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| Feb. 12. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
616. Giovanni Francesco Morosini, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
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His Majesty has decided to take for wife the daughter of Monsieur de Vaudemont, whose name is Louise de Lorraine. |
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His Majesty has this day entered this city. |
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Rheims, 12th February 1575. |
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[Italian.] |
| Feb. 25. Deliberazioni Senate |
617. Communication by Zuanne Falier, Marc' Antonio, Zuanne Mocenigo, and Alvise Foscari to the Venetian Senate. |
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We have to acquaint you with what befell us on going to England to visit the Court there. |
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After remaining three days in London we went to Windsor, where the Queen was then residing, and on being conducted to the palace were introduced into what is called the presence chamber, and at the hour when her Majesty was to pass through on her way to chapel. The apartment was very crowded, and the nobility assembled there greeted us most cordially with every mark of honour. After a short interval the Queen made her appearance, and on our presenting ourselves her Majesty said, in our own language, “Are you Venetian noblemen?” Falier, as the senior of our party, and as previously arranged amongst ourselves, answered, “Yes, most Serene Queen; we, your Majesty's servants, came to France with our Ambassador the Lord Zuanne Michiel, and having heard from his Excellency, who was for a long while Ambassador in this kingdom, as also from our citizens, and from men of other nations, of the grandeur and nobility of this realm, and the beauty of the country, and above all the renown of your Majesty, bruited as it is in all quarters, it seemed to us most inexcusable, being so near as France is to these parts, not come to see the country and this Court at the same time. We were likewise encouraged so to do by our Ambassador Michiel, and therefore pay our respects to your Majesty in his Excellency's name also, and consider it a great favour to have been admitted into your Majesty's presence and company. |
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We would kiss your hands for this boon, and also for the many acts of courtesy we have received from your ministers and from all your subjects in general, and request to be considered your most humble servants.” After adding a few other words to this effect we one by one kissed hands. |
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The Queen listened to us graciously, and said, “I thank you for the trouble taken in coming here,” adding, “Well, what think you of the sights?” We made answer, “Most excellent, most Serene Queen, our expectations, although great, have been far surpassed.” To this she rejoined, “If what you have seen pleased you, you now see the worst, to wit, the mistress;” and she thereupon moved on towards the chapel where she remained about twenty minutes until the service there ended. This service consisted, first of all, of certain Psalms chanted in English by a double chorus of some thirty singers. A single voice next chanted the Epistle; after this another voice chanted the Gospel, and then all voices together chanted the Belief. |
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This concluded the service, and we with the rest then returned into the presence chamber to see the Queen once more, and pay her due homage as she passed. On approaching us her Majesty inquired, “How fares the noble Michiel?” We made answer, “Very well, may it please your Majesty.” “Salute him,” said she, “in my name, and thank him both for this present favour and for many others which he did me, when accredited here to Queen Mary;” adding, “Although at that time I (speaking of herself), was then only a poor Princess, I received many marks of honour and esteem from your Republic, yet since I became Queen I have been held in small account, and this neglect continues, but we must have patience.” To this we made answer that the Signory bore as much good will towards the English Crown, and especially towards her Majesty, as to any other sovereign soever; and that should an opportunity occur her Majesty would be convinced of this by facts. “I shall live in hope, then,” said she, as she moved onwards; and the Lord High Treasurer Cecil then came, and by order, as he told us, from the Queen took us to dine with him and the whole Privy Council, eight in number, all most distinguished noblemen, with whom we discussed a variety of subjects. |
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They spoke of naval affairs, and of the daily news, and above all of the wrong done to England, and of the small account in which the most Serene Queen was held by the Republic through our not having an Ambassador at the Court. They said that the friendship and good understanding between the two countries had always been extreme. After they had expatiated on this point to the utmost, almost all of them speaking our Italian tongue, or at least all understanding it, we endeavoured to convince them of the vast esteem in which the Queen and all their Lordships, as well as the entire kingdom, were held at Venice, and vowed that when any Englishmen arrived there they met with very good greeting and every mark of respect. |
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We were told that the Queen intended giving us an entertainment to which ladies were to be invited, but possibly from inability to assemble them of quality and in number to her liking, or the
requisite number of courtiers, we received instead a message from an Italian, a Bolognese, whose acquaintance we made on arriving in London, and who had become our friend; he is one of the grooms of the Queen's privy chamber, and enjoys extreme favour with her Majesty on account of his being an excellent musician. This individual told us that the Queen, having seen us in our riding gear, which showed that we were in great haste to mount post, was therefore loth to detain us; and then speaking as of himself the groom said to us, “Fail not, my Lords, to repeat the Queen's words, and do your best to further her Majesty's wishes, as it will greatly benefit your Signory.” |
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On the morrow this same groom returned to London to take leave of us, knowing that we were on the eve of departure, and said he had told the Queen about our intention of making such representations as we understood were desired by her; and that her Majesty answered him saying, “They will not produce any effect, for when the noble Michiel was at the Imperial Court he told my chamberlain, who was Ambassador there, that he would do the like, yet nothing came of it.” The said groom then added, “Assuredly, gentlemen, not only should sovereigns themselves be held in account, but also their very words likewise.” |
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[Italian.] |
| Feb. 25. Deliberazioni Senate |
619. Proposed Embassy from Venice to England. |
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Motion made in the Council of the Senate of Venice, by five Sages of the Council, two Sages for the mainland, and one Sage for the orders: That as it had been heard through several channels, and especially by letters from our Ambassador resident with the most Christian King, and by the writing now read, that the wish of the Queen of England was to have an Ambassador resident with her in ordinary, in the name of our Signory, as customary during the reigns of her predecessors; and as the ancient friendship of our Republic with the English Crown required this, and her Majesty's constant goodwill towards our State entitling her to the grant of this satisfaction: |
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It was therefore proposed that by scrutiny of this Council an Ambassador of ours be elected to reside with said Queen; he to have for his expenses one hundred and sixty golden ducats per month, of which he is not to be bound to give any account, and five hundred golden ducats besides as bounty; he fulfilling the embassy during two whole years, before any appointment of his successor. Moreover, that be there given him three hundred ducats of six “lire” and four “soldi” each for the purchase of horses, housings, and coffers; the two couriers who accompany him, to receive twenty ducats each, he himself being bound to keep eleven horses, including those of the secretary and his servant; the said secretary to receive a bounty of one hundred ducats according to the tenor of the Act passed A.D. 1561, Sept. 23. |
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This Ambassador to be elected from any place or office soever, nor is he to refuse, under all the penalties contained in the Act of 1536, passed against those who decline embassies to crowned
heads; and he is to depart when this Council shall think fit, and with such commission as it may approve. |
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Amendment proposed by one Sage of the Council, three Sages for the mainland, and three Sages for the orders; that the present question be adjourned. |
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For the original motion, ayes forty-four, and noes one hundred and thirty-one. So the noes had it. |
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[Italian.] |
