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STUDIES   IN   THE 
HISTORY    OF    VENICE 


STUDIES  IN  THE 
HISTORY  OF  VENICE 


BY    HORATIO    F.    BROWN 

AUTHOR  OF   "  LIFE  ON  THE   LAGOONS,"  ETC. 


VOL.  II 


M 1 


LONDON 
JOHN   MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE  STREET,  W. 

1907 


PRINTED  BY 

HAZELL,  WATSON  AND  VINEY,  LD. 
LONDON  AND  AYLESBURY, 


CONTENTS 
VOL.  II 

PAGE 

VENETIAN     DIPLOMACY    AT    THE    SUBLIME     PORTE     DURING 

THE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY    ......  I 

THE    INDEX     LIBRORUM      PROHIBITORUM      AND     THE      CEN- 
SORSHIP OF   THE   VENETIAN    PRESS        >"        .           .           .  39 
A      VENETIAN      PRINTER-PUBLISHER      IN      THE      SIXTEENTH 

CENTURY 88 

CARDINAL   CONTARINI    AND    HIS    FRIENDS      .           .           .           .  IIO 

THE   MARRIAGE   OF   IBRAIM    PASHA         .           .           *           .  134 

AN   INTERNATIONAL   EPISODE        .            .                       ...  146 

SHAKSPEARE   AND   VENICE 159 

MARCANTONIO      BRAGADIN,      A      SIXTBENTH-CENTURY      CAG- 

LIOSTRO l8l 

PAOLA   SARPI,    THE   MAN 208 

THE    SPANISH    CONSPIRACY  :    AN    EPISODE    IN    THE    DECLINE 

OF   VENICE 245 

CROMWELL  AND   THE   VENETIAN   REPUBLIC              .           .           .  296 


STUDIES    IN   THE   HISTORY 
OF  VENICE 

Venetian  Diplomacy  at  the  Sublime  Porte 
during  the  Sixteenth  Century 

VENETIAN  diplomacy  during  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth, 
and  seventeenth  centuries  was  recognized  as  the 
fullest  and  ablest  in  Europe.  The  despatches  ad- 
dressed to  the  "  Doge  and  Senate,"  or  on  rarer  but 
more  important  occasions  to  the  "Chiefs  of  the  Council 
of  Ten,"  fill  many  rooms  in  the  storehouse  of  the 
Frari,  and  have  furnished,  and  continue  to  furnish, 
to  students  of  all  nationalities,  a  rich  and  varied  and 
sometimes  piquant  picture  of  the  condition  of  Europe 
generally.  Despatches  were  sent  as  a  rule  once  a 
week ;  but  at  a  crisis,  or  if  some  matter  of  moment 
called  for  fuller  attention,  they  follow  each  other  in 
daily  succession  and  occasionally  number  three  and 
four  a  day.  When  we  remember  that  Venice  kept  her 
agents  in  every  capital  of  the  small  Italian  states  and 
at  the  court  of  every  sovereign  in  Europe,  that  she 
received  reports  from  Russia,  Turkey,  Italy,  Spain, 
France,  England,  Holland,  Germany,  Switzerland, 
Denmark,  we  can  understand  that  little  of  moment 
escaped  the  meshes  of  her  diplomatic  service,  and 
that  the  Venetian  ambassador  became  the  accredited 
source  of  information — if  authorized  to  give  it — 
especially  on  the  affairs  of  the  East,  where  Venetian 
interests  largely  lay. 

The  Republic  was  served  diplomatically  by  agents 
of  varying  rank — ambassadors  extraordinary,  called 

VOL.   II.  I 


2  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

orators  if  accredited  to  the  Porte;  ambassadors 
ordinary,  or  liegers,  accredited  to  crowned  heads 
and  to  Savoy ;  ministers  called  residents,  accredited 
to  the  smaller  courts  of  Italy ;  consuls ;  and  on  rare 

occasions  special  envoys  styled  nobilis  existens  in .* 

At  Constantinople  the  agent-in-ordinary  bore  the 
title  of  Bailo,  with  character  and  attributes,  as  we 
shall  presently  see,  somewhat  different  from  those 
of  his  diplomatic  colleagues.  Of  these  agents  the 
ambassadors  extraordinary,  the  liegers,  the  nobiles 
existentes,  and  the  bailo  were  elected  from  the  Venetian 
patriciate ;  the  residents  were  citizens  of  Venice 
appointed  from  the  ranks  of  the  secretaries  in  the 
Chancery,  and  bore  the  styles  of  "  circumspect,"  circo- 
spetto.  The  more  important  consulates  were  filled  by 
patricians,  the  lesser  ones  by  merchants  trading  on 
the  spot.  The  ambassadors,  the  residents,  and  the 
nobiles  were  elected  by  the  Senate  and  commissioned 
by  the  Senate,  that  department  of  state  which  was 
entrusted  with  the  direction  of  foreign  affairs ;  the 
bailo,  for  reasons  to  be  presently  explained,  was 
elected  in  the  Great  Council  but  commissioned  by 
the  Senate ;  consuls  in  Italy  and  Western  Europe 
were  appointed  by  the  Great  Council;  while  those 
in  the  Levant  were  named  by  the  bailo.2 

The  blue  ribbon  of  Venetian  diplomatic  service 
down  to  1574  was  undoubtedly  the  bailage  at  Con- 
stantinople.3 The  fact  that  Venice  enjoyed  almost  a 

1  E.g.  Lorenzo  Bernardo,  1591,  "Nobilis  noster  existens  in  Co- 
stantinopoli,"  and  "  Nobile  a  Pietroburgo "  ;  cf.  Ventzia  e  sue 
Lagune  (Venice),  vol.  i.  202. 

J  Residents  were  addressed  by  the  Senate  with  the  tu  of  an 
inferior ;  ambassadors  in  their  commissions  with  the  tu  of  an  equal 
and  in  their  instructions — when  they  had  assumed  their  full  dignity 
by  presenting  credentials — with  the  voi  of  respect. 

1  See  Alberi,  Relazioni  degli  Ambasciatori  Veneti  (Firenze :  1844), 
vol.  vi.  p.  36.  Barbarigo  :  "  Dico,  dunque,  che  Vostra  Serenita,  per 
opinione  mia,  non  da  carico  alcuno,  ne  in  la  citta  ne  fuori,  di  maggior 
importanza  e  di  piu  gran  travaglio  a  chi  lo  esercita,  di  questo,"  p.  419  ; 
Bernardo  :  "  Perche,  illustrissimi,  non  e  dubbio,  che  il  piu  importante 
negozio  che  abbia  questo  stato,  e  quello  di  Costantinopoli." 


THE  BAILO  3 

monopoly  of  the  Levant  trade,  that  the  balance  of 
sea  power  in  the  Mediterranean,  between  Spain  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  Turk  on  the  other,  lay  with 
her ;  the  constant  friction  with  the  Turk  over  slaves, 
reciprocal  piracy  in  the  Levant,  the  frontiers  of 
Dalmatia,  and  the  ever-present  menace  to  Venetian 
possessions  in  Cyprus  and  Crete,  all  contributed  to 
render  the  office  of  bailo  delicate,  dangerous,  and  of 
the  highest  importance.  But  with  the  decline  of 
Venetian  trade  which  marks  the  course  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  with  the  loss  of  Cyprus  and  the  eclipse  of 
Venetian  prestige,  with  the  growing  alarm  at  Spanish 
encroachments  in  Italy,  the  centre  of  Venetian  diplo- 
matic activity  shifted  from  Constantinople  to  Rome. 

Venice  enjoyed  one  notable  advantage  over  the  other 
states  of  Europe  represented  at  Constantinople  in  the 
antiquity  and  continuity  of  that  diplomatic  post.  For 
the  bailage  of  Constantinople  was,  in  fact,  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  ancient  office  of  Podesta  Venetiano  e 
despota  a  Costantinopoli,  an  office  established  in  1205, 
when,  immediately  after  the  Fourth  Crusade,  the  Latin 
Empire  was  erected  on  the  Bosphorus.  In  1261, 
at  the  restoration  of  the  Greek  empire  in  the  family 
of  the  Palaeologi,  the  Venetian  podestd  was  by  treaty 
allowed  to  remain,  but  with  the  title  no  longer  of 
podesta,  which  conveyed  the  sense  of  the  lordship 
acquired  by  Henrico  Dandolo,  but  of  baiulus,  tutor 
or  protector,  a  title  which  accurately  described  the 
essential  functions  of  the  bailo,  the  protection  of 
Venetians  and  Venetian  interests  at  Constantinople. 
On  the  advent  of  the  Turk,  and  when  it  seemed 
probable  that  the  Sultan  Mahommed  II.  would  destroy 
the  Greek  empire,  Venice  entered  into  treaty  with 
the  conqueror  at  Adrianople,  in  December,  1452.* 
This  treaty  was  confirmed  and  amplified  on  April  18, 
1454,*  when  the  Turk  had  captured  Constantinople. 
The  terms  of  that  treaty  give  us  the  Venetian  bailage 

1  Commemoriali,  xii.  95,  edit.  Predelli. 
*  Ibid.  xiv.  137  (136). 


4    VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

as  we  find  it  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  treaty  was 
the  work  of  Bartolomeo  Marcello,  the  first  Venetian 
bailo  at  Constantinople  under  the  Turks.  Its  leading 
clauses  provided  that  all  Venetian  subjects  and  mer- 
chants should  enjoy  free  access  to  every  part  of  the 
Turkish  empire,  under  protection  from  the  Turk. 
Venice  was  to  pay  tribute  for  Lepanto,  and  for 
Scutari  and  Alessio  in  Albania.  Supplementary 
articles  provided  that  Venetians  should  pay  a  duty  of 
two  per  cent,  on  sales  and  two  per  cent,  on  purchases ; 
all  Venetian  shipping  must  touch  at  Constantinople 
in  passing  ;  the  Black  Sea  was  to  be  open  to  Venetian 
traders ;  all  servants  of  Venetians  were  to  be  pro- 
tected ;  equality  of  customs  to  prevail  in  both  states ; 
mutual  protection  in  ports  ;  the  property  of  Venetians 
deceased,  intestate  or  without  heirs,  to  be  at  the 
disposition  of  the  bailo ;  the  Venetians  were  bound 
in  no  way  to  assist  the  enemies  of  the  sultan  and 
vice  versa,  nor  might  Venice  offer  asylum  in  her 
Albanian  or  Roumanian  territory  to  the  sultan's 
traitors  or  foes;  Venice  was  allowed  to  keep  a  bailo 
and  his  staff  in  Constantinople  to  exercise  civil 
jurisdiction  over  all  Venetians ;  and  the  bailo,  if  he 
desired,  might  call  on  the  Turkish  governor  (subashi) 
for  his  aid.1 

This  treaty,  the  first  between  any  Christian  power 
and  the  Turk  after  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  formed 
the  basis  of  the  bailo's  position.  He  was  there  to 
protect  Venetian  commercial  interests,  and  to  exer- 
cise civil  jurisdiction  by  the  help  of  the  Turkish 
authorities  if  required.  But  with  the  lapse  of  time 
the  bailo's  position  was  strengthened,  both  by  con- 
cessions from  the  Turks  and  by  growing  prestige 
among  his  colleagues,  who  were  gradually  accredited 
by  the  European  powers  to  the  new  masters  of  Con- 
stantinople. For  example,  the  powers  of  the  bailo's 
court  were  enlarged  to  embrace  criminal  as  well  as 

1  See  Zinkeisen,  Geschichte  des  osmanischen  Reiches  (Gotha  Perthes  : 
1854),  "•  33-7- 


THE  BAILO  5 

civil  jurisdiction ! ;  the  bailo  could  not  be  held  per- 
sonally responsible  for  the  act  of  any  Venetian  subject — 
a  concession  of  the  highest  importance,  for  it  was  one 
of  the  dangers  of  the  bailo's  position  that  the  Turk 
originally  claimed  the  right  to  visit  on  the  bailo  his 
anger  against  any  member  of  the  bailo's  nation,  and 
on  more  than  one  occasion  proceeded  to  the  arrest  of 
the  bailo  for  the  recovery  of  pretended  debts.8 

In  1522  Marco  Minio  secured  a  modification  of  the 
capitulations.  Venetian  shipping  was  to  salute  the 
Turkish  fleet ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  bailo  was 
no  longer  to  be  cited  before  the  Cadi  of  Constantinople 
but  before  the  Porte,  and  no  Venetian  could  be  tried 
before  the  cadi  without  the  intervention  of  the 
Venetian  dragoman.  The  bailo  was  undoubtedly 
recognized  as  the  doyen  of  the  diplomatic  body  at 
Constantinople.  As  we  shall  presently  see,  he  ran 
the  post  for  all  the  embassies,  and  his  court  was,  with 
some  few  exceptions,  the  civil  court  for  all  foreigners.3 
There  are  cases  in  which  the  English  ambassador 
himself  submitted  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bailo.4 

From  this  it  is  clear  that  the  bailo  filled  two  distinct 
positions  at  Constantinople.  He  was  the  diplomatic 
agent  of  the  Republic,  and  he  was  Venetian  consul  as 

1  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  vol.  ix.  p.  443 :  "  II  bailo  della  Serenitk 
Vostra  ha  una  bellissima  giurisdizione,  poiche  giudica  li  nostri  suditi 
in  civile  e  in  criminale." 

1  Archiirio  di  Statot  Senato,  Secreta,  Deliberazioni,  Costantinopoli, 
reg.  1567,  commission  to  Hieronimo  Zane,  "li  nostri  rapresentanti 
non  possono  esser  astretti  per  debiti  de  alcuna  persona." 

1  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  vol.  ix.  p.  443  :  "  In  civile  concorrono  tutte 
1'altre  nazioni,  anco  i  Francesi,  eccetto  pochissimi  che  vanno  all' 
ambasciator  di  Francia,  ed  a  questa  autorita  non  apportano  i  Turchi 
pur  un  minimo  pregiudizio,  perche  se  alcuno  va  innanzi  a  loro  circa 
cose  che  appartengano  al  bailo  lo  rimettono  subito  a  lui ;  e  si  come  il 
primo,  cioe  il  civile,  e  concesso  per  privilegio,  cosi  il  criminale  e 
ammesso  per  missive  e  senza  alcuna  condizione." 

*  Archivio  di  Stato^  Senato,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Costantinopoli, 
June  20,  1 594,  and  the  enclosures  from  the  archives  of  the  Vene- 
tian bailo  at  Constantinople  relating  to  the  case,  "  Charles  Helman 
against  the  English  ambassador,  Edward  Barton." 


6  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

well — that  is  to  say,  he  had  the  charge  of  Venetian 
commerce  and  the  duty  of  protecting  Venetian  subjects. 
And  this  explains  the  anomaly  that  of  all  the  Venetian 
ministers,  envoys,  or  ambassadors,  the  bailo  alone 
was  elected  by  the  Great  Council,  not  by  the  Senate. 
After  election  by  the  Great  Council,  the  Senate  pro- 
ceeded to  vote  the  bailo's  salary  and  honorarium. 
Originally  the  salary  amounted  to  one  thousand  ducats 
a  year,  but  later  on  it  was  raised  to  one  hundred  and 
eighty  ducats  a  month ;  three  hundred  ducats  were 
allowed  for  outfit,  three  hundred  for  extraordinary  ex- 
penses, chiefly  for  the  journey,  though  this  sum  varied 
considerably,  and  occasionally  reached  the  high  figure  of 
nine  hundred  ducats.1  Besides  these  sums,  the  presents a 
for  the  sultan  and  the  pashas  were  also  voted,  and  a 
fund  for  secret  service — bribes  to  pashas  and  payment 
of  spies ;  this  gradually  mounted  higher  and  higher 
during  the  sixteenth  century.  In  1503  it  was  only 
three  hundred  ducats,  by  1566  it  had  reached  five 
thousand.  This  same  vote  in  the  Senate  regulated 
the  bailo's  household,  which  was  to  consist  of  ten 
servants.  The  term  of  the  bailo's  office  was  fixed  at 
two  years.  The  election  of  an  ambassador  extra- 
ordinary, or  orator,  to  the  Porte,  on  the  other  hand, 
took  place  in  the  Senate,  and  not  in  the  Great  Council. 
The  pay  was  higher,  two  hundred  ducats  a  month, 
three  hundred  for  outfit,  six  hundred  for  extra  ex- 
penses. The  orator  was  ordered  to  take  fifteen 
domestic  servants,  fifteen  horses,  four  grooms,  and 
four  hundred  ducats'  worth  of  silver  plate,  purchased 
for  him  by  the  government,  which  he  was  bound  to 
hand  over  on  his  return.  His  office  lasted  till  the 
fulfilment  of  his  special  mission.3  But  the  expenses 
of  the  mission  to  Constantinople  were  very  heavy,  and 

1  See  Archivio  di  Stato,  Senate,  Deliberazioni,  Costantinopoli, 
March  19,  1566,  commission  of  Jacopo  Soranzo. 

1  See  Maggior  Consiglio,  July  10,  1552. 

1  See  Archivio  di  Stato,  Senato,  Deliberazione,  Costantinopoli, 
Feb.  19,  1566-7,  commission  of  Matin  Cavalli. 


THE   BAILO'S   INSTRUCTIONS  7 

in  order  to  relieve  the  envoy's  private  purse  the  Senate, 
in  1561,  voted  an  extra  donation  of  one  thousand 
ducats,  and  a  further  thousand  should  the  bailo  remain 
at  his  post  longer  than  the  ordinary  term  of  two  years. 
The  commissions  of  both  bailo  and  orator  contained 
general  instructions  as  to  their  attitude  towards  the 
representatives  of  other  Powers  at  the  Porte  and 
special  instructions  on  any  point  of  disagreement 
pending  between  the  Republic  and  the  sultan.  A 
copy  of  the  commission  was  engrossed  on  parchment, 
often  adorned  with  miniatures  and  handsomely  bound 
in  gilded  leather,  rich  crimson  velvet,  mother-of-pearl, 
with  chased  silver  corners ;  the  ducal  seals  were 
attached  to  crimson  silk  ribbons.  It  accompanied  the 
bailo  or  orator  for  constant  study  on  his  journey  to 
Constantinople.  The  envoy,  having  been  commis- 
sioned, proceeded  to  take  the  oath,  by  which  he 
bound  himself  di  mantener  il  decoro  e  di  avvantaggiare 
it  profitto  della  Republica.  His  credentials  were  then 
prepared  and  engrossed  on  parchment.  They  were 
addressed  to  the  grand  signior,  the  grand  vizir, 
and  sometimes  to  other  pashas  of  weight  at  the 
Porte;  also  to  the  capudan  pasha,  or  high  admiral, 
under  whose  immediate  jurisdiction  lay  Pera,  where 
the  embassy  was  situated.1  The  credentials  to  the 
sultan  bore  the  seal  of  the  Republic  in  silver-gilt, 
those  to  the  pashas  in  silver.  The  bailo  also  received 
the  letter  of  recall  for  his  predecessor. 

