid, 24th July 1568.
	[Italian.]
Bequeathed MSS. Portfolio 9.	447. A Brief Description of the Kingdom of France, extracted from the Report of the most illustrious Signer Marin Guistinian, in the year 1568.
	This most Christian King professes to be an excellent Christian, and has shown himself to be so during the Lutheran movements which infest almost the whole of France, because he has exercised the greatest possible severity from the beginning against all those who were found guilty, for they and all their property have been burnt together. But subsequently he mitigated the penalty considerably, because, as the King has frequently told me, the Emperor in Flanders had suspended the execution of death sentences against these heretics. His Majesty keeps up very friendly relations with the Lutheran chiefs and doctors, but for no other reason except to keep them enemies against the Emperor. In the negotiations which he has had with the kingdom of England, however much he may have had to yield, he has always excepted the affairs of the [Catholic] religion.
	* * * * * Concerning the friendly relations between France and England, with the reasons for same.
	This most Christian King is compelled by necessity to hold friendly relations with the kingdom of England for many reasons; and chiefly, because he cannot undertake any warlike operations unless he be friendly with the English, who are greatly feared by the French; in fact, 10,000 English are worth 20,000 French. In former times they overran the whole of France, so that there remained only to the King the city of Orleans, whence he derived his title; but when he had acquired Paris, and had been crowned King of France, the English surrendered Normandy to the King, who granted them annually as a tribute 50,000 crowns in perpetuity. Another reason is, that England is very wealthy, which fact renders the nation a desirable ally in any war, especially against the common enemy, who is the Emperor; and when these two kingdoms are combined in action, they can defy the Emperor, because France and England are able to secure and acquire Flanders, with the friendship of the Duke of Gueldres; for the want of friends on both sides makes them friendly to each other.
	Among the expenses of the kingdom of France, is the pension to England of the amount of one hundred thousand crowns yearly.
	[Italian.]