Being  now  fully  commissioned  and  accredited,  the 
bailo  proceeded  to  form  his  staff,  his  household,  and 
his  suite.  The  staff  consisted  of  a  secretary,  assisted 
by  a  coadjutor,  or  cogitor,  an  accountant,  or  raxonato, 
and  two  or  more  dragoman  students,  giovani  della 
lingua ;  the  dragoman  grande,  who  would  accompany 
him  to  divan  or  to  audiences,  and  the  dragoman  piccolo, 
who  had  charge  of  the  commercial  correspondence 

1  See  Alberi,  op.  tit.  iii.  p.  122 :  "  II  solo  subasci  di  Pera  e  posto 
dal  Capitano  di  mare,  come  quello  che  ha  nella  sua  particolare 
giurisdizione  il  governo  di  quella  terra." 


8  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

incident  on  the  consular  nature  of  his  office,  awaited 
him  at  Constantinople.  His  household  consisted  of  a 
doctor  (though  this  favour  was  not  always  allowed 
him  by  the  cabinet),  a  majordomo,  an  apothecary, 
a  barber.  The  embassy  Mass  was  served  by  the 
monks  of  S.  Francesco  at  Pera.  His  suite  was  com- 
posed of  relations,  sons  or  nephews,  young  Venetian 
gentlemen  whom  he  chose  at  his  own  pleasure  or 
to  please  his  friends,  young  gentlemen  from  the 
mainland  cities,  young  gentlemen  from  other  Italian 
states,  and  sometimes  young  Frenchmen  or  foreigners 
anxious  to  see  the  world  under  the  wing  of  a  Venetian 
ambassador.  For  instance,  Jacopo  Soranzo  (1581)  took 
with  him  a  suite  of  twelve — five  Venetians,  one  Roman, 
two  Bolognesi,  two  from  Vicenza,  one  from  Foligno, 
and  one  Albanian.  Each  of  these  was  allowed  to  bring 
one  servant  with  him.1  This  would  make  a  party  of 
over  forty  persons,  including  servants,  with  their  per- 
sonal luggage  and  the  bales  containing  the  presents. 

For  the  transport  of  this  mission  the  government 
provided  two  galleys,  with  instructions  to  call  on  the 
officer  in  command  of  the  Adriatic  squadron  for  escort 
should  the  seas  be  rumoured  dangerous  on  account  of 
pirates.  The  ambassador  was  also  empowered  to  stop 
the  Cattaro  frigate  2  (fregata  Cattarind),  the  post  boat, 
which  twice  a  month  brought  the  Constantinople 
despatch  bags  from  Cattaro  to  Venice,  and  to  open, 
read,  copy,  reseal,  and  forward  the  despatches  from 
the  bailo  he  was  about  to  relieve — this  in  order  to 
keep  himself  informed  of  the  latest  news  from  the  seat 
of  his  new  embassy. 

The  Senate  in  its  commission  to  a  bailo  usually  left 
the  choice  of  route  to  him,  merely  instructing  him  to 

1  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  vi.  211  :  "Alia  nuova  di  questa  deputa- 
zione  si  mossero  infiniti  gentiluomini  per  mezzo  di  caldi  uffici  di 
Principi  e  di  gentiluomini  Veneziani,  a  cercare  di  esser  ammessi  nel 
numero  di  quelli  che  accompagnassero  e  servissero  sua  signoria 
illustrissima  in  questo  viaggio." 

1  See  Tormene,  //  Bailaggio  a  Costantinopoli  di  Qirolamo 
Jjppoma.no  (Venezia,  Visentini :  1903). 


ROUTE  TO  CONSTANTINOPLE  9 

proceed  as  fast  as  possible.  Occasionally  the  bailo 
chose  the  all-sea  route— at  least,  to  the  Turkish  coast 
at  the  head  of  the  ^Egean,  whence  he  proceeded  by 
land.1  More  usually,  however,  they  chose  one  of  the 
two  land  routes,  both  of  which  started  from  Alessio 
in  the  valley  of  the  Drin,  not  far  from  Dulcigno, 
where  the  embassy  landed.  The  more  northern  of 
these  two  routes  led  by  Uskiup  to  Philippopolis  and 
Adrianople;  the  southern  by  El  Basan  and  Monastir  to 
Salonika,  and  thence  along  the  coast  by  Rodosto  to 
Constantinople.2  Both  were  rough  and  dangerous, 
and  whichever  was  chosen,  the  mission  had  usually 
to  pass  many  days  at  Cattaro  or  Alessio  waiting  till 
horses,  often  numbering  two  hundred,  could  be  pro- 
cured, and  till  the  Sanjak  had  made  arrangements  for 
supplying  an  escort.  The  bailo,  who  was  frequently 
well  on  in  years,  travelled  in  a  litter,  the  rest  of  the 
suite  on  horseback,  with  baggage  mules  and  horses 
following.  The  caravanzerais  were  so  filthy  that  the 
mission  camped  out  as  much  as  possible. 

Nothing,  perhaps,  will  give  us  a  better  idea  of  what 
such  a  journey  must  have  been  like  than  to  take  the 
lively  and  picturesque  account  of  the  adventures  of 
Vicenzo  Gradenigo,  which  he  gives  us  in  his  despatches 
of  1 599.  It  is  true  that  Gradenigo  chose  an  unusual 
route,  from  Lepanto  to  Salonika,  and  that  his  journey 
was  exceptionally  disastrous — in  fact,  he  never  re- 
covered from  it,  and  died  at  Constantinople,  which  he 
only  just  managed  to  reach  ;  but  his  narrative  is  the 
fullest  and  most  instructive  to  be  found  during  the 
century  with  which  we  are  dealing.  Gradenigo  shall 
speak  for  himself.3 

"  Most  serene  prince,"  he  writes,  "  my  last  despatch 
was  sent  on  July  30  from  Patras.  In  it  I  gave  an 

1  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  vi.  221,  Journey  of  Jacopo  Soranro  (1851). 

'  See  Diario  del  Viaggio  da  Venezia  a  Costantinopoli  fatto  da 
M.  Jacopo  Soranzo,  1575  (Venezia,  Merle:  1856),  per  le  Nozze 
Trieste-Vivante. 

*  Archi-vio di  State,  Senate,  Dispacci,  Costantinopoli,  1 599  August  27. 


io  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

account  of  my  journey,  which  up  to  that  moment  had 
been  both  prosperous  and  happy.  But  since  that  date 
no  more  unfortunate  or  painful  a  journey,  as  indeed  I 
always  suspected,  could  possibly  be  dreamed  of.  Your 
serenity  will  remember  that  I  told  you  so  privately, 
and  publicly  expressed  the  same  view  in  the  cabinet. 

"  Well,  I  left  Patras  in  three  little  boats,  escorted 
by  fifty  Turkish  harquebusiers  and  as  many  horse. 
They  brought  us  down  to  the  shore,  where  the 
forts,  in  honor  of  your  serenity,  saluted  me  with 
three  guns — a  most  unusual  occurrence,  for  even  the 
grandees  of  this  empire  are  not  so  honoured  on  their 
passage  of  the  Gulf. 

"  On  reaching  Lepanto  we  were  lodged  in  a  garden, 
in  the  open,  as  indeed  we  have  been  lodged  throughout 
the  whole  journey.  Our  camp  was  pitched  hard  by 
some  delicious  springs  of  water.  The  cadi  came  to 
visit  me,  and  brought  a  present  of  fruit  in  abundance. 
Other  Turkish  persons  of  importance  also  paid  their 
respects,  and  almost  the  whole  city  came  out  to  see  us. 

"  From  Lepanto  I  set  out  for  Arso  [?  Larissa],  a 
large  and  populous  city,  and  there  began  my  troubles, 
for  twelve  of  my  servants,  my  book-keeper,  my  secre- 
tary, and  the  student  dragomans  fell  ill.  The  reason, 
as  I  take  it,  was  a  surfeit  of  fruit,  the  bad  air,  the  ice- 
cold  water,  and  the  burning  sun.  On  the  road  I  could 
not  supply  them  with  anything  save  some  sugar-candy 
and  citron  juice  which  I  had  in  my  baggage.  May 
God  forgive  those  members  of  the  cabinet  who  refused 
me  a  doctor ;  had  it  not  been  for  this,  for  sure  I  had 
never  fallen  on  such  misfortunes  as  I  am  now  about  to 
relate.  The  second  day  after  reaching  Larissa  the 
nephew  of  Borissi  the  dragoman  died  ;  he  was  a  fine 
youth,  full  of  vigour.  The  third  day  my  butler  died  ; 
the  fourth  day  a  servant  of  the  illustrious  Agostino 
Gussoni.  Seeing,  then,  that  every  hour  another  man 
fell  ill — till  I  found  myself  with  twenty-four  sick 
persons  on  my  hands,  among  them  Signor  Ottavio 
Mocenigo  and  two  gentlemen  from  Padua — all  of  us 


GRADENIGO'S  JOURNEY  u 

conceived  a  desire  to  depart  from  that  city  ;  not  one  of 
us  wished  to  stay,  for  there  was  an  absolute  lack  of  all 
necessaries,  and  moreover  the  place  was  insecure  on 
account  of  the  evil  character  of  its  inhabitants.  We 
accordingly  took  the  road,  and  in  two  days  came  to 
Platamona,  where  the  next  morning  the  booking-clerk, 
Messer  Alvise  Bruzoni,  dropped  dead.  Here  my  whole 
household,  except  Messer  Zuanne  Vitturi,  Francesco, 
my  son,  Messer  Giacomo  Girardi,  the  coadjutor,  and 
myself  fell  ill,  some  of  a  flux  and  some  of  persistent 
fever ;  so,  being  now  on  the  sea-shore,  I  resolved  to 
hire  two  ships  to  take  us  from  Platamona  to  Salonika. 
All  I  could  do  did  not  save  Mazi,  the  student  drago- 
man, nor  yet  my  majordomo  from  death,  with  the 
result  that  I  have  lost  six  servants,  and  among  these 
my  oldest  and  most  trusted. 

"  Praise  be  to  God  for  all !  My  continual  fatigue  and 
watching,  imposed  on  me  by  these  accidents,  have 
thrown  me  into  a  double  tertian  fever,  though  not 
persistent.  A  like  fate  has  befallen  Signor  Agostino 
Gussoni.  In  very  truth  not  one  of  us  but  has  done 
his  utmost  to  help  our  poor  sufferers,  by  cupping  and 
bleeding  them  with  their  own  hands.  Your  serenity 
must  be  well  aware  that  even  a  single  case  of  sickness 
in  a  house  keeps  the  whole  household  on  the  stretch  ; 
and  here  were  we  only  five  sound  men  to  undertake 
all  the  day  and  night  nursing.  I  had  wanted  to  stay 
on  in  Larissa  to  allow  the  sick  to  recover ;  but  the  fact 
that  there  were  none  of  the  barest  necessities,  not  even 
a  house,  but  only  a  caravanzerai  pestilent  with  the 
stench  of  droves  of  cattle,  and  a  great  suspicion  that 
the  whole  air  was  poisoned  by  the  carcasses  of  dead 
oxen  on  the  road,  induced  me  to  set  out. 

"  Of  my  servants  who  are  sick,  the  doctors  here, 
who  seem  very  intelligent,  lead  me  to  fear  that  I  must 
lose  three ;  the  rest  will  pull  through,  I  hope  to  God, 
as  they  are  mending  somewhat.  Signor  Agostino 
Gussoni  and  I  have  been  through  the  same  experi- 
ences ;  we  took  medicine  this  morning  with  good 


12    VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

results,  and  to-morrow  the  doctors  intend  to  bleed 
us — a  very  serious  matter  for  me  at  my  age  ;  however, 
I  shall  follow  the  doctor's  advice.  It  is  impossible  for 
me,  in  the  midst  of  such  misfortunes,  not  to  be  cut  to 
the  heart ;  I  have  to  be  on  the  watch  day  and  night ; 
but  I  thank  God  for  all  He  is  pleased  to  send  me, 
being  firmly  convinced  that  everything  takes  place  by 
His  most  holy  will. 

"  I  shall  stay  on  here — where  I  am  very  well  lodged 
in  three  houses  of  Venetian  Jews — until  I  see  the  end 
of  this  sickness,  which  pray  God  be  soon.  But  I  feel 
bound  to  repeat  what  I  said  above,  that  I  should  not 
have  been  exposed  to  such  ruin  had  I  had  an  Italian 
doctor  with  me — a  favour  that  was  readily  granted  to 
Signer  Zuanne  Correr  and  to  others ;  and  may  God 
pardon  him  who  was  the  cause  of  this !  I  had  with 
me  the  apothecary  and  the  barber,  but  they  were  the 
very  first  to  succumb  ;  I  hired  a  doctor  in  Larissa,  but 
he  turned  out  an  ignoramus.  I  tried  to  get  Jews  to 
attend  on  the  sick,  but  not  a  single  one  would  come 
with  me,  though  I  jingled  the  ducats  under  their  eyes. 

"  I  wish  to  God  I  had  cheerful,  not  doleful,  news  for 
your  serenity,  as  I  know  how  grieved  both  you  and  the 
whole  of  the  excellent  senate  must  be  to  hear  of  such 
sufferings  borne  by  an  old  and  faithful  servant. 

"  I  must  now  report  another  mishap  of  some 
moment  which  befell  me  in  Platamona.  All  our 
baggage  was  down  at  the  sea-shore  in  charge  of  two 
servants,  when  the  brigands  appeared  on  the  scene 
and  began  to  break  open  our  trunks  to  pillage  the 
contents.  There  happened,  however,  to  pass  by  the 
capigi,  a  man  of  great  courage  and  kindness  of  heart ; 
he  shouted  out  that  it  was  the  Venetian  ambassador 
on  his  way  to  the  sultan ;  the  brigands  asked  where 
I  was,  and  said  among  themselves  that  as  they  knew 
we  were  all  ill,  it  would  be  the  best  plan  to  make  us 
slaves  or  to  kill  us  all,  and  this  would  be  the  safest 
way  for  them  to  keep  our  goods.  With  this  intent 
they  came  up  the  hill  where  we  were  camping,  but 


GRADENIGO'S  JOURNEY  13 

the  capigi  took  a  short  cut  and  came  flying  up  to  warn 
us.  We  were  on  the  point  of  sending  the  sick  down 
to  the  shore  in  sixteen  carts.  I  then  deployed  twenty 
Greeks,  who  were  our  escort,  and  they  and  the  rest  of 
us,  drawn  close  up  together,  awaited  the  result.  Mean- 
time the  bey  arrived  in  company  with  the  brigands 
and  one  janizary ;  they  caracolled  in  front  of  us,  and 
one  with  a  lance  pressed  up  to  us  to  challenge  us.  But 
at  this  moment  the  cadi,  who  had  been  summoned  by 
the  capigi,  appeared  on  the  scene  with  fifty  Greeks. 
The  brigands  took  shelter  in  the  caravanzerai  and  held 
the  door  with  their  scimitars  when  the  cadi  tried  to 
force  his  way  in.  The  cadi  then  ordered  his  men 
to  seize  everybody  at  the  door  dead  or  alive ;  this 
order  the  Greeks  carried  out  courageously,  using 
sticks  and  stones.  All  the  ten  brigands  were  wounded 
at  least  twice.  The  cadi  ordered  three  of  them  to 
be  taken  and  bound  together,  the  janizary  and  two 
others,  and  proceeded  to  try  them  then  and  there : 
one  was  sent  to  the  castle  to  be  hanged  next 
morning,  another  was  condemned  to  two  hundred 
bastinadoes  on  the  soles  of  his  feet,  and  they  were 
administered  in  my  presence ;  the  third,  the  janizary, 
was  sent  to  Salonika  to  await  orders  from  Constanti- 
nople, as  a  janizary  may  not  be  tried  by  any  save  his 
own  captain.  All  the  same,  the  governor  has  sent  in 
a  very  unfavourable  account  of  him  to  the  Porte.  I 
would  not  allow  any  of  my  people  to  stir,  though 
some  of  the  sick  did  get  out  of  the  carts.  This  is  a 
full  account  of  what  took  place  during  this  episode, 
which  lasted  three  hours.  And  thus  by  the  grace  of 
God  we  escaped  from  this  peril  with  much  honour  and 
general  satisfaction. 

"Postscript,  August  28. — All  the  sick  are  going  on 
well.  As  for  me,  seeing  the  improvement  last  night, 
I  have  resolved  not  to  be  bled. 

"  SALONIKA,  September  5. — The  day  after  I  wrote  my 
last  despatch  the  fever  mounted  so  rapidly  that  the 
doctors  were  compelled  to  draw  eight  ounces  of  blood 


i4    VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

I  submitted  willingly,  hoping  thus  to  escape  a  worse 
mishap.  But  the  fever  returned  at  its  usual  hour,  and 
with  it  a  terrible  restlessness,  which  was  augmented 
by  the  fearful  heat.  Next  day  the  fever  returned  earlier 
with  a  cold  fit  of  two  hours,  and  then  the  usual  hot  fit; 
and  so  for  the  next  two  days,  when  they  gave  me  a 
dose  of  rhubarb  and  manna,  which  worked  wonders. 
The  other  sick  are  going  on  well.  Besides  the  six 
who  have  died,  a  French  gentleman — commended  to 
me  by  the  Chevalier  Duodo — a  brother  of  Varini, 
the  baker,  and  the  servant  of  the  secretary  have  all 
succumbed  in  these  last  eight  days,  so  that  we  have 
now  lost  ten  of  our  company. 

"  In  this  plight,  ill  myself,  and  all  my  household 
recovering  but  slowly,  with  five  hundred  miles  still 
to  cover,  I  resolved  to  write  to  the  bailo  to  send  two 
galleys  to  fetch  me.  Our  sickness  is  not  contagious, 
but  is  caused  by  the  excessively  high  temperature,  the 
bad  guiding  of  the  Turks,  and  the  ice-cold  water  which 
every  one  drinks  in  the  hope  of  combating  the  heat, 
but  which  produces  the  very  opposite  effect. 

"  SALONIKA,  October  10. — The  deaths  in  my  house- 
hold now  number  eighteen.  The  fever  returned  on 
me,  and  has  rendered  me  so  weak  that  I  can  hardly  sit 
up  in  bed.  But  for  the  service  of  your  serenity  and 
to  get  away  from  here,  I  have  this  morning  resolved 
to  rise,  and  after  receiving  the  blessed  Sacrament,  to 
get  into  my  coach'and  depart.  Nine  of  my  household 
are  still  sick,  and  these  I  send  by  sea  for  their  greater 
convenience.  I  failed  to  secure  the  two  galleys ;  there 
were  none  in  Constantinople." 

Gradenigo  reached  Constantinople  at  last  on 
October  30.  His  condition  was  so  deplorable  that 
the  resident  bailo,  Capello,  called  in  four  doctors  in 
consultation,  who  pronounced  the  case  dangerous. 
They  continued  the  treatment  of  cupping,  but  he  was 
soon  stricken  with  a  palsy,  followed  by  dropsy,  and 
after  lingering  on  for  three  months,  he  expired  on 
February  22,  1600. 


ARRIVAL  AT  CONSTANTINOPLE         15 

Not  all  Venetian  envoys  were  so  unfortunate  as 
Gradenigo,  though  every  one  of  them  describes  the 
journey  as  difficult  and  dangerous.  Arrived  at  the 
Sweet  Waters,  the  bailo  would  halt  and  pitch  his  camp, 
waiting  the  arrival  of  his  predecessor  accompanied  by 
the  leading  merchants  of  Pera,  the  secretaries,  and 
sometimes  the  chiefs  of  other  foreign  missions,  and 
the  janizaries  and  spahis  whom  the  grand  vizir  sent 
to  meet  the  new  ambassador,  but  for  whom  he  had 
to  pay.1  From  the  number  sent  the  bailo  gathered  a 
first  inkling  of  the  reception  in  store  for  him. 

For  his  entry  into  Pera  the  envoy  donned  his  official 
robes,  a  close-fitting  tunic  reaching  to  his  ankles,  called 
the  duliman,  made  of  purple  silk  damask ;  above  that 
a  long  cloak  of  crimson  satin,  lined  with  velvet,  or 
precious  furs  for  winter  wear,  called  the  ducale\  his 
shoes  were  of  crimson  velvet,  embroidered  in  gold;  on 
his  head  a  bonnet  of  silk  damask  adorned  with  a 
diamond  jewel.  His  horse  was  draped  in  a  tabard  of 
crimson  velvet  which  swept  the  ground.  Accompanied 
by  his  predecessor,  gentlemen  from  other  embassies, 
merchants,  Turkish  officers,  spahis  and  janizaries, 
the  bailo  was  brought  to  his  lodging,  where,  in  the 
courtyard,  tables  were  spread  for  the  janizaries, 
spahis,  and  common  folk ;  upstairs,  at  three  great 
tables,  sat  the  Turkish  officials,  and  at  a  fourth  the 
bailos  and  their  suites ;  the  feast  lasted  "  tre  grosse 
ore." 

The  Venetian  embassy,  now  the  Austrian  embassy, 
stood  in  the  Vigne  di  Pera,  on  the  crest  of  the  hill, 
looking  over  the  Bosphorus,  with  gardens  and  vine- 
yards sloping  down  towards  the  water.  From  the 
embassy  the  new  bailo  and  his  predecessor  set  out 
to  wait  on  the  grand  vizir,  to  hand  in  credentials, 
and  to  offer  the  present.  The  grand  vizir  appointed 
the  day  for  the  banquet  and  the  audience  of  the  sultan 
in  divan. 

All  ceremonial  was  ordered  according  to  a  book  of 
1  AJteri,  op.  cil.  vi.  52,  Daniele  Barbarigo,  1564. 


16   VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

precedents1  kept  in  duplicate  at  the  embassy  and  at 
the  Porte.  The  bailo's  instructions  always  contained  an 
injunction  to  suffer  no  interference  with  precedent  and 
to  be  on  his  guard  against  any  diminution  of  prestige ; 
the  Turk,  on  the  other  hand,  constantly  endeavoured 
to  introduce  some  modification  which  would  mark  the 
inferiority  of  the  giaour,  and  a  bailo's  first  difficulty 
was  to  secure  the  observance  of  full  ceremonial  at 
divan,  banquet,  and  audience.  The  banquet,  which 
preceded  the  audience,  was  a  matter  of  great  impor- 
tance, for  it  was  considered  as  the  right  of  crowned 
heads  only.  Venice  had  always  claimed,  and  at  most 
courts  had  established  her  claim,  to  rank  with  crowned 
heads.  But  on  the  loss  'of  the  kingdom  of  Cyprus  an 
attempt  was  made  to  rob  her  of  that  rank.  At  the 
court  of  St.  James  the  sovereign  James  I.  settled  the 
question  in  favour  of  the  Republic  by  declaring  that 
she  still  held  Crete,2  which  he  said  was  a  kingdom. 
At  the  Porte,  however,  a  more  determined  attempt  was 
made  to  withhold  the  banquet  from  the  first  Venetian 
embassy  that  reached  Constantinople  after  the  fall  of 
Famagosta.  The  mission  was  one  of  extreme  delicacy, 
as  its  object  was  to  effect  a  peace.  It  consisted  of  two 
envoys,  an  orator,  Andrea  Badoer,  and  a  bailo,  Antonio 
Tiepolo,  who  was  to  succeed  Marcantonio  Barbaro. 
They  reached  Pera  on  August  28,  1572,  but  found 
that  the  sultan  was  out  hunting.  He  returned  on 
October  7,  and  the  isth  was  appointed  for  the 
audience.  The  ambassadors  and  their  suites  were  all 
ready  to  set  out,  when  it  came  to  their  ears  that  the 
Turk  intended  to  refuse  them  the  banquet  on  the 
ground  that  Venice  no  longer  ranked  as  a  crowned 
head.  Thereupon  the  three  envoys  resolved  not  to 
go  to  audience.  An  exchange  of  messages  then  took 
place  between  Pera  and  StambQl,  and  the  grand 

1  See  Alberi,  op.  at.  iii.  375  :  "  Non  trovarsi  scritto  nei  libri  publici 
il  banchetto,"  and  "provandogli  .  .  .  con  li  medesini  libri  de'  baili." 

1  Archivio  di  Stato,  Senato,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Inghilterra,  Jan.  13, 
1612. 


THE  BANQUET  17 

vizir  sent  word  by  Orimbey,  the  grand  dragoman, 
and  Salamon,  his  Jew  doctor,  both  of  whom  had  acted 
as  intermediaries,  to  warn  the  ambassadors  that  they 
had  better  take  care  what  they  did,  for  if  they  failed  to 
appear  next  morning  in  divan,  they  would  offend  a 
powerful  and  coleric  prince,  who  would  think  nothing 
of  beheading  all  three.  All  three,  however,  sent  back 
to  say  that  they  did  not  fear  death  in  defence  of  their 
country's  honour,  nor  was  their  country  so  feeble  but 
that  she  could  easily  reopen  the  war,  and  that  without 
the  banquet  they  would  not  go  to  divan.  To  soften 
this  refusal,  at  least  in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  who  were 
beginning  to  gossip  about  the  incident,  the  orator 
resolved  to  feign  illness,  and  went  to  bed.  This  was 
past  midnight  on  the  night  of  the  nth,  and  as  the 
divan  was  to  be  held  as  usual  at  daybreak  on  the  isth, 
there  was  no  time  to  countermand  it.  The  divan,  in 
fact,  met,  the  janizaries  were  drawn  up,  the  grand 
signior  himself  was  dressed  and  in  his  place ;  but  the 
Venetian  envoys  did  not  appear.  Three  messengers 
were  sent,  one  after  another,  to  bid  them  hasten ;  but 
the  Venetians  merely  resolved  to  send  Francesco  Bar- 
baro,  a  relation  of  the  retiring  bailo,  to  say  that  the 
orator  was  ill  and  in  bed.  The  grand  vizir  did  not 
believe  the  story,  but  he  dared  not  tell  the  truth  to  the 
sultan  for  fear  of  his  own  head ;  he  therefore  adopted 
the  tale,  and  without  much  difficulty  induced  the 
sultan  to  accept  it  also.  The  two  bailos  then  waited 
on  the  grand  vizir,  asserted  the  reality  of  Badoer's 
illness,  and  complained  of  the  insult  intended  for  them. 
After  much  discussion  the  grand  vizir  gave  way,  and 
the  banquet  and  audience  were  fixed  for  November  i. 

Having  secured  the  observance  of  full  ceremonial,  a 
bailo  would  go  to  divan  on  the  day  appointed.  The 
divan  was  held  on  Saturdays,  Sundays,  Mondays,  and 
Tuesdays  only,  and  as  a  rule  the  sultan  was  not 
present  except  for  the  purpose  of  granting  an  audience 
of  reception  or  of  conge,  the  only  occasion  on  which 
an  envoy  had  a  personal  interview  with  the  grand 

VOL.   II.  2 


18  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

signer.  The  earlier  sultans  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
attending  divan  behind  a  little  curtained  window, 
where  they  could  hear  all  that  passed.1  But  after  the 
reign  of  Soliman  the  Magnificent  the  management  of 
affairs  was  entrusted  more  and  more  to  the  grand 
vizir.  The  divan  consisted  of  the  grand  vizir,  three 
or  four  pashas  of  tails,  the  capudan  pasha,  the 
belierbeys  of  Greece  and  Anatolia,  two  cadileskiers,  or 
chief  justices,  three  tefterdars^  or  treasurers,  the 
nishanj,  or  chancellor,  and  the  chief  of  the  janiz- 
aries ;  in  attendance  were  the  dragomans  of  the 
grand  vizir  and  a  crowd  of  clerks  and  messengers. 
The  grand  vizir  alone  despatched  business;  if  he 
chose,  he  consulted  his  colleagues,  who  otherwise  re- 
mained silent.  It  also  rested  with  him  to  submit 
matters  or  not  to  the  sultan's  decision  ;  this  was  done 
by  a  written  note,  on  which  the  sultan  scribbled  his 
answer.  The  divan  was  open  to  every  one :  petitioners, 
plaintiffs,  all,  in  short,  who  had  business  were  intro- 
duced one  by  one  by  the  grand  vizir's  dragomans, 
heard  and  rapidly  answered.  After  divan,  the  two 
cadileskiers,  then  the  grand  vizir,  then  the  aga  of  the 
janizaries  were  received  by  the  sultan ;  the  tefterdars 
had  audience  on  Sundays  and  Tuesdays  only. 

On  the  day  appointed  for  his  first  audience  the  bailo 
in  his  full  robes,  accompanied  by  his  suite  and  servants 
bearing  the  present,  crossed  the  Golden  Horn  in  small 
boats  called  perms,  from  Galata  to  Stambul.  At  the 
landing-place  they  found  horses  awaiting  them,  and  an 
escort  of  spahis,  janizaries,  and  messengers,  or  chaushes. 
They  rode  uphill  past  Santa  Sofia  to  the  great  gate  of 
the  seraglio  and  into  the  first  court,  a  vast  open  space 
surrounded  by  porticoes,  where  the  cavalry  or  spahis 
were  drawn  up  in  order.  Dismounting,  the  bailo  and 
suite  passed  through  the  middle  gate  into  the  second 
court,  turfed  and  planted  with  trees ;  there  they  found, 
ranked  in  full  uniform,  in  absolute  silence  and  motion- 

1  Alberi,  op.  tit.  iii.  1 19,  Trevisan,  1 554.  Note  the  pose  of  the  sultan 
in  Gentile  Bellini's  portrait  of  Mahomet  II.  in  the  Lazard  Gallery. 


THE  AUDIENCE  19 

less,  six  or  seven  thousand  janizaries ;  under  a  loggia 
at  the  farther  end  sat  their  aga.  At  the  extreme 
end  of  this  courtyard  was  the  chamber  of  the 
divan,  adorned  with  pillars  and  tessellated  pavement 
of  marble.  The  bailo  was  introduced  into  this 
chamber  and  seated  among  the  pashas,  who  entered 
into  conversation  with  him  while  the  grand  vizir  was 
despatching  business.  The  suite  remained  outside 
and  the  servants  began  to  unpack  and  lay  out  the 
present.  This  consisted  of  webs  of  cloth  of  gold,  silk 
damask,  robes  of  scarlet  cloth,  silver  plate,  cheeses 
from  Piacenza,  confectionery.  All  this  was  distributed 
among  the  janizaries,  who  were  deputed  to  carry  it 
presently  past  the  window  of  the  sultan's  chamber  and 
to  deposit  it  in  the  treasury  or  cazna.  As  the  sultan 
rarely  deigned  to  examine  the  present,  the  bailos 
sometimes  recommend  that  it  should  be  remarkable 
for  quantity  rather  than  quality.  No  one  could  venture 
to  approach  the  sultan  without  a  present ;  but  the 
present  soon  resolved  itself  for  most  Turks  into  a  sum 
of  money  conveyed  by  a  legal  fiction,  for  the  present 
was  frequently  bought  out  of  the  treasury  and  returned 
to  it,  to  be  used  again  and  again.1  The  imperial  revenue 
from  presents  amounted  to  about  eight  million  ducats 
a  year,  or  about  as  much  as  the  revenue  from  other 
sources.1 

While  the  present  was  being  unpacked,  the  banquet 
was  served  in  the  chamber  of  the  divan.  It  consisted 
of  twenty-five  courses  of  rice  and  peas,  boiled  mutton, 
roast  lamb,  fish,  pastry,  fried  dough  balls,  qualche 
lavoraccio  di  pasta  con  miele,  no  fruit,  no  sweets,  all 
washed  down  with  sherbet.  There  were  no  forks, 

1  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  iii.  275,  Marin  Cavalli,  1560:  "  Le  vesti  di 
seta  dei  donativi  sono  moltiplicate  tanto  nel  cazna  del  gran  signore, 
che  han  trovato  modo  perch&  non  crescano  piu  ed  insieme  non 
perdere  il  quadagno,  che  quando  un  suddito  vuol  far  donativo  al 
gran  signore,  quelli  del  cazna  gli  dimandono  che  cosa  vuol  dare  e 
gli  vendono  il  tutto ;  dimodoche  il  danaro  entra  e  le  robe  ritornano 
ancora." 

1  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  iii.  427,  Garzoni,  1573. 


20  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

no  napkins,  and  only  wooden  spoons.  The  suite 
meantime  were  fed  outside  under  the  portico,  in  sight 
of  the  troops,  sitting  cross-legged  on  the  ground. 
Their  food  was  much  the  same  as  that  served  to 
their  master. 

When  the  banquet  was  finished,  the  sultan  was 
informed  that  the  bailo  was  waiting  to  be  received. 
He  was  then  taken  to  an  inner  courtyard  of  the 
seraglio,  in  one  corner  of  which  stood  a  little  pavilion 
surrounded  by  a  colonnade  of  fine  marble  pillars. 
This  was  the  sultan's  chamber.  At  the  door  stood 
ushers  in  robes  of  cloth  of  gold  and  silver,  with  tall  hats 
on  their  heads.  The  envoy  and  those  of  his  suite  who 
were  to  be  admitted  to  kiss  the  sultan's  skirts  were 
then  seized  by  the  arms  and  held  at  the  wrist  and 
at  the  elbow  by  two  young  men,  one  on  each 
side,  and  were  thus  introduced  into  the  presence.1 
The  grand  signer  sat  on  a  divan  covered  with  silk, 
wrought  in  gold  thread  and  sewn  with  pearls, 
diamonds,  rubies,  and  other  stones.  On  the  ground 
were  rich  Persian  carpets,  and  in  the  middle  of  the 
chamber  a  brazier  of  solid  gold,  inlaid  with  precious 
stones.  On  a  level  with  his  head  was  a  little  window, 
through  which,  if  he  chose,  he  could  see  the  present 
defiling  by.  The  sultan  wore  a  robe  of  cloth  of  gold, 
and  sat  motionless,  his  eyes  on  the  ground,  his  hands 
in  his  pockets  or  in  his  lap.  The  bailo  was  forced 
down  on  his  knees  and  given  a  corner  of  the  sultan's 
robe  to  kiss.  His  suite  did  the  same,  and  were  then 
led  out  backwards.  The  bailo  was  then  placed 
opposite  the  sultan,  with  his  back  to  the  wall,  and 
made  his  address,  which  was  interpreted  by  the 
grand  dragoman.  The  sultan  received  it  all  with 
an  air  of  bored  indifference  ;  usually  he  said  nothing, 
making  as  though  he  did  not  hear  ;  sometimes,  if  very 

1  See  Soranzo,  Viaggio  da.  Venezia  a  Costantinopoli,  1575.  The 
reason  for  this  procedure  was  either  to  secure  that  they  should  make 
the  proper  reverences,  or,  as  another  version  has  it,  to  prevent  them 
offering  violence  to  the  sovereign. 


THE  BAILO'S  DUTIES  21 

gracious,  he  would  slightly  bow  his  head  or  say, 
"  Giozel  "—that  is,  "  Very  well."  At  the  close  of  this 
humiliating  performance  the  bailo  was  hurriedly 
backed  out  of  the  presence,  and  the  audience  was  over. 
He  regained  his  suite  in  the  outer  court,  and  as  they 
left  the  seraglio  point  "  the  thundering  tramp  of  the 
disbanding  janizaries  shook  the  ground,  and  the 
envoy  was  amazed  and  delighted  at  the  order  and 
discipline  of  the  troops." * 

Being  now  fully  accredited  to  the  Porte,  the  bailo 
proceeded  to  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  Those  duties 
fell  into  two  groups,  consular  and  diplomatic,  and 
we  may  consider  them  separately.  But  first  a  word 
must  be  said  as  to  the  working  of  the  embassy. 
Besides  the  staff  he  brought  with  him,  the  bailo  found 
at  Constantinople  two  or  more  dragomans,  the 
dragoman  grande,  who  accompanied  him  to  audiences 
and  was  intermediary  between  the  embassy  and  the 
Porte,  and  the  dragoman  piccolo,  who  attended  to  the 
commercial  correspondence  and  kept  the  shipping 
registers.  The  Venetian  envoys,  on  their  return  from 
their  mission,  frequently  dwell  on  the  importance  of 
the  dragomans,  and  point  out  how  essential  it  is  that 
they  should  be  able,  'obedient,  honest,  for  the 
bailo  in  his  dealings  with  the  Turk  was  almost  entirely 
in  their  hands.  The  bailos  often  complain  that  these 
essential  qualities  were  lacking ;  that  the  dragoman 
not  uncommonly  endeavoured  to  supplant  the  bailo, 
negotiating  on  behalf  of  Venetian  subjects  directly 
with  the  authorities,  and,  of  course,  receiving  the 
solatium  for  his  own  pocket.  Bernardo  Navagero 
(i553)  was  the  first  to  suggest  the  establishment  of 
student  dragomans,  in  the  hope  that  a  school  of  able 
and  honest  public  servants  might  thus  be  created. 
His  successor,  in  fact,  did  take  out  two  giovani  della 
lingua,  sons  of  Venetian  citizens.  But  the  result  was 
not  encouraging.  The  young  men  took  to  loose  living, 
and  the  corruption  of  the  Turkish  women — enough, 
1  See  Alberi,  op.  at.  iii.  359,  Badoaro,  1573. 


22  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

as  Bernardo  says,  difare  di  un  santo  un  Diavolo — ended 
by  converting  some  of  them  to  Islam.  The  evil  repute 
of  the  post  of  student  dragoman  induced  Venetian 
parents  to  refuse  to  send  their  sons  to  Constantinople, 
and  the  embassy  was  forced  to  employ  Turkish 
subjects,  sons  of  dragomans  by  long  profession.  As 
an  example  of  the  difficulty  which  the  bailo  encountered 
in  the  employment  of  these  hereditary  dragomans,  we 
may  cite  the  case  of  Mattheca,1  who  in  1574  was 
reported  home  as  worse  than  useless,  in  spite  of  the 
benefits  received  by  his  family  from  father  to  son. 
The  Council  of  Ten,  accordingly,  on  October  22, 
proposed  to  dismiss  him,  but  the  motion  fell  through. 
Eighteen  years  later,  however,  in  1592,  on  the  un- 
favourable report  of  Lorenzo  Bernardo,  the  Ten 
proposed  to  instruct  the  bailo  to  poison  Mattheca,  as 
they  knew  that  he  frequently  dined  at  the  embassy  ;  the 
was  to  be  carried  out  cautiously,  so  that  there  should  be 
no  signs  of  a  violent  death,  but  that  the  accident 
should  appear  to  be  due  to  sudden  indisposition. 
The  bailo,  for  some  reason  unexplained,  did  not  fulfil 
these  orders,  and  his  successor,  Marco  Venier,  on 
the  eve  of  his  departure  for  Constantinople,  was 
instructed  to  make  away  with  Mattheca — who  was 
coming  to  meet  him  at  Ragusa — either  by  poison,  or 
by  some  other  means  which  should  bear  the  appear- 
ance of  a  natural  death  caused  by  the  hardships  and 
dangers  of  the  mountain  journey.  We  do  not  know 
what  happened  to  Mattheca,  but  the  episode  illustrates 
the  difficulties  inherent  in  the  employment  of  non- 
Venetian  dragomans,  who  were  usually  under  the 
protection  and  often  in  the  pay  of  the  great  pashas. 

Besides  the  dragomans,  the  bailos  found  it  necessary 
to  employ  a  secret  agent,  or  intermediary,  called  a 
mezzano.  He  was  usually  a  Jew  doctor,  who,  as  not 
being  a  Christian,  had  more  ready  access  to  the  houses 
of  the  pashas,  and  as  a  physician  even  to  their  harems. 
The  duties  of  the  mezzanb  were  to  keep  the  embassy 

1  Lamansky,  op.  cit,  pp.  102-5. 


THE   REVENUE  OF  THE  EMBASSY       23 

informed  of  what  was  taking  place  in  the  Turkish 
official  world  and  in  the  seraglio  of  the  grand  turk ; 
to  note  the  changes  of  imperial  favour,  and  to  indicate 
whose  star  was  in  the  ascendant,  whose  upon  the 
wane.  The  mezzano  was  highly  paid,  and  frequently 
employed  on  the  most  delicate  negotiations,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Jew  doctor  Salomon,  who  was  the  chief 
agent  in  bringing  about  the  peace  of  1574.  But  in 
many  cases  the  mezzani  were  nothing  other  than  spie 
doppie — that  is,  they  told  the  pashas  as  much  about 
the  embassy  as  they  told  the  bailo  about  the  harem, 
and  drew  their  money  with  both  hands. 

For  the  protection  of  the  embassy  the  Turk  insisted 
on  furnishing  three  janizaries,  for  whom,  however, 
the  bailo  paid,  and  who  were  of  little  use,  even,  as  we 
shall  presently  see,  sometimes  conniving  at  the  escape 
of  prisoners. 

The  revenue  of  the  embassy  was  derived  from  the 
cottimo,1  or  duty — three-quarters  per  cent,  levied  on 
all  Venetian  goods  that  entered,  and  one  and  a  quarter 
per  cent,  on  all  goods  that  left  the  port.  In  1594  it 
brought  in  five  thousand  ducats  a  year ;  another  two 
thousand  were  derived  from  the  Turkish  export 
customs,  making  a  revenue  of  seven  thousand  ducats 
in  all.*  The  accounts  were  kept  in  two  sets,  the 
consular  and  the  diplomatic,  in  order  to  distinguish 
what  properly  fell  to  the  state  to  pay  and  what  to 
the  merchants.  The  expenses,  as  regards  bribes  and 
presents,  were  regulated  by  decrees  of  the  Senate3; 
but  they  showed  a  steady  tendency  to  rise  till  the 
bailage  of  Marin  Cavalli,  who  endeavoured  to  intro- 
duce economy  in  presents,  and  thereby  incurred  the 
hatred  of  the  dragomans  and  the  Turks.  He  declared 
on  his  return  that  if  things  had  been  allowed  to  go  on 

1  Sec  Rezasco,  Vocabolario  Amministrativo^  s.v.  "  Cottimo." 

'  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  ix.  443,  Matteo  Zane,  1 594. 

*  See  Archivio  di  Stato,  Senato,  Delib.  Costantinopoli,  Registri, 
March  19,  1566,  Commission  to  Jacopo  Soranzo,  where  the  previous 
regulations  as  regards  expenses  are  recited. 


24  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

as  they  were,  thirty  thousand  ducats  a  year  would  not 
have  satisfied  Turkish  rapacity.  Cavalli  laid  down 
rules  for  his  own  guidance,  declaring  that  excessive 
presents  argued  fear  and  weakness ;  that  the  more  you 
give  the  Turk  the  more  he  will  want;  you  should 
never  pay  when  in  the  right ;  nor  should  you  ever 
pay  for  the  liberation  of  slaves,  as  that  is  provided  for 
in  the  capitulations  ;  if  successful,  some  small  gift  may 
properly  be  made,  but  you  should  obtain  your  demand 
first  on  the  ground  of  right.  Brave  principles,  but 
powerless  at  the  Porte.  They  only  led  to  Cavalli's 
failure  and  recall. 

The  consular  side  of  the  bailo's  duties  may  be 
divided  into  two  departments — the  commercial  and 
the  judicial.  In  the  commercial  department  the 
bailo  had  the  assistance  of  a  Council  of  Twelve,1 
chosen  from  among  the  resident  Venetian  merchants. 
In  all  matters  affecting  the  commercial  interests  of 
Venetians  he  consulted  the  Twelve,  though  the 
decision  as  to  the  policy  to  be  pursued  rested  with 
him,  as  did  the  appointments  to  the  consulates  of 
Cairo,  Aleppo,  Syria,  and  Chios.2  That  the  bailos 
recognized  the  great  importance  of  the  consular  side 
of  their  mission  is  clear  from  their  remarks.  "II  carico 
principale,"  says  Navagero  in  1553,  "di  un  bailo  di 
Costantinopoli  e  la  defensione  delle  mercanzie  della 
nazione."  But  that  trade  was  steadily  declining  through 
the  sixteenth  century.  Navagero 3  says  that  few  Vene- 
tian merchant  houses  remain  in  Constantinople ;  Cavalli 
puts  them  at  ten  or  twelve  at  the  most.  Both  express 
surprise  that  even  these  hold  on.  Venetian  capital 
embarked  in  the  Turkey  trade  in  1560  amounted  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  ducats  in  the  silk,  woollen, 
and  glass  trade,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
ducats  in  leather,  cordage,  and  food-stuffs.  Both  bailos 
attribute  this  decline  to  depreciation  of  gold,  to  rise  in 

1  See  Rezasco,  op,  tit.  s.v.  "Consiglio  di  XII." 

*  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  i.  56-7. 

*  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  iii.  101,  274. 


THE  JEWS  25 

rent,  to  increased  agency  fees,  to  the  abuse  of  presents 
and  bribes,  without  which  nothing  could  be  done,  to  the 
danger  of  sack  by  the  janizaries  on  the  death  of  the 
sultan,  but  above  all  to  the  Jews,  who,  being  ready- 
money  dealers,  were  able  to  make  corners  in  all  goods. 
11  These  Jews  have  ruined  the  whole  trade,  for  they 
have  secured  the  monopoly  of  woollens  and  sell  at 
their  own  prices."  Cavalli  suggests  that  the  law  for- 
bidding Jews  to  trade  in  Venetian  bottoms  should  be 
enforced,  but  he  admits  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  the 
mischief  can  be  remedied,  as  the  Jews  are  powerful  in 
Constantinople — a  fact  of  which  Cavalli  himself  had  a 
painful  experience  ending  in  his  disgrace  and  recall. 
The  story  is  this.1  There  was  a  Jew  called  Aaron 
Segura,  who  had  goods,  alum  and  other  stuff,  ware- 
housed in  Venice.  This  Segura  was  debtor  of  another 
Jew  of  Constantinople  to  the  extent  of  two  thousand 
six  hundred  sequins.  The  Venetian  government  had 
sequestrated  Segura's  goods  in  default  of  dues.  The 
Constantinople  Jew,  finding  his  security  gone,  com- 
plained to  the  sultan  through  the  all-powerful  Jew 
Nasi.  The  complaint  was  forwarded  to  the  grand 
vizir,  who  told  Cavalli,  the  bailo,  that  he  could  not 
leave  Constantinople  till  the  debt  was  discharged. 
Cavalli  replied  that  it  was  beneath  the  dignity  of  an 
envoy  to  stay  on  at  the  suit  of  a  private  individual, 
and  also  that  it  was  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  state 
to  pay.  The  vizir  warned  him  to  beware  what  he 
was  about,  as  the  petitioner  had  the  ear  of  the  sultan. 
The  bailo  then  said  he  would  endeavour  on  his  return 
to  secure  the  removal  of  the  sequestration,  and  offered 
to  pay  down  one  thousand  sequins.  The  vizir  and 
the  bailo,  after  some  haggling,  agreed  on  this  point. 
The  bailo  then  had  a  farewell  audience  of  the  grand 
vizir,  who  appeared  to  be  in  a  good  temper,  and 
wished  him  a  pleasant  journey ;  but  just  at  this  moment 

1  Archivio  di  Staio,  Senate,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Costantinopoli, 
July  i,  4,  10,  1567  ;  and  Senate,  Secreta,  Deliberazioni,  Costantinopoli, 
Aug.  29,  Sept.  6,  1 567. 


26  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

the  sons  of  Aaron  Segura  came  in,  and  the  grand  vizir 
told  them  that  Cavalli  had  promised  to  secure  the 
removal  of  the  sequestration  in  Venice.  This  Cavalli 
denied ;  he  had  promised,  he  averred,  to  promote  the 
interests  of  the  Jew,  but  he  could  not  guarantee  the 
finding  of  the  Venetian  court  that  was  trying  the  case. 
Thereupon  the  vizir  jumped  up  in  a  fury,  called  for 
an  usher — the  truculent  Cubat,  who  had  brought  to 
Venice  the  insolent  demand  for  the  cession  of  Cyprus 
— and  declaring  that  if  this  matter  were  not  settled  at 
once  it  would  end  ill,  he  left  the  room.  The  Jews 
immediately  set  up  a  great  howl,  calling  on  Cubat  to 
hale  the  orator  through  the  streets  of  Stambul  to  the 
cadi's  court.  Finally,  Cavalli  induced  the  usher  to 
accompany  him  back  to  the  embassy,  and  there  it 
was  agreed  that  he  should,  on  his  return,  secure  the 
removal  of  the  sequestration,  and  if  that  were  not  done 
within  six  months,  he  would  pay  down  one  thousand 
sequins.  When  the  vizir  heard  this,  he  said  that  if 
the  Jews  were  satisfied  he  was  not,  and  required  the 
agreement  to  be  drawn  up  and  signed  by  Cavalli  in 
the  presence  of  the  cadi,  and  Cavalli  was  obliged  to 
consent.  When  the  news  reached  Venice,  the  govern- 
ment was  extremely  indignant,  as  the  whole  proceeding 
was  a  breach  of  the  capitulations.  They  at  once 
elected  a  new  ambassador  and  recalled  both  the 
orator,  Cavalli,  and  the  bailo,  Soranzo,  to  stand  their 
trial,  and  Soranzo  was  instructed  to  demand  at  once 
the  recall  of  the  cocket  issued  by  the  cadi.  This  he 
succeeded  in  obtaining,  and  there  the  matter  dropped, 
but  it  helps  to  illustrate  the  difficulties  and  dangers 
which  surrounded  a  Venetian  envoy  at  Constantinople. 
Another  point  which  required  the  constant  attention 
of  the  bailo  was  the  supply  of  corn  for  the  city  of 
Venice.  After  the  disastrous  battles  of  Curzola  and 
Sapienza  Venice  had  learned  that  with  war  on  the 
mainland  and  defeat  at  sea  she  was  exposed  to  the 
most  serious  danger  inherent  in  her  otherwise  all  but 
impregnable  position — the  danger  of  starvation  by 


CONTRACTS  FOR  GRAIN  27 

blockade.  It  therefore  became  one  of  the  maxims  of 
her  government  that  the  state  must  always  keep  her 
public  granaries  full.  Her  own  mainland  territory  did 
not  furnish  grain  enough.  She  had  to  rely  on  Apulia 
and  the  great  plains  of  Asia  Minor,  Thessaly,  and  the 
Black  Sea.  But  Apulia  was  too  decidedly  under  the 
influence  of  Spain,  the  European  power  most  dreaded 
by  Venice ;  the  Republic,  therefore,  tended  more  and 
more  to  trust  to  Turkey  for  her  grain  supply.  In 
discussing  the  possibilities  of  expanding  Venetian  com- 
merce with  Turkey,  Domenico  Trevisan  (I554)1  points 
out  that  the  corn  trade  might  be  made  profitable  to 
Venetian  merchants ;  but  he  adds,  with  a  high  sense 
of  patriotic  duty  and  a  sound  appreciation  of  economic 
principles,  that  "  such  gains  ought  never  to  be  desired 
by  any  man,  on-  the  double  ground  that  to  raise  the 
price  of  food-stuff  is  to  injure  the  poor  and  to  injure 
the  states."  This  is  in  accordance  with  the  funda- 
mental economic  doctrines  of  the  state  of  Venice, 
which,  though  the  most  highly  protected  among  the 
states  of  Italy,  yet  refused  even  for  war  purposes  to 
tax  food-stuff.*  But  the  penuria  annonice,  the  necessitas 
bladi  in  which  Venice  found  herself,  was  well  known 
to  the  Turk,  who  used  it  either  as  a  source  of  gain- 
both  Rustan  Pasha  and  the  sultana  mother  made 
corners  in  corn  and  pressed  offers  on  Venice — or  as  a 
threat  to  squeeze  the  Republic  into  concessions.  The 
bailos  frequently  received  orders  from  the  home 
government  to  make  large  contracts  for  corn.  But,  as 
a  rule,  they  were  opposed  to  this  policy,  as  giving  to 
the  Turk  too  open  an  indication  of  their  deficiency. 
They  suggested,  and  the  government  adopted  the  sug- 
gestion, that  it  would  be  wiser  to  secure  the  inflow  of 
corn  through  private  enterprise  by  letting  it  be  known 
that  Venice  offered  a  permanent  market  and  a  fixed 
price.1  Barbaro  even  endeavoured  to  persuade  the 

1  Alberi,  op.  cit.  iii.  183. 

1  See  Malipiero,  Annali  Veneti<  op.  cit.  part  i.  p.  13. 

*  Alberi,  op.  cit.  iii.  183. 


28  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

Turks  that  Venice  was  independent  of  them  in  the 
matter  of  corn,  for  on  one  occasion,  when  the  Turk 
was  trying  his  usual  trick  of  threatening  to  withhold 
grain,  the  bailo  said  that  the  result  of  such  a  policy 
was  that  Venice  had  taken  to  reclaiming  her  own 
marsh  lands,  and  was  now,  or  soon  would  be,  in  a 
position  to  feed  herself1;  "at  which,"  as  he  says,  "the 
pasha  opened  his  ears  very  wide."  Among  the  remain- 
ing duties  of  a  Venetian  bailo  in  his  consular  capacity 
was  the  liberation  of  Christian  slaves.  This  could 
easily  be  effected  on  payment  of  a  sum  varying  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  ducats ; 3  and  he  was  further  required 
to  protect  the  fathers  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.8 

To  turn  now  to  the  judicial  side  of  the  bailo's 
functions.  The  bailo's  court  was  the  court  for  all 
Venetians  and  for  most  Christian  residents  in  Con- 
stantinople. Matteo  Zane  justly  remarks4  in  1594  that 
"  the  bailo  of  your  serenity  enjoys  a  very  honourable 
jurisdiction;  for  he  judges  Venetians  in  civil  and 
criminal  cases  alike,  while  all  the  other  nationalities, 
even  the  French,  with  a  few  exceptions  who  seek  the 
French  embassy,  come  before  him  in  their  civil  suits. 
To  this  wide  jurisdiction  the  Turks  raise  not  the 
smallest  objection ;  indeed,  they  of  their  own  accord 
send  before  him  all  cases  which  in  any  way  belong  to 
his  jurisdiction.  His  civil  jurisdiction  is  established  on 
the  capitulations,  the  criminal  is  recognized  by  user." 
If  a  Turk  sued  a  Venetian,  the  case  was  tried  by 
the  bailo ;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  a  Venetian  sued  a 
Turk,  the  case  was  heard  by  the  cadi,  but  the  bailo's 
dragoman  was  always  present.  Suits  between  Vene- 
tians, of  course,  came  before  the  bailo.  By  the 
capitulations  the  bailo  could  call  on  the  governor  of 
Pera  for  his  arm  to  enforce  the  sentence  or  for  the 

1  Alb&ri,  op.  cit.  Hi.  314. 
*  Alb&ri,  op.  cit.  Hi.  180. 
'  Yriarte,  La  Vie  <Pun  Patricien  de  Venise  (Paris  :  Rothschild),  s.d. 

P-  143- 
4  Alteri,  op.  cit.  ix.  443. 


JUDICIAL  FUNCTIONS  29 

custody  of  prisoners,  as  there  was  no  prison  in  the 
embassy.  The  surrender  of  non-Venetian  residents 
to  the  Bailo's  court  was  voluntary  but  usual ;  indeed, 
the  only  alternative  was  the  Turkish  courts,  which  all 
foreigners  would  naturally  avoid.  We  have  the  case 
of  the  English  ambassador,  Barton,  coming  into  the 
bailo's  court  at  the  suit  of  Charles  Helman,1  and  the 
case  of  Sir  Thomas  Glover,  English  ambassador, 
sending  for  trial  before  the  bailo,  on  criminal  charges, 
the  apostate  friar  Fra  Vicenzo  Marini,  of  Madaloni, 
who  was  first  engaged  as  preacher  at  the  British 
embassy  and  eventually  caused  outrageous  scandals.' 
Here  again,  with  a  view  to  seeing  how  the  court 
worked,  we  may  be  allowed  to  quote  the  report  of 
a  case  where  the  envoy,  Giovanni  Moro,  was  called 
upon  to  use  his  court  for  the  protection  of  a  Venetian 
merchant.  The  case  occurred  in  1588,*  and  though 
inconclusive,  owing  to  the  flight  of  the  prisoner,  is 
instructive,  and  throws  a  curious  light  on  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  Perotes  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
Giovanni  Moro  wrote  to  the  doge  and  senate  to  say 
that: 

"  On  June  24  a  certain  Messer  Pasqualin  Lion,  a 
Venetian  merchant  resident  in  Constantinople,  lodged 
a  complaint  with  the  bailo  that  in  the  bazaar  of  Galata 
he  had  been  set  upon  and  thrashed  by  a  janizary  and 
some  janizary  cadets,  called  azamoglani ;  they  had 
first  insulted  and  then  hustled  him,  and  on  his  re- 
taliating one  of  the  aggressors  drew  a  knife,  while 
another  fetched  him  a  blow  with  a  leaden  belt  buckle. 
Messer  Pasqualin  now  called  on  the  bailo  to  secure 
the  arrest  of  his  assailants.  The  bailo,  Moro,  at  once 
sent  the  dragoman  grande  to  demand  the  surrender 
of  the  accused,  but  was  met  by  all  sorts  of  subter- 
fuges on  the  part  of  the  authorities,  and  it  was  only 

1  Archivio  di  Stato^  Senate,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Costantinopoli , 
June  20,  1594. 

3  Ibid.  May  28,  1611. 
•  Ibid.  Aug.  22,  1 588, 


30  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

after  using  strong  language  to  the  grand  vizir  him- 
self that  a  janizary  and  a  young  azamoglan  were 
sent  to  the  Venetian  embassy  to  be  examined.  The 
bailo  elicited  that  fact  that  neither  of  these  men  was 
the  aggressor,  but  that  both  had  seen  and  heard  a 
Christian  talking  to  another  janizary  named  Hassan 
— at  present  in  asylum  in  the  gardens  of  the  captain 
of  the  janizaries — and  offering  him  a  bribe  to  thrash 
the  merchant  Pasqualin.  The  bailo  inquired  whether 
the  witnesses  could  identify  this  Christian,  and  on  their 
saying  '  Yes,'  the  whole  embassy  staff  and  household 
were  paraded,  and  each  of  the  witnesses  independently 
and  separately  picked  out  Francesco  da  Feltre,  ser- 
vant to  Messer  Cristoforo  Brutti,  an  Italian  in  the 
service  of  that  great  personage  the  Beglierbey  of 
Greece.  On  hearing  this  the  bailo  ordered  Francesco 
to  consider  himself  consigned  to  the  embassy. 

"  Four  days  later  the  janizary  Hassan,  having  been 
unearthed  from  his  captain's  garden,  was  brought 
before  the  bailo.  He  at  once  confessed — knowing 
that  he  would  not  be  punished  and  caring  not  a  jot 
for  quarrels  among  Giaours — that  a  year  ago  Brutti 
himself  had  engaged  him  to  thrash  Lion,  assuring 
him  that  Lion  was  merely  a  merchant's  agent,  a  fellow 
of  no  importance,  and  that  he  might  safely  give  it 
him,  which  was  done;  but  further,  only  a  few  days 
ago  Francesco,  Brutti's  servant,  had  sought  him  out 
again  and  had  promised  him,  in  Brutti's  name,  a 
scarlet  cloth  cloak  if  he  would  repeat  the  operation. 
Hassan  consented,  and  made  arrangements  with  some 
of  the  cadet  janizaries,  who,  he  said,  were  the  actual 
assailants,  for  at  the  last  moment  he  had  found  out 
that  Messer  Lion  was  a  merchant  of  weight  and 
under  the  protection  of  the  bailo,  and  was  afraid  to 
assault  him.  He  had  not  received  the  scarlet  cloak, 
but  the  cadets  had  got  something  for  the  job. 

"  At  the  close  of  Hassan's  evidence  the  bailo  ordered 
the  arrest  of  Francesco,  and  as  there  was  no  prison 
in  the  embassy,  he  sent  the  accused,  under  escort  of 


JUDICIAL  FUNCTIONS  31 

the  embassy  janizaries,  down  to  the  prison  of  the 
Governor  of  Pera,  upon  whom,  under  the  capitula- 
tions, he  had  a  right  to  call  for  assistance  when  re- 
quired. The  bailo  apparently  made  no  effort  to  secure 
punishment  of  the  Turks,  the  principal  aggressors, 
but  confined  his  attention  to  the  two  Christian  in- 
stigators, Brutti  and  his  servant  Francesco.  But 
Brutti  was  the  beglierbey's  man,  and  at  once  had 
recourse  to  his  patron,  begging  him  to  demand  the 
release  of  Francesco  as  being  indirectly  of  his  house- 
hold. The  beglierbey  twice  sent  his  majordomo  down 
to  the  Governor  of  Pera  to  demand  the  person  of 
Francesco;  but  the  governor  replied  that  as  he  had 
received  the  prisoner  from  the  bailo,  he  could  hand  him 
over  to  no  one  but  the  bailo  or  his  accredited  agent. 
Moro  meanwhile  continued  to  hear  evidence  in  the 
case.  The  man  who  acted  as  interpreter  between 
Francesco  and  Hassan  was  found  and  examined, 
and  though  he  denied  all  knowledge  of  the  affair,  it 
was  noticed  that  while  giving  evidence  '  both  his 
hands  and  his  voice  trembled.'  The  evidence  of 
Steffano,  the  dragoman  grande,  however,  conclusively 
proved  the  connection  between  Hassan  and  Francesco, 
and  the  latter  was  brought  up  from  the  prison  in  Pera 
for  examination.  He  admitted  the  first  thrashing  of 
Messer  Pasqualin,  for  which  the  janizary  received 
an  asper  (about  a  penny)  from  Brutti,  but  denied  all 
knowledge  of  the  second.  He  was  remanded.  On 
August  10  the  bailo  sent  for  the  prisoner  again  to 
pass  sentence  on  ,him.  At  the  moment  when  Fran- 
cesco was  brought  into  the  embassy  the  bailo  was 
busy  making  up  despatches,  and  ordered  Francesco 
to  be  locked  into  a  room.  An  hour  later,  on  sending 
for  the  prisoner,  it  was  found  he  had  escaped  through 
the  help  and  connivance  of  the  janizary  attached  to 
the  embassy,  who  accompanied  him  to  the  house  of 
the  beglierbey,  where  he  was  safe.  Moro  can  only 
remark,  '  Should  your  serenity  think  it  advisable  to 
make  a  prison  in  the  embassy,  one  hundred  sequins 


32  VENETIAN  DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

would  cover  the  expense,  and  I  strongly  recommend 
this  course.' " 

Finally,  among  his  other  functions  the  Venetian 
bailo  acted  as  postmaster  for  the  whole  diplomatic 
body1  and  for  foreign  residents  in  Constantinople, 
just  as  the  Austrian  embassy,  the  heir  of  the  Venetian 
embassy,  does  nowadays.  It  is  also  clear  that  the 
European  mail  for  Constantinople  was  made  up  in 
Venice  and  transmitted  to  the  bailo,  who  distributed 
its  contents.2  This  gave  the  bailo  the  opportunity  to 
open  letters  of  suspected  persons  ;  that  he  availed 
himself  of  it  is  proved  by  a  despatch  from  Lorenzo 
Bernardo  to  the  inquisitors  of  state  under  date 
November  30,  1591,  in  which  Bernardo  declares  that 
he  had  opened  letters  of  a  certain  Minorichino,  a 
professed  spy  of  Spain  at  the  Porte,  and  as  he  found 
them  in  cipher  he  transmitted  them  bodily  to  the 
inquisitors. 

The  ordinary  post  left  twice  a  month  for  Venice, 
and  was  taken  by  land  to  Cattaro,  whence  it  was 
conveyed  to  Venice  by  the  Cattaro  frigate.  The 
journey  ought  to  have  taken  about  a  month  ;  but  the 
roads  were  dangerous,  not  merely  from  footpads,  but 
also  from  officials,  the  Cadi  of  Montenegro  being 
especially  annoying.  The  bailo  therefore,  if  oppor- 
tunity offered,  would  sometimes  send  the  post  by 
another  line,  the  all-sea  route,  or  by  the  all-land  route 
via  Vienna,3  by  means  of  the  imperial  couriers. 

But  besides  the  ordinary  bi-monthly  post,  there  was 
also  the  more  frequent  despatch  of  the  embassy  bags. 
As  a  favour  the  bailo  would  admit  the  correspondence 
of  other  embassies,  and  sometimes,  through  the 
interest  of  a  colleague,  the  letters  of  private  indi- 
viduals ;  it  was,  however,  strictly  forbidden  to  enclose 

1  For  example,  the  imperial  ambassador,  writing  on  June  15, 
1591,  says:  "Just  as  I  was  closing  this  despatch  and  was  about  to 
send  it,  as  usual,  to  the  Venetian  bailo." 

'  Tormene,  op.  cit.  pp.  27-9. 

8  Tormene,  op.  cit.  p.  28,  n.  I. 


THE  POSTAL  SERVICE  33 

money  or  jewels  or  valuables  which  might  tempt  the 
cupidity  of  thieves,  and  lead,  as  had  often  happened, 
to  the  murder  of  the  courier  and  the  destruction  of 
the  bags.  The  whole  of  this  point  is  well  illustrated 
by  the  case  of  Henry  Parvis,  as  stated  by  Sir  Henry 
Wotton,  the  English  ambassador  at  Venice,  to  the 
doge  in  audience.1  "  There  is,"  said  Wotton,  "  in  this 
city  a  young  Englishman  called  Henry  Parvis.  He 
acts  as  forwarding  agent  for  goods  and  letters.  He 
has  correspondents  in  Constantinople,  among  them  a 
son  of  Lorenzo  Pencini,  an  honourable  goldsmith  of 
Venice.  Young  Pencini  had  occasion  to  send  a  couple 
of  pearls  to  his  father.  He  begged  the  English  ambas- 
sador in  Constantinople  (Sir  Thomas  Glover)  to  enclose 
in  his  own  despatches  a  packet  of  letters  in  which 
were  these  pearls,  and  to  send  them  to  Venice.  I  am 
surprised  that  Pencini  did  not  apply  rather  to  your 
serenity's  ambassador,  for  he  regulates  the  post.  But 
your  envoy  has,  very  wisely,  issued  an  order  forbidding 
the  despatch  of  pearls  and  jewels,  so  as  not  to  jeopardize 
the  whole  mail ;  accordingly  Pencini's  son,  being  aware 
of  the  prohibition,  applied  to  the  English  ambassador, 
who  took  the  packet  and  promised  to  forward  it  to 
Venice."  The  English  ambassador,  whether  aware 
of  the  contents  of  Parvis's  letters  or  not,  forwarded 
them  under  cover  of  his  own  to  the  bailo,  Filippo  Bon. 
But  Bon  had  secret  information  of  the  existence  of  the 
pearls,  and  when  making  up  the  post  he  detained  the 
packet  containing  the  pearls,  and  wrote  to  his  brother 
in  Venice,  saying  that  he  held  them  at  the  disposal  of 
the  owner.  When  the  post  arrived  in  Venice,  Lorenzo 
Pencini  waited  a  few  days  and  then  asked  Parvis  for 
the  pearls.  He  naturally  denied  having  received  them, 
and  hence  arose  a  lawsuit,  which  called  for  Wotton's 
intervention  on  behalf  of  his  fellow-countryman.8 

1  Archivio  di  Stalo,  Collegio  Secreta,  Esposizioni  Principi,  Dec.  16, 
1608. 

1  See  Calendar  of  State  Pa$ers,  Venetian,  vol.  xi.  pp.  198,  199,  214, 
215,295. 

VOL.    II.  3 


34   VENETIAN   DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

To  turn  to  the  diplomatic  side  of  a  bailo's  duties,  to 
the  relations  existing  between  the  Republic  and  the 
Porte  during  the  sixteenth  century,  we  shall  find  that 
a  bailo's  position  was  as  delicate  and  dangerous  on 
these  wider  questions  as  it  was  in  the  narrower  de- 
partment of  commercial  relations.  More  than  once  a 
Venetian  ambassador  had  found  himself  in  the  Seven 
Towers.  But  at  the  opening  of  the  century  the  posi- 
tion of  Venice  at  the  Porte  was  unique  among  the 
other  European  powers.  She  alone  kept  permanent 
diplomatic  agents  at  Constantinople ;  the  series  of 
French  ambassadors  and  imperial  internuncios  had 
not  yet  begun.  She  was  the  greatest  Christian 
sea-power  in  the  Mediterranean,  the  only  power 
the  Turks  feared  and  respected  (for  Spain  had 
not  yet  been  brought  to  the  front  by  Charles  V.) ;  the 
evidences  of  her  wealth  and  strength  were  patent  to 
the  Turk  in  the  fleet  of  trading  vessels  which  every 
year  visited  the  Golden  Horn.  But  already  the  first 
blow  had  been  dealt  to  the  world-position  of  Venice 
by  the  discovery  of  the  Cape  route  to  the  East  Indies— 
a  discovery  which  changed  the  trade  route  of  the 
world,  disestablished  the  Mediterranean  in  favour  of 
the  Atlantic,  and  irretrievably  injured  the  roots  of 
Venetian  commercial  supremacy,  and  during  the  course 
of  the  century  the  process  of  decline  was  never  arrested. 

In  1508  came  the  coalition  of  European  powers  for 
the  spoliation  of  the  Republic.  She  weathered  the 
storm,  it  is  true ;  but  it  left  her  seriously  damaged, 
and  the  settlement  at  Bologna  in  1529  introduced 
and  riveted  the  Spanish  power  in  Italy,  and  brought 
Venice  face  to  face  with  a  standing  menace  to  her  land 
possessions.  Then  came  the  troubles  with  those 
Liburnian  freebooters,  the  uskoks,  whose  marauding 
exploits  against  the  subjects  of  the  Austrian  archduke 
and  grand  signior  involved  the  Republic,  which  claimed 
sole  supremacy  in  the  Adriatic,  and  was  therefore 
responsible  for  policing  these  waters,  in  endless  con- 
flict with  Austrian  and  Turk  alike.  All  through  the 


THE  DECLINE  35 

century  Venice  had  to  face  the  constant  menace  of  the 
Turks  as  an  expanding  power.  They  had  conquered 
Rhodes,  and  had  their  eye  on  Cyprus  and  Crete  ;  they 
cast  their  glances  even  farther  afield  and  dreamed  of 
landing  in  Apulia,  and  gave  each  other  rendezvous  at 
"the  Ripe  Apple,"  Rome.1  The  third  and  fourth  Turkish 
wars  were  both  disastrous  for  Venice,  leading  up  to  the 
loss  of  Cyprus  and  the  bitter  disappointment  after  the 
victory  at  Lepanto,when  the  conduct  of  her  allies  robbed 
the  Republic  of  the  fruits  of  victory  and  compelled 
her  to  a  peace  which,  as  Voltaire  remarked,  would 
have  induced  any  one  to  believe  that  Venice,  not  the 
Turk,  was  the  defeated  party.*  Then  came  the  collapse 
of  the  Armada,  and  the  rise  of  England  and  Holland, 
which  led  to  the  opening  of  the  Mediterranean  to  their 
commerce  and  the  establishment  of  ambassadors  at  the 
Porte,  with  capitulations,  and,  in  the  case  of  England, 
with  the  right  of  the  covering  flag  for  the  Dutch,  and 
a  consequent  shrinkage  of  Venetian  prestige.  The 
Republic  instructed  its  envoys  to  oppose  in  every  way 
the  recognition  of  both  English  and  Dutch  ambas- 
sadors, and  to  act  with  their  colleagues,  the  imperial 
and  the  French  ambassadors,  to  whom  the  advent  of 
the  English  and  the  Dutch  was  equally  repugnant. 
But  by  1592  Lorenzo  Bernardo  has  to  report*  that 
"  the  Queen  of  England  has  been  now  for  some  time 
in  high  esteem  as  a  sea-power.  This  was  recognized 

1  See  Alberi,  of>.  tit.  vi.  85  :  "  Dovevano  i  Turchi  esser  padroni 
fino  di  Roma "  (Achmet  Pasha  to  the  Secretary  Jacopo  Ragazzoni, 
April  29,  1571,  before  the  battle  of  Lepanto). 

f  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  iii.  83  :  "  Vostra  Serenit^  e  questo  illustrissimo 
dominio  sollevan  essere  in  molto  maggior  credito  e  riputazione  <  he 
non  sono  al  presente  presso  la  porta  ottomana,  periche  vedendo  i 
Turchi  un  impero  tanto  grande  com'  e  quello  di  Carlo  V  armato  da 
terra  e  da  mare  .  .  .  temevano  grandemente  che  aggiunte  a  quelle  le 
forze  da  mare  di  quest'  illustrissimo  dominio,  potessero  far  loro  qualche 
danno.  Ma  si  son  chiariti  di  quest'  ultima  guerra"  (Bernardo 
Navagero,  1553).  He  is  referring  to  the  third  Turkish  war,  concluded 
in  1 540,  and  to  the  inaction  of  the  Venetian  allies,  the  pope  and  the 
emperor. 

3  See  Alberi,  op.  cit.  iii.  386. 


36   VENETIAN   DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

when  she  broke  the  forces  of  Spain  by  the  valour  of 
Drake  partly,  but  chiefly  by  the  aid  of  the  elements. 
The  fact  that  England  is  the  enemy  of  Spain  increases 
this  regard,  and  as  the  two  nations  are  neighbours 
at  no  point,  nothing  can  arise  to  disturb  their  amity, 
which  is  fostered  by  a  trade  bringing  profit  to  both. 
The  English  ambassador !  is  constantly  employing  evil 
offices  to  the  injury  of  Christendom,  urging  the  Turk 
to  send  out  his  fleet;  but  as  this  is  an  expensive 
business,  let  us  trust  in  God  that  the  ambassador  will 
find  it  too  difficult." 

In  the  midst  of  this  general  situation,  then,  the 
Venetian  envoy  was  called  upon  to  steer  his  perilous 
course.  He  was  expected  to  preserve  the  peace,  to 
persuade  the  Turk  that  the  balance  of  sea-power  in 
the  Mediterranean  as  between  the  Crescent  and  the 
Cross,  as  between  Turkey  and  Spain,  lay  with  Venice, 
to  prove  to  the  Turk  that  the  Republic  could  rely  on 
the  support  of  Europe,  and  while  preventing  the  sultan 
from  thinking  that  she  would  join  a  Christian  coalition 
against  him,  yet  to  convince  him  that  she  could  do  so  if 
she  chose.  To  support  him  in  this  delicate  mission  the 
bailo  had  little  that  was  solid  at  his  back.  The  Turkish 
wars  had  lowered  the  prestige  of  the  Venetian  fleet, 
and,  worse  still,  had  demonstrated  the  fact  of  Venetian 
isolation,  had  taught  the  Turk  that  Europe  would  not 
support  Venice.  When  the  envoy  urged  that  though 
the  Republic  desired  to  maintain  peace  with  the  Porte, 
yet,  if  forced  to  war,  "  it  always  lay  in  her  power  to 
conclude  an  offensive  alliance  with  the  Christian 
powers,"  the  grand  vizir  replied  that  he  "  knew  quite 
well  how  little  Venice  was  loved  by  the  rest  of  Europe, 
and  how  little  ground  she  had  for  relying  on  assistance 
from  the  powers." 2  Such  was  the  fatal  result  of 

1  Edward  Barton.     See  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Venetian,  vol.  ix. 

*  Alberi,  op.  cit.  vi.  85,  Achmet  Pasha  to  the  Secretary  Ragazzont, 
1571.  Marin  Cavalli,  in  1560,  reports  (Alberi,  iii.  286)  in  the  same 
sense,  though  he  is  there  referring  to  the  action  of  Andrea  Doria  on 
September  28,  1538,  before  Prevesa,  when  he  withdrew  the  imperial, 
papal,  and  Maltese  galleys,  leaving  Venice  alone. 


THE  DECLINE  37 

Spanish  policy,  accentuated  after  the  victory  of  Lepanto. 
When  the  Turk  threatened  to  send  out  his  fleet  and 
talked  ominously  of  taking  "nostra  isola"  l  Crete,  the 
bailo  could  only  urge  that  a  war  with  Venice  would 
seriously  affect  the  sultan's  revenue  by  the  loss  of 
custom  dues,  and  that  was  an  argument  that  lost  its 
weight  with  the  decline  of  Venetian  commerce.  The 
bailos  are  all  agreed  that  their  sole  weapons  were,  first, 
the  maintenance  of  Venetian  prestige,  the  concetto  in 
which  Venice  was  held  ;  that  no  effort,  no  expense,  no 
sacrifice,  was  too  great  if  directed  to  that  end,  and  they 
urge  their  government  to  moderate  their  expressions  of 
"  indissoluble  friendship,"  and  to  instruct  their  envoys 
to  hold  their  heads  high  in  face  of  Turkish  insolence 
or  injustice;  and,  secondly,  the  threat  of  an  alliance 
with  Spain.  And  here  lay  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
the  bailo's  task ;  for  if  he  succeeded  in  persuading  the 
Turk  that  such  an  alliance  was  imminent,  he  ran 
the  risk  of  precipitating  a  declaration  of  war,  and  of 
being  himself  sent  to  the  Seven  Towers,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  a  report  of  his  conduct  sent  home  to  his 
government  might  waken  suspicion  that  he  was  in 
Spanish  pay.  Indeed,  so  rife  was  suspicion  of  Spanish 
gold  that  this  very  fate  overtook  not  only  a  Venetian 
bailo,  but  also  an  English  ambassador,  Sir  Thomas 
Glover,  who  was  recalled  on  the  charge  of  being 
"  more  a  minister  of  Spain  than  of  England,"  though 
he  successfully  cleared  himself.8  Not  so  poor  Hiero- 
mino  Lippomano,  who,  after  a  diplomatic  career  of 
great  brilliancy,  ending  with  the  bailage  of  Constanti- 
nople, was  suddenly  arrested  in  1592  and  sent  home 
in  irons,  and  was  either  drowned  or  committed  suicide 
when  the  ship  was  entering  the  port  of  Lido.3 

We  have  seen  how  prominent  was  the  position 
which  the  Venetian  ambassador  enjoyed  at  Constanti- 
nople at  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century— a  position 

1  Alberi,  op.  cit.  vi.  65. 

1  See  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  Venetian^  vol.  xii.  pp.  238-52. 

1  Tormene,  op.  cit.  passim. 


38    VENETIAN   DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  PORTE 

dependent,  of  course,  on  the  prestige  of  the  nation  he 
represented.  The  prestige  of  Venice,  owing  to  a  com- 
bination of  causes,  was  steadily  on  the  wane  during 
this  century.  Venice  had  never  at  any  time  in  her 
career  desired  war  with  the  Turk — her  aim  had  always 
been  to  trade  with  him,  not  to  fight  him  ;  but  the  only 
way  to  prevent  a  war  with  the  sultan  was  to  convince 
him  that  if  Venice  did  strike  she  could  strike  forcibly. 
The  conduct  of  Europe  towards  the  Republic  soon 
taught  the  Turk  that  Venice  would  not  find  efficient 
support.  She  was  ably  represented  throughout  her 
declining  years ;  her  ambassadors  show  no  lack  of 
dexterity  or  of  courage ;  but  the  fact  that  they  had  to 
fall  back  on  the  hollow  principle  of  the  concetto  shows 
us  clearly  that  by  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  great  days  of  Venetian  diplomacy  at  the  Sublime 
Porte  were  already  past. 


The  Index  Librorum  Prohibitorum  and  the 
Censorship  of  the  Venetian  Press 

THE  Venetian  printing  press,  thanks  to  the  excellence 
of  its  early  issues,  but  more  still  to  its  extraordinary 
activity,  acquired  soon  after  the  introduction  of  print- 
ing a  leading  position,  not  merely  in  Italy,  but  also  in 
Europe.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  during  the  last 
years  of  the  fifteenth  and  the  opening  years  of  the 
sixteenth  centuries  the  press  of  Venice  was  the  most 
prominent  press  in  the  world.  The  book  trade  in 
Venice  formed  an  important  branch  of  Venetian  indus- 
try which  soon  attracted  the  attention  of  the  govern- 
ment. It  also  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Church 
when  the  spread  of  Lutheran  doctrines  made  Rome 
anxious  to  secure  a  thorough  supervision  of  the 
printing  press  and  of  the  book  trade.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  to  find  the  whole  question  of  state 
and  of  ecclesiastical  censorship  of  the  press  assuming 
a  very  definite  and  lively  character  at  Venice,  and  we 
are  able  to  trace  the  development  of  the  ecclesiastical 
attack  on  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  the  efforts  of 
the  state  to  control  the  press  without  injuring  the 
book  trade. 

The  chief  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  Church  was, 
of  course,  the  publication  of  "  damnatory  Catalogues 
or  Indexes  both  prohibitory  and  expurgatory." l 

1  The  leading  authority  on  the  whole  subject  of  the  Index  is 
Dr.  Reusch's  monumental  work,  Der  Index  der  verbotenen  Bitcher 
(Bonn,  Max  Cohen  &  Sohn  :  1883).  His  book  is  not  polemical ;  his 
object  is  to  trace  the  growth  of  the  Index.  He  applies  no  criticism 
to  the  action  of  the  Church  in  the  matter,  nor  does  he  discuss  the 
reasons  why  the  various  books  on  the  lists  were  placed  there.  It 

39 


40      INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROH1BITORUM 

There  is  no  doubt,  and  Zaccaria  has  no  difficulty  in 
proving  it,  that  from  very  early  times  the  Church  of 
Rome  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  of  condemning 
and  destroying  books  which  it  considered  pernicious.1 
But  as  long  as  books  remained  in  manuscript  the 
danger  of  their  hurtful  influence  was  not  immense, 
their  circulation  was  limited,  their  number  not  un- 
manageable. It  was  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  printing 
which  brought  the  whole  question  of  literary  censor- 
ship to  an  acute  state.  By  the  invention  of  the 
printing  press  one  man  and  one  man's  opinions  became 
multiplied  a  thousandfold  ;  there  was  practically  no 
limit  to  the  diffusion  of  new  doctrines ;  all  barriers 
previously  imposed  by  circumstances  were  swept 
away.  It  was  no  longer  a  question  of  seizing  and 
burning  some  comparatively  few  manuscripts,  and  of 
confining  or  of  slaying  their  author ;  an  edition  of  a 
thousand  copies  placed  the  author  beyond  the  power 
of  death  and  of  fire  to  silence  him.  By  the  discovery  of 

would  have  been  impossible  to  do  so  authoritatively,  for  it  is  not  the 
practice  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Index  to  publish  its  deliberations, 
nor  is  the  author  heard  in  defence  of  his  work  ;  there  is,  in  short,  an 
examination,  but  not  a  trial,  of  suspected  books.  The  more  important 
critical  studies  upon  the  Index  which  precede  Reusch's  book,  begin  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  when  Gretser  published  his  De  jure  et  more 
prohibendi  expurgandi  et  abolendi  libros  hareticos  et  noxios  at 
Ingolstadt  in  1603.  Gretser  was  followed,  in  1653,  by  Theophilus 
Raynaud,  whose  Erotemata  de  malts  ac  bonis  libris  was  published 
at  Lyons.  Both  Gretser  and  Raynaud  were  Jesuits,  and  apologists 
for  the  Index.  On  the  other  side  Daniel  Franck  published,  at 
Leipzig  in  1684,  his  Disquisitio  academica  de  papistarum  Indicibus. 
The  eighteenth  century  produced  the  most  important  contribution  to 
the  discussion  on  the  Roman  side  in  the  Jesuit  Zaccaria's  Storia 
polemica  delle proibizioni  de*  Libri  (Roma  :  1777),  and  the  opening  of 
the  nineteenth  century  furnished  another  remarkable  work,  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Mendham's  Literary  Policy  of  the  Church  of  Rome  exhibited 
in  an  Account  of  her  Damnatory  Catalogues  or  Indexes  both  Prohibi- 
tory and  Expurgatory  (London  :  1826). 

1  E.g.  Pope  John  XXII.  (1316-34),  by  a  constitution,  condemned 
Marsilio  of  Padua's  Defensor  Pads  on  the  ground  that  it  contained 
propositiones  damnabtles,  which  are  quoted,  and  Marsilio's  condemna- 
tion in  1327  was  followed  by  that  of  Eckart  in  1329. 


THE   INVENTION   OF  PRINTING         41 

printing  the  world — lay  and  ecclesiastical  alike — was 
brought  face  to  face  with  a  problem  which  it  has  not 
yet  succeeded  in  solving,  the  problem  of  how  to  deal 
with  the  press  and  its  output:  Is  the  press  to  enjoy 
absolute  freedom  at  the  risk  of  flooding  the  world  with 
injurious,  dangerous,  and  corrupt  literature?  And  if 
not,  if  a  censorship  of  the  press  is  necessary,  how  is 
that  censorship  to  be  applied  so  as  not  to  stifle  all 
advance  of  opinion  ?  for  the  official  definition  of  in- 
jurious, dangerous,  and  corrupt  will  always  be  up  to 
the  level  of  the  day,  but  never  in  advance  of  it. 

When  we  come  to  deal  with  the  history  of  the 
Roman  Index  of  prohibited  books,  we  shall  see  that 
the  Church  became  alive  to  this  difficulty  very  early  in 
the  history  of  the  press.  Bishop  Franco,  of  Treviso, 
by  a  constitution  dated  1491 — that  is,  twenty-two  years 
after  the  appearance  of  the  first  printed  book  in  Venice 
—condemned  to  the  flames  Roselli's  Monarchia  and 
Pico  della  Mirandola's  Theses,  and  only  thirty-seven 
years  after  the  introduction  of  printing  into  Italy, 
Alexander  VI.  posed  the  whole  question  in  the  pre- 
amble to  the  Bull  Inter  Multiplices,  published  in  1501, 
where  he  declared  that  "sicut  ars  impressoria  litterarum 
utilissima  habetur  ad  faciliorem  multiplicationem  libro- 
rum  probatorum  et  utilium,  ita  plurimum  damnorum 
foret  si  illius  artifices  ea  arte  perverse  uterentur."  The 
Church  was  the  first  to  express  doubts  as  to  the  un- 
diluted benefits  of  the  press ;  no  temporal  sovereign 
seems  at  that  time  to  have  been  aware  that  in  the  new 
art  lay  a  possible  danger  to  all  constituted  powers. 
We  shall  have  occasion  to  notice,  however,  that  when 
temporal  princes  did  become  alive  to  this  fact,  they 
preceded  the  Church  in  active  measures  for  gagging 
the  press. 

Dr.  Johnson,  in  his  Life  of  Milton,  has  put  the 
problem  in  a  vigorous  and  compact  form.  In  dealing 
with  the  question  of  a  free  press,  he  says :  "  The 
danger  of  such  unbounded  liberty,  and  the  danger  of 
bounding  it,  have  produced  a  problem  in  the  science 


42      INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

of   government   which   human   understanding  seems 
hitherto  unable  to  solve.     If  nothing  may  be  published 
but  what  civil  authorities  shall  have  previously  ap- 
proved, power  must  always  be  the  standard  of  truth ; 
if  every  dreamer  of  innovations   may   propagate  his 
projects,  there  can  be  no  settlement ;  if  every  murmurer 
at  government  may  diffuse  discontent,  there  can  be  no 
peace;    if  every  sceptic  in  theology  may  teach   his 
follies,  there  can  be  no  religion.     The  remedy  against 
these  evils  is  to  punish  the  authors,  for  it  is  yet  allowed 
that  every  society  may  punish,  though  not  prevent, 
the  publication  of  opinions  which  that  society  shall 
think  pernicious ;  but  this  punishment,  though  it  may 
crush  the  author,  promotes  the  book ;  and  it  seems 
not  more  reasonable  to  leave  the  rights  of  printing 
unrestrained,  because  writers  may  be  afterwards  cen- 
sured, than  it  would  be  to  sleep  with  doors  unbolted, 
because  by  our  laws  we  can  hang  a  thief."     In  this 
passage  Johnson,  while  stating  the  problem,  lays  bare 
three  objections  to   the  restriction  of  opinion :  first, 
that  it  checks  intellectual  progress,  for  power  becomes 
the  standard  of  truth ;   secondly,  that  the  attempted 
suppression  of  a  book  encourages  its  circulation,  for, 
as  Bacon  observes,  "  a  forbidden  writing  is  thought  to 
be  a  certain  spark  of  truth  that  flies  up  in  the  faces  of 
them  who  seek  to  tread  it  out " ;  there  would  be  no 
effort  made  to  suppress  books  unless  they  contained 
some  germ  of  sense  and  truth  which   renders  them 
dangerous  to  established  opinion ;   and   thirdly,  that 
punishment  is  impotent  to  prevent :  the  dread  of  the 
gallows  does  not  dispense  us  from  the  need  for  bolts. 
Johnson  was  dealing  with  the  problem  from  his  own 
high  conservative  point  of  view,  and,  though  loyal  to 
his  conceptions,  he  does  not  approach  a  solution  of 
the  difficulty.     Milton's  attitude  has  more  of  faith  in  it. 
"  Give  me  liberty,"  he  says,  "  to  know,  to  utter,  and 
to  argue  freely  according  to    conscience    above    all 
liberties ;  .  .  .  though  all  the  winds  of  doctrine  were 
let  loose  to  play  upon  the  earth,  so  truth  be  in  the 


MILTON   AND  JOHNSON  43 

field  we  do  injuriously  by  licencing  and  prohibiting  to 
misdoubt  her  strength.  Let  her  and  falsehood  grapple. 
Who  ever  knew  truth  put  to  the  worse  in  fair  and 
open  encounter  ?  Who  knows  not  that  truth  is  strong 
next  to  the  Almighty?  She  needs  no  policies,  no 
stratagems,  no  licencings  to  make  her  victorious  ;  those 
are  the  shifts  and  defences  that  error  uses  against  her 
power." 

Here  we  have  the  two  points  of  view  stated  by  John- 
son and  by  Milton.  The  civilized  world  has  never 
yet  made  what  it  would  still  consider  a  rash  committal 
of  itself  to  the  untried  ocean  of  Milton's  policy ;  it 
has  hitherto  attempted,  with  more  or  less  success, 
to  stem  the  tide  of  books,  to  confine  the  current 
within  channels  of  its  own  devising;  it  has  hanged 
many  thieves,  but  still  dreads  that  it  may  be  robbed. 
In  England  we  have  abandoned  the  attempt  at  a  pre- 
ventive censorship  and  confined  ourselves  to  a  punitive 
censorship.  The  law  defines  what  is  seditious,  ob- 
scene, or  blasphemous,  and  the  author  and  printer 
publish  at  their  own  risk. 

We  must  look  a  little  closer  at  the  way  in  which 
the  world  has  hitherto  conducted  this  business  of  her 
press  censorship.  Three  kinds  of  censorship  over 
the  press  have  been  attempted  since  the  invention  of 
printing — religious,  literary,  and  moral  censorship. 
This  last  kind  may  be  divided  into  censorship  of 
public  or  political  morals,  and  censorship  of  private 
morals,  or  morals  in  their  restricted  sense. 

The  literary  censorship  we  may  dismiss  very  briefly. 
It  has  been  put  into  operation  rarely  in  the  world's 
history.  Venice  affords  the  most  striking  and  perhaps 
the  earliest  examples  of  such  a  supervision  of  the 
press,  when  the  Senate  in  1503  appointed  Marcus 
Musurus  censor  of  all  Greek  publications,1  and  when 
the  Council  of  Ten,  on  January  31,  1516,  issued  a 
general  order  that  no  one  should  print  any  work  in 

1  Legrand,  Bibliographic  HelUnique  (Paris,  Le  Roux:  1885),  vol.  i. 
cxii.  p.  140. 


44      INDEX   LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

humanity  until  it  had  been  examined,  in  order  to  put 
an  end  to  the  infamia  delta  citta.1  The  Republic 
always  showed  itself  solicitous  for  the  good  repute 
of  Venetian  editions,  and  deeply  resented  Caspar 
Scioppius'  caustic  strictures  on  the  Ciceroes  published 
at  Venice,  which  he  declared  fit  only  for  the  flames. 
But  the  creation  of  a  literary  censor  did  not  save  the 
Venetian  press  from  steady  decline. 

The  second  and  third  kinds  of  censorship,  the 
religious  or  dogmatic  censorship  and  the  moral  censor- 
ship, are  far  more  important,  and  have  occupied  a 
much  larger  space  in  the  history  of  the  press.  The 
moral  censorship  we  have  divided  into  two  kinds — 
supervision  of  public  and  supervision  of  private 
morals ;  and  these  three  censorships,  religious,  poli- 
tical, and  moral,  fall  into  two  groups,  which  it  is  as 
well  to  keep  quite  distinct  from  one  another,  a  dis- 
tinction warmly  advocated  by  Daniele  Barbaro,  co- 
adjutor of  Aquileia  at  the  Council  of  Trent  In  the 
first  group  we  have  religious  and  .political  censorship, 
where  the  matter  to  be  dealt  with  and  examined  is 
opinion,  doctrine,  ideas.  In  the  second  group  is  the 
moral  censorship,  where  the  matter  to  be  dealt  with 
is  impure  and  corrupting  literature.  The  advocates 
of  censorship  urge  that  they  are  protecting  the  deli- 
cate from  food  poisonous,  in  one  case  to  the  intellec- 
tual man,  in  the  other  to  the  moral  man — poisons 
which  the  censors  themselves,  however,  must  have 
swallowed.  The  original  formulae  in  general  use 
covered  all  three  censorships.  In  the  case  of  the 
Church,  when  the  Index  had  been  thoroughly  esta- 
blished, the  formula  ran,  "  Contra  alia  fede  cattolica, 
contra  ai  principi,  contra  ai  buoni  costumi";  in  the  Star 
Chamber  decree  of  1637  it  runs,  "Contrary  to  Christian 
faith  and  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Church  of 
England ;  against  the  state  or  government,  contrary 

1  Brown,  The  Venetian  Printing  Press  (London,  Nimmo :  1891), 
p.  6$  ;  Archivio  di  Stato,  Consig.  x.  Misti,  xxxix.  c.  39,  by  which 
the  censorship  was  entrusted  to  Andrea  Navagero, 


ECCLESIASTICAL  CENSORSHIP          45 

to  good  life  or  good  manners " ;  but  it  is  certain  that 
the  application  of  the  censorship  varied  much — now 
it  was  applied  to  ecclesiastical  dogma,  now  to  politics. 
The  censorship  of  the  Roman  Church  began  by  being 
occupied  chiefly  with  dogma,  and  has  continued  to  be 
largely  directed  to  that  point.  So  much  so  is  this  the 
case  that  in  the  Bull  Inter  Multiplies,  already  quoted, 
neither  political  nor  moral  censorship  is  mentioned, 
the  scope  of  the  powers  conferred  is  "  ne  quid  impri- 
matur quod  orthodoxae  fidei  contrarium,  impium  ac 
scandalosum  existat " ;  and  of  the  ten  rules  of  the 
Council  of  Trent  only  one,  the  seventh,  deals  with 
impure  literature,  and  not  one  with  the  question 
of  sedition ;  in  fact,  the  Roman  censorship  of  books 
was  originally  directed  to  the  suppression  of  heresy, 
and  to  nothing  else.  Daniele  Barbaro  told  the 
Council  of  Trent  that  it  was  absurd  to  condemn 
equally  a  work  juvenilis  licentice  and  a  work  which 
contained  dogmatical  errors.1  It  is  only  compara- 
tively late  in  the  development  of  the  Index  that 
obscenity  is  taken  into  serious  consideration ;  and  the 
number  of  works  of  this  nature  on  the  Index  is  quite 
small  in  proportion  to  the  long  list  of  books  con- 
demned for  their  heretical  tendencies.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  Venice,  Spain,  France,  and  England,  when 
the  government  exercised  a  censorship  of  the  press 
on  its  own  account,  and  not  merely  as  the  secular 
arm  of  the  Church,  that  censorship  was  chiefly  directed 
to  the  political  movement  of  the  press,  and  to  the 
suppression  of  all  criticism  of  existing  institutions. 
In  Venice  as  early  as  1515  we  find  examples  of  poli- 
tical censorship.  Marino  Sanudo,  when  compiling 
his  history  of  the  descent  of  Charles  VIII.  upon  Italy, 
asked  for  access  to  state  documents.  The  Ten 
granted  the  request  as  regarded  all  state  papers  two 
years  old  and  upwards,  but  with  the  proviso  that 
Sanudo  should  not  publish  his  work  without  sub- 
mitting it  to  the  Chiefs  of  the  Ten.  In  the  same  year 

1  Sarpi,  Hist.  Con.   Trid.  vi.  5. 


46      INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

Andrea  Mocenigo,  who  was  engaged  on  a  history  of 
the  wars  of  the  League  of  Cambray,  secured  a  similar 
permission  in  the  interests  of  truth,  which  in  hystoriis 
est  par  potissima,  as  the  Ten  declared;  but  they  required 
the  submission  of  the  book  to  their  own  examination 
before  they  allowed  it  to  be  published.  It  is  pretty 
certain  that  if  the  Church  would  not  allow  the  publi- 
cation of  matter  hostile  to  its  dogma,  the  State  would 
not  suffer  the  publication  of  matter  derogatory  to  its 
reputation;  the  State  would  have  suppressed  hostile 
truths  as  well  as  hostile  falsehoods.  In  fact,  the 
power  which  wielded  the  censorship  was  inevitably 
tempted  to  use  it  selfishly,  and  to  justify  Johnson  in 
declaring  that,  in  all  cases  where  official  censorship 
exists,  power  must  be  the  standard  of  truth.  In 
neither  of  these  cases  of  censorship  by  the  Church, 
and  of  censorship  by  the  State,  did  the  moral  super- 
vision of  the  press  play  a  conspicuous  part  at  first. 
We  shall  return  to  this  kind  of  censorship  presently ; 
but  before  doing  so  we  must  consider  for  a  moment 
some  of  the  arguments  which  have:been  urged  for  and 
against  a  free  press  in  matters  religious  and  political, 
or,  in  other  words,  for  and  against  a  censorship  of 
opinion. 

This  is  the  ground  upon  which  Bacon  and  Milton 
are  met  by  Dr.  Johnson.  Johnson  does  not  contem- 
plate the  question  of  morals  ;  it  is  only  on  the  subject 
of  political  and  religious  opinions  that  he  would  like 
to  see  a  censorship  enforced.  Various  arguments  have 
from  time  to  time  been  urged  against  such  a  censorship 
of  opinion.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  a  great  and 
almost  irresistible  temptation  for  a  constituted  body 
to  apply  its  official  censorship  solely  from  its  own 
point  of  view.  If  the  Church  itself  or  the  State  itself 
is  left  to  decide  what  may  be  contrary  to  the  faith  or 
contrary  to  good  government,  they  are  certain  to  decide 
by  the  standard  of  faith  as  it  at  present  exists,  and  of 
government  as  it  is  at  present  constituted,  and  to  con- 
demn any  criticism  of  the  established  order.  Any 


POLITICAL  CENSORSHIP  47 

innovation  or  movement  will  seem  noxious :  omne 
ignotum  pro  nocuo,  is  apt  to  become  the  maxim  of 
established  classes.  The  state  censor,  knowing  the 
mind  of  his  employer,  and  also  feeling  that  he  is  on 
the  safe  ground  of  the  recognized  and  approved,  will 
veto  any  proposals  of  change.  His  major  premiss 
tends  to  become  as  rigid  and  as  clear  as  that  enunciated 
by  Lord  Braxfield  when  trying  Muir,  in  1793.  "  Now 
this  is  the  question  for  consideration,"  he  said :  "  is  the 
panel  guilty  of  sedition  or  is  he  not?  Now  before  this 
can  be  answered,  two  things  must  be  attended  to  that 
require  no  proof:  first,  that  the  British  constitution 
is  the  best  that  ever  was  since  the  creation  of  the 
world,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  make  it  better."  If  the 
official  censor  is  not  of  this  way  of  thinking,  he  is  no 
longer  a  good  servant  of  the  State  or  of  the  Church, 
but  himself  and  his  opinions  are  rather  a  fit  subject  for 
examination.  Such  a  censorship  as  this  means  the 
destruction  of  all  movement  of  ideas,  of  all  novelty, 
of  all  originality,  therefore  of  all  improvement ;  it 
presupposes  that  we  have  reached  perfection,  and  that 
finality  which  Johnson  and  Lord  Braxfield  desired  ;  it 
is  suited  to  the  millennium,  but  not  to  our  current 
centuries.  Moreover,  it  implies  stagnation,  for,  as 
Bacon  remarked,  "all  books  so  authorized  are  but 
the  language  of  the  time  " ;  a  licenser's  very  office  and 
commission  enjoin  him  to  let  pass  nothing  but  what 
is  vulgarly  received  already.  So  true  is  this  that  the 
Index  contains  a  large  number  of  epoch-making  works, 
which  it  is  difficult  for  common  sense  to  consider  harm- 
ful, and  of  books,  like  the  Religio  Medici^  which  have 
proved  the  stay  and  solace  of  many  a  good  man. 
Dr.  Johnson's  objections  that  without  such  a  censor- 
ship there  can  be  no  settlement,  there  can  be  no  peace, 
there  can  be  no  religion,  are  no  doubt  true  had  he 
qualified  religion  by  the  epithets  dogmatic  or  estab- 
lished ;  but  can  we  expect  any  of  these  blessings  ?  Is 
not  the  doctor  sighing  for  death,  not  for  life  ?  What 
peace,  what  settlement  is  there  in  any  living  body  ? 


48      INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

We  ourselves  live  only  by  the  destruction  and  recon- 
struction of  our  tissue.  Milton,  in  his  second  defence, 
seems  not  to  have  been  averse  from  a  competent 
censorship  of  opinion.  "  I  wrote  my  Areopagitica" 
he  says,  "  in  order  to  deliver  the  press  from  the 
restraints  with  which  it  was  encumbered,  that  the 
power  of  determining  what  was  true  and  what  was 
false,  what  ought  to  be  published  and  what  sup- 
pressed, might  no  longer  be  entrusted  to  a  few 
illiterate  and  illiberal  individuals  who  refused  their 
sanction  to  any  work  which  contained  views  or  senti- 
ments at  all  above  the  level  of  vulgar  superstition." 
But  the  sacrifices  required  by  an  adequate  state 
censorship  are  too  great ;  that  the  best  spirits  of 
every  age  should  be  exhausted  in  the  examination 
of  other  people's  work,  and  not  in  the  production  of 
their  own,  is  more  than  any  nation  could  be  called 
upon  to  endure.  And  again,  the  adequate  state 
censors  must,  ex  hypothesi,  be  wiser  than  their  age, 
and  this  they  cannot  be  without  being  also  to  a 
certain  extent  critical,  innovators,  revolutionary,  and 
antagonistic  to  the  existing  order ;  the  hope  of  the 
future  cannot  lie  in  the  past  nor  rest  in  the  present. 
Another  objection  to  state  censorship  of  opinion 
was  indicated,  though  not  strongly  enforced,  by 
Paolo  Sarpi :  if  you  claim  to  examine  every  book 
which  is  a  candidate  for  the  press,  you  make  your- 
self responsible  in  a  degree  for  all  books  which  are 
allowed  to  issue  from  the  press ;  you  give  them, 
as  it  were,  a  clean  bill  of  health.  Sarpi  warns  the 
Venetian  government  that  it  is  "veramente  gran  cosa 
pigliar  sopra  se,  et  farsi  approbatore  di  tutti  i  libri  che  si 
stampano  in  Venetia." l  For  the  state  censorship  implied 
an  imprimatur,  which,  in  a  measure,  made  the  state 
share  in  every  opinion  contained  in  the  books  which 
it  permitted  to  be  printed ;  the  readers  would  argue, 

1  Cecchetti,  Za  Rep.  di  Yen.  e  la  Corte  di  Roma  (Venezia,  Narato- 
vitch  :  1874),  vol.  ii.  p.  235.  Consulta  of  Fra  Paolo  on  the  regolazione 
delle  stampe. 


POLITICAL  CENSORSHIP  49 

had  the  government  objected  to  these  opinions  the 
book  would  have  been  suppressed.  It  is  not  possible 
to  predict  how  books  will  "  demean  themselves,"  "  for 
books  are  not  absolutely  dead  things,  but  do  contain 
a  potency  of  life  in  them  to  be  as  active  as  that  soul 
whose  progeny  they  are ;  nay,  they  do  preserve,  as  in 
a  viol,  the  purest  efficacy  and  extraction  of  that  living 
intellect  that  bred  them ;  they  are  as  lively  and  as 
vigorously  productive  as  those  fabulous  dragon's 
teeth,  and  being  sown  up  and  down,  may  chance 
to  spring  up  armed  men";  yet  at  the  moment  of 
passing  the  censor,  especially  should  he  be  a  man 
of  "hide-bound  humour,"  not  of  judgment,  these  books 
may  appear  dead  and  harmless.  Indeed,  it  is  very 
often  subsequent  events  which  give  to  a  book  its  vital 
activity  and  importance  ;  and  it  was  this  fact  which  led 
the  Church  not  only  to  exercise  a  censorship  over 
candidate  books,  and  to  insist  upon  an  imprimatur, 
but  also  to  open  an  Index  for  the  better  suppression 
of  past  issues. 

There  are  two  'other  objections  which  have  been 
urged  against  a  state  censorship  of  opinion.  One  is 
the  practical  objection  that  it  would  be  almost  impos- 
sible for  any  government  office  to  read  all  works 
seeking  an  imprimatur ;  and  without  a  most  accurate 
examination  a  censorship  is  as  useless  as  a  frangible 
sanitary  cordon ;  for  none  can  be  certain  where  cen- 
surable matter  may  lurk.  The  Church  was  very 
thorough  in  this  respect.  In  1599  the  Carthusian 
Jodocus  Graes  wrote  to  Cardinal  Baronius,  complain- 
ing that  his  studies  were  hindered  owing  to  the  number 
of  books  of  reference,  lexicons  and  thesauruses, 
which  were  on  the  Index  ;  but  even  the  activity  of  the 
Church  was  not  able  to  keep  pace  with  the  activity  of 
the  Press ;  and  the  block  caused  by  the  elaborate 
censorial  machinery  in  Venice  was,  as  the  government 
itself  admitted,  most  ruinous  to  the  book  trade.  The 
other  objection  is  raised  by  Bacon,  and  based  upon  the 
inherent  curiosity  of  human  nature  which  will  always 

VOL.  n.  4 


50      INDEX  L1BRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

make  people  anxious  to  know  what  there  is  in  a  pro- 
hibited book ;  "  the  punishing  of  wits  enhances  their 
authority,  and  a  forbidden  writing  is  thought  to  be  a 
spark  of  truth  " ;  and  Johnson  admits  the  same  when 
he  allows  that  punishment,  though  it  may  crush  the 
author,  will  promote  the  book.  Both  remarks  seem  to 
show  that  mankind  is  deeply  sceptical  about  the  bona 
fides  of  its  literary  censors  on  matters  of  opinion. 

The  conclusion  to  which  many  are  drawn  is,  that 
such  a  censorship  is  neither  possible  nor  desirable. 
No  doubt  the  finality  of  Dr.  Johnson  and  Lord  Brax- 
field  is  a  consummation  to  be  desired,  but  that  we  have 
attained  it  is  contradicted  by  the  experience  of  every 
day ;  nor  is  it  attainable  as  long  as  men's  minds  and 
actions  remain  imperfect,  and  therefore  susceptible  of 
improvement.  Milton  sums  up  in  these  words :  "  See- 
ing therefore  that  those  books,  and  those  in  great 
abundance,  which  are  likeliest  to  taint  both  life  and 
doctrine,  cannot  be  suppressed  without  the  fall  of 
learning  .  .  .  and  evil  doctrine  not  with  books  can  be 
propagated,  except  a  teacher  guide,  which  he  might  do 
also  without  writing,  I  am  not  able  to  unfold  how  this 
enterprise  of  licensing  can  be  exempt  from  the  number 
of  vain  and  impossible  attempts."  By  such  a  censor- 
ship of  opinion  we  are  far  from  securing  the  perma- 
nence and  purity  of  doctrine.  And  we  run  the  risk  of 
playing  "the  nursing  mother  to  sects,  but  the  step- 
dame  to  truth."  History  shows  that  in  spite  of  the 
most  rigorous  censorship,  backed  by  the  dungeon  and 
the  stake,  opinion  has  refused  to  remain  hide-bound. 
It  was  surely  wiser  to  act  upon  the  faith  that  was  in 
Milton,  believing  that  truth  never  yet  was  worsted  in  a 
free  and  open  encounter,  but  that  falsehood  may  obtain 
a  specious  triumph  through  an  embittered  and  injudi- 
cious persecution. 

We  come  now  to  the  last  kind  of  censorship,  the 
censorship  of  private  morals.  There  is  no  longer  here 
a  question  of  protecting  the  intellectual  side  of  man 
from  dangerous  doctrine,  but  of  guarding  his  moral 


THE  MORAL  CENSORSHIP  51 

being  from  corruption  by  impure  literature.     It  is  upon 
this  point  that  we  are  most  exercised  in  England  just 
now.     We  are  more  anxious  about  moral  than  about 
speculative  sanity,  probably  because  the  moral  nature 
is  nearer  to  action  than  the  speculative  nature  ;  and  we 
consider  impure  literature  as  a  kind  of  contagious 
moral  disease ;    censorship  of  the  press  has  almost 
come  to  mean  for  us  moral  censorship.    The  Church, 
in  the  recent  additions  to  her  Index,  shows  the  same 
tendency  to  lay  more  stress  on  the  moral  censorship 
than  she  has  hitherto  done.      But  when  the  Church 
opened  her  Index,  and  when  secular  governments  first 
employed  a  state  censorship  of  the  press,  it  was  not 
morals  but  dogma  and  politics  which  chiefly  engaged 
the  attention  of  churchmen  and  statesmen.     Neither 
Bacon  nor  Johnson,  in  the  passages  referred  to,  touches 
upon  this  view  of  censorship.     Milton  has  expressed 
his  opinions  in  the  Areopagitica,  and  they  are  no  more 
favourable  to  licensing  in  the  region  of  morals  than 
in  the  region  of  opinion.     He  urges  that  it  is  not  so 
much  books  that  corrupt  us  as  that  we  are  corrupt 
ourselves ;  "  they  are  not  skilful  considerers  of  human 
things  who  imagine  to  remove  sin  by  removing  the 
matter  of  sin.  .  .  .  Though  ye  take  from  a  covetous  man 
all  his  treasure,  he  has  yet  one  jewel  left :  ye  cannot 
bereave  him  of  his  covetousness.     Banish  all  objects 
of  lust ;  shut  up  all  youth  into  the  severest  discipline 
that  can  be  exercised  in  any  hermitage,  ye  cannot  make 
them  chaste  that  come  not  thither  so ;  we  have  minds 
that  can  wander  beyond  all  limit  of  satiety."     In  short, 
it  is  little  use  expurgating  books  till  we  have  purged 
men's  minds ;  and  when  that  is  done,  there  will  be  no 
need  for  damnatory  catalogues,  whether  prohibitory  or 
expurgatory ;  for  the  purged  mind  is  the  free  mind,  and 
dreads  not  corruption.     Moreover,  books  are  not  the 
sole  sources  of  corruption  ;  "  evil  manners  are  learned 
perfectly  without  books  a  thousand  other  ways  that 
cannot  be  stopt.      If  we  think   to   regulate  printing 
thereby    to    rectify    manners,   we    must   regulate  all 


52      INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

recreation  and  pastimes,  all  that  is  delightful  to  man. 
The  windows  and  balconies  also  must  be  thought  on, 
there  are  shrewd  books  with  dangerous  frontispieces 
set  for  sale,  who  shall  prohibit  them  ?   shall  twenty 
licensers  ?  "    So  long  as  human  nature  is  imperfect,  it 
will  demand  impure  literature;  and  so  long  as  there  is 
a  demand,  there  will  be  a  supply,  if  not  from  London, 
yet  from  "  Londra,"  "  Benares,"  "  Cosmopoli  " ;  repres- 
sive laws  on  this  subject  in  Venice  had  the  effect  of 
creating  a  large  clandestine  press  ;  and  in  spite  of  every 
effort,   no  government  succeeded  in  suppressing  the 
Pierre    Marteau    editions.      The    appetite    for  loose 
literature  will  not  be  stamped  out  by  any  licensing 
laws  ;  to  attempt  to  do  so  is  to  emulate  "  that  gallant 
man  who  thought  to  impound  the  crows  by  shutting 
the  park-gate."    To  this  argument  of  Milton  we  may 
add,  as  worthy  of  attention,  the  frank  opinion  expressed 
by  Paolo  Paruta,  Venetian  ambassador  to  the  pope. 
In  the  year  1593,  when  discussing  the  question  of  the 
Index  with  Clement  VIII.,  "  You  cannot   make  the 
world  perfect,"  he  said,  "  nor  can  you  hope  that  by 
the   prohibition   of  one   kind   of  literature,  which   is 
neither  fruitful  nor  edifying  to  a  Christian  life,  all  men 
will  be  led  to  a  study  of  the  Scriptures  ;  nay,  the  time 
spent  over  bad  books  may  be  worse  spent  over  worse 
actions."  1     Further,  owing  to  the  inherent  curiosity 
and  imperfection  of  humanity,  there  is  great  danger 
that  the  Index  may  be  merely  acting  as  did  the  editor 
of  Byron's  Martial,  by  furnishing  the  very  persons  for 
whose  protection  the  Index  is  devised  with  a  com- 
pendious account  of  the  books  they  desire. 

From  the  date  of  the  Tridentine  Index  to  our  own 
day  the  moral  censorship  has  been  in  this  anomalous 
position,  that  it  condemns  as  impure  a  large  number 
of  books,  while  leaving  in  the  hands  of  schoolboys  the 
classics,  which  we  do  our  best  to  induce  them  to  read. 
On  this  point  the  Church  proved  itself  more  consistent 
than  secular  governments.  The  seventh  regula  of 

1  Brown,  op.  tit.  p.  138. 


THE  MORAL  CENSORSHIP  53 

the  Council  of  Trent  declares  that  the  classics  on 
account  of  their  beauty  and  elegance  may  be  read,  but 
they  are  to  be  kept  out  of  the  hands  of  boys.  Paul  IV. 
included  Lucian  in  his  Index.  The  Lisbon  Index 
permitted  Martial  only  in  an  expurgated  form,  or  in  the 
editions  of  the  Jesuits.  The  private  study  of  Ovid's 
Epistles  was  allowed,  but  schools  might  only  use  the 
Epistolce  Selectee,  printed  at  Tournay  in  1615.  On  the 
whole,  however,  we  may  say  that  during  the  early 
history  of  the  Index  the  Church  hardly  dealt  with  the 
question  of  loose  literature,  and,  as  far  as  it  went,  it 
was  inclined  to  handle  the  question  lightly.  It  was 
not  anxious  to  "  rake  through  the  entrails  of  many  a 
good  old  author."  We  have  noted  that  it  was  ready 
to  draw  a  distinction  between  opera  juvenilis  licentice  and 
works  of  controversy ;  and  the  seventh  regula  of  the 
Tridentine  Index  admits  the  principle  that  beauty  and 
elegance  may,  to  a  certain  extent,  condone  impropriety. 

But  it  is  certain,  in  spite  of  all  objections  to  a  moral 
censorship,  that  no  one  could  desire  to  see  his  country 
or  his  home  flooded  with  loose  literature.  Books, 
though  not  the  sole  means  of  corruption,  are  still  very 
potent  agents  in  that  direction.  It  is  clear  that  there 
are  many  books  the  reading  of  which  will  better  no 
one — even  admitting  that  "a  wise  man  will  make 
better  use  of  an  idle  pamphlet  than  a  fool  will  do  of 
sacred  Scripture"— and  many  others  that  are  too 
strong  meat  for  "queasy  stomachs."  Some  sort  of 
moral  censorship  of  the  press  is  necessary ;  the  question 
is  where  and  how  to  apply  it. 

Milton's  arguments  are  directed  against  a  state 
censorship ;  he  urges  nothing  against  a  paternal 
censorship.  That  the  head  of  the  family  or  the 
schoolmaster  in  loco  parentis  should  determine  what 
their  charges  may  read,  appears  to  be  the  natural  and 
proper  form  in  which  that  needful  supervision  should 
be  applied.  For,  after  all,  the  proper  attitude  of  mind 
towards  impure  literature  is  a  part  of  education,  it  is 
the  duty  of  {he  parents  and  the  schoolmasters  to  create 


54      INDEX   LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

it.  A  grown  man  should  know  how  to  deal  with  that 
subject ;  "what  advantage  is  it  to  be  a  man  over  it  is 
to  be  a  boy  at  school,  if  we  have  only  scaped  the  ferula 
to  come  under  the  fescu  of  an  imprimatur ?"  "  We  are 
taking  away  the  very  atmosphere  of  virtue  by  denying 
a  free  choice  in  the  matter;  nor  can  we  praise  a 
cloistered  and  fugitive  virtue,  unexercised  and  un- 
breathed,  that  never  sallies  out  and  sees  her  adver- 
saries." The  fact  that  the  corrupting  power  of  books 
is  a  matter  of  temperament — that  one  mind  may  be 
poisoned  by  literature  which  to  another  would  prove 
innocuous  and  dull — again  suggests  that  the  parent  and 
the  schoolmaster  are  the  proper  censors  of  morals  in 
literature,  for  it  is  their  special  duty  to  observe  tempera- 
ments, whereas  no  one  could  expect  the  state  to  take 
into  consideration  all  the  various  compositions  of  its 
subjects'  minds.  It  seems,  then,  that  moral  censorship 
of  the  press  is  necessary,  but  that  it  is  properly  applied 
in  youth  during  the  period  of  education,  and  best 
exercised  by  the  head  of  the  family  or  the  schoolmaster, 
the  danger  to  avoid  being  not  so  much  that  grown-up 
people  should  become  corrupt,  but  that  the  young  man 
should  be  corrupted  before  he  knows  it,  without  per- 
ceiving all  its  significance,  and  be  driven  when  too  late 
to  repeat  Leopardi's  bitter  cry  : 

Qual  fallo  mai,  qual  si  nefando  eccesso 
Macchi&mmi  anzi  il  natale,  onde  si  torvo 
II  ciel  me  fosse  e  di  fortuna  il  volto. 

To  quit  the  various  kinds  of  censorship  and  to  come 
to  the  ways  in  which  the  censorship  has  been  applied. 
We  can  distinguish  two  methods.  The  first  and  oldest 
proceeded  mainly  by  means  of  an  Index — that  is,  by  the 
categorical  prohibition  of  certain  specified  books ;  the 
second  proceeded  by  defining  all  the  qualities  which 
render  a  book  liable  to  suppression,  but  did  not  attempt 
to  indicate  the  specific  offenders.  The  first  method 
was  that  adopted  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  by 
states  such  as  Venice  and  Spain,  though  in  a  much 


CENSURABLE  QUALITIES  55 

less  active  degree.  In  this  case  the  definition  of  the 
qualities  which  rendered  a  book  liable  to  be  placed  on 
the  Index  was  so  vague  that  it  might  be  stretched  to 
cover  the  whole  energies  of  the  printing  press ;  and, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  left  the  question  of  whether 
a  book  should  be  suppressed  or  not  entirely  to  the 
discretion  of  the  censor  for  the  time  being.  The  papal 
Bulls  and  Briefs,  which  promulgated  and  introduced 
the  various  Indices,  did  little  to  define,  with  accuracy, 
the  Indexable  qualities  of  books ;  they  repeated,  for 
the  most  part,  the  formulae  against  heresy,  but  little 
else.  The  ten  regulce  of  the  Council  of  Trent  did 
something  towards  a  definition,  and  still  more  the 
Instruction  of  Clement  VIII. ;  but  in  both  cases  more 
attention  was  paid  to  informing  censors  how  they  should 
act  than  to  defining  what  is  heresy;  virtually  it  remained 
with  the  censor  to  say  whether  a  book  should,  or 
should  not,  be  placed  upon  the  Index,  and  an  author 
could  never  be  quite  certain  of  the  fate  in  store  for  his 
work.  This  procedure  by  Index  implied  the  appoint- 
ment of  an  official  censor,  and  entailed  all  the  objections 
which  have  been  pointed  out  above.  So  strongly  did 
Paolo  Sarpi  feel  the  difficulty  of  this  undefined  position 
of  an  official  censor,  that  he  urged  the  government  of 
Venice  to  frame  a  list  of  rules  and  definitions  to  guide 
the  conduct  of  the  secretary  to  the  Senate,  who  was 
at  that  time  charged  with  the  state  revision  of  books. 
Sarpi  desired  that  this  important  question  of  what  was 
and  what  was  not  censurable  should  not  be  left  to  the 
varying  opinion  of  individuals,  but  that  the  state 
censor  "  might  walk  securely,  having  the  light  of 
public  wisdom  to  guide  his  feet."1 

Venice  never  formulated  these  rules  ;  but  the  recom- 
mendation of  Fra  Paolo  brings  us  to  the  second 
method  of  censorial  procedure  by  definition  of  cen- 
surable qualities  alone  without  an  Index,  a  purely 
preventive,  not  a  repressive,  censorship.  The  law 
defines  what  qualities  in  a  book  render  it  liable  to 

1  Sarpi,  Opere  Discorso  sopra  le  Stampe,  Brown,  op.  cit.  pp.  165-71. 


56      INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

suppression ;  but  it  takes  no  steps  to  examine  the 
issues  from  the  press  in  search  for  those  qualities. 
There  is  no  state-appointed  censor,  and  public  opinion 
is  left  to  take  his  place,  for  it  is  open  to  any  one  who 
feels  aggrieved  by  the  publication  of  a  work  to  cite  it, 
and  the  trial  will  show  whether  it  contains  the  qualities 
declared  censurable  by  law.  In  one  way  this  method 
is  good;  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  writing  to  de  Luna,  his 
ambassador  at  Trent,  says  truly  that  books  are  not 
equally  dangerous  at  all  times  and  in  all  places ;  by 
erecting  public  opinion  as  the  censor  of  the  press,  it  is 
intended  to  secure  that  the  law  shall  be  put  in  motion 
where  danger  threatens  the  community,  where  the 
public  conscience  is  alive  and  sensitive ;  it  leaves  it  to 
the  national  conscience  to  indicate  the  books  which, 
at  any  given  time,  it  considers  to  be  libri  contagiosi, 
infectious  books.  It  is  hoped  that  the  law  and 
national  feeling  will  work  together  automatically  to 
suppress  whatever  is  felt  to  be  inimical  to  national 
growth. 

The  Church  of  Rome  was  not  only  the  first  to 
recognize  the  power  of  a  free  press,  but  she  has  also 
furnished  the  most  striking  example  of  a  world-wide 
censorship  of  the  press  in  the  apparatus  of  the  Index 
Librorum  Prohibitorum.  It  is  therefore  of  interest  to 
follow  the  history  of  that  censorship  and  of  the  Index 
from  its  earliest  creation.  The  history  of  the  Index 
falls  into  two  main  periods :  the  first  dates,  roughly 
speaking,  from  the  introduction  of  printing  into  Italy 
in  1465,  down  to  the  publication  of  the  Clementine 
Index  in  1 596 ;  the  second  period  covers  the  centuries 
from  1596  down  to  the  present  day.  Historically 
speaking,  the  first  period  is  by  far  the  more  instructive. 
In  it  we  trace  the  inception  of  the  idea,  its  growth  and 
formation  under  Paul  IV.  and  the  Council  of  Trent,  till 
it  assumed  its  permanent  shape  in  the  pontificate  of 
Clement  VIII.  This  form  it  retained  till  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  Alexander  VIII. 
made  some  important  changes  in  its  structure;  and 


EARLY  CENSORSHIP  57 

Benedict  XIV.  finally  corrected,  revised  and  re-edited 
it,  very  much  in  the  form  it  now  possesses. 

Like  much  of  the  Church  machinery  previous  to  the 
Council  of  Trent,  the  censorship  of  books  grew  up  in 
obedience  to  necessity — sporadically  and  without  any 
headquarters  or  general  regulations.  The  need  for 
this  censorship  was  created  by  two  great  events,  the 
invention  of  printing  and  the  beginning  of  the  Lutheran 
heresy.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  the 
earliest  instances  of  such  a  supervision  of  the  press 
in  the  home  of  printing,  the  Rhine  Provinces.  The 
earliest  operation  against  books  proceeded  directly 
from  the  see  of  Rome,  when  Sixtus  IV.,  in  1479, 
empowered  the  Rector  of  Cologne  University  to 
employ  ecclesiastical  censure  against  those  who  read, 
or  buy,  or  print  heretical  books.  That  the  university 
exercised  a  censorship  is  proved  by  the  formula  of 
approbation  prefixed  to  many  books  which  were  issued 
between  the  years  1479  and  1493.  Another  instance  of 
such  censorial  approbation  appears  in  the  devotional 
work  Nosce  fe,  printed  by  Jenson  at  Venice  in  1480. 
The  approbation  is  signed  by  the  Patriarch  of  Venice, 
the  Inquisitor,  and  three  other  examiners.  But  this 
approbation  cannot  be  taken  as  a  sign  of  any  extended 
ecclesiastical  censorship  of  books  in  Venice.  The 
reason  for  its  appearance  in  the  Nosce  te  is  the  fact 
that  the  author  Johannes  was  a  Carthusian,  and  the 
superiors  of  the  various  Orders  exercised  a  super- 
vision over  the  works  issued  by  their  own  members. 
In  the  year  1486  the  Archbishop  of  Mainz  issued  an 
order  that  no  one  in  his  province  might  print  transla- 
tions or  other  works  without  the  approbation  of  a 
censor  named  by  him.  The  art  of  printing  appeared 
in  Italy  much  later  than  in  Germany,  though  when  it 
did  take  root  it  received  a  most  remarkable  develop- 
ment in  that  country.  Accordingly  we  find  that  the 
first  censorial  order  relating  to  books  in  Italy  is  dated 
considerably  later  than  the  orders  of  Cologne  and 
Mainz.  In  1491  Nicol6  Franco,  Bishop  of  Treviso 


58      INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

and  Papal  Legate  for  Venice,  published  a  constitution 
providing  that  no  one,  under  penalty  of  excommunica- 
tion, latce  sententice — that  is,  incurred  ipso  facto — may 
print  books  dealing  with  theological  topics, unless  he  has 
the  permission  of  the  ordinary  or  his  vicar-general ;  and 
that  all  who  possessed  Antonio  Roselli's  Monarchia,  or 
Pico  della  Mirandola's  Theses,  were,  within  fourteen 
days,  to  bring  them  to  be  burned  in  the  cathedral  of 
their  diocese.  Bishop  Franco's  constitution  is  remark- 
able on  two  grounds  :  first,  it  enunciates  the  principle 
of  an  imprimatur  from  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  as 
necessary  before  a  book  might  be  printed ;  and  secondly, 
it  is  the  earliest  example  of  an  ecclesiastical  order 
damnatory  of  books  already  published — the  beginnings 
of  a  repressive  censorship.  The  orders  of  Cologne 
and  Mainz  refer  only  to  future  impressions.  But 
Bishop  Franco  begins  the  attack  upon  books  already 
launched  upon  the  world.  We  do  not  know  whether 
this  order  was  executed;  whether  any  cathedral  of 
Venetian  territory  saw  Roselli's  and  Pico's  specula- 
tions vanish  into  smoke ;  but  it  is  certain  that,  though 
Roselli's  work  was  dedicated  to  a  Venetian  doge, 
Francesco  Foscari,  the  Venetian  government  raised 
no  objection  to  the  episcopal  order,  and  that  the 
censor  succeeded  in  stopping  the  circulation  of  the  work, 
for  only  two  editions  are  quoted  by  Hain,  one  in 
1483  and  one  in  1487,  both  anterior  to  the  episcopal 
denunciation. 

From  the  introduction  of  printing  down  to  the  close 
of  the  sixteenth  century  the  action  of  the  Church  in 
the  matter  of  press  censorship  was  local.  Although 
Sixtus  IV.  issued  orders  from  Rome,  they  were  not 
general  orders,  but  applicable  only  to  such  narrow 
jurisdictions  as  that  of  Cologne  University.  The 
Popes  had  not  yet  acted  in  their  capacity  as  heads 
of  the  universal  Church.  But  after  the  opening  of 
the  sixteenth  century  a  change  took  place.  The 
popes  began  to  take  universal  action  in  the  matter 
of  press  censorship.  In  the  year  1501  Alexander  VI. 


INTER  MULTIPLIES  59 

published  his  Bull  Inter  Multiplices,  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made.  The  most  remarkable  points 
in  this  Bull  are,  first,  the  confirmation  of  the  doctrine 
that  an  ecclesiastical  imprimatur  is  necessary.  Arch- 
bishops, especially  those  of  Cologne,  Magdeburg, 
Trier,  and  Mainz,  are  to  see  that  no  books  are  printed 
in  their  provinces  without  their  imprimatur,  which  is 
to  be  granted  gratis.  Second,  the  censorial  powers 
of  the  archbishops  may  be  delegated  to  vicars-general, 
and  to  experts.  Third,  the  scope  of  the  censorship  is 
confined  to  questions  of  what  is  orthodoxce  fidei  con- 
trarium;  questions  of  public  or  private  morality  are 
not  apparently  included ;  the  jurisdiction  is  to  extend 
over  corporations,  universities,  and  colleges ;  the  penal 
powers  include  ecclesiastical  censure,  destruction  of 
books,  and  fines,  for  the  enforcement  of  which  the 
censors  are  to  seek  the  aid  of  the  secular  arm. 

The  next  important  step  in  the  growth  of  the 
ecclesiastical  press  censorship  is  marked  by  the 
Lateran  Council.  Leo  X.,  in  1515,  published  his  Bull 
Inter  Solicitudines,  by  which  the  machinery  of  the 
imprimatur  was  still  further  organized.  The  necessity 
for  an  imprimatur  is  enforced,  but  it  is  provided  now, 
for  the  first  time,  that  in  Rome  the  document  shall  be 
obtained  from  the  apostolic  vicar  and  the  Magister 
sacri  palatii,  the  official  who  continued  to  be  the 
responsible  censor  of  books  in  the  Papal  States; 
outside  Rome  the  Ordinary  or  his  delegates  are  the 
proper  sources  of  imprimaturs.  The  penalties  remain, 
as  in  Inter  Multiplices,  fines  and  destruction  of  books. 
In  Rome  the  pecuniary  penalties  are  appropriated  to 
the  building  fund  of  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles. 
Neither  in  the  Bull  of  Alexander  nor  in  that  of  Leo 
is  there  any  mention  of  the  inquisitor,  who  subse- 
quently played  such  an  important  part  as  censor  of 
the  press.  The  Inquisition  which  then  existed  was 
the  old  Dominican  Inquisition.  The  new  Inquisition, 
devised  by  Caraffa,  had  not  yet  been  thought  of. 
The  papal  attack  on  Luther  and  Lutheran  writings 


60      INDEX   LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

became  more  definite  in  1520,  when  Leo  published 
his  Bull  Exurge,  condemning  as  heretical  forty-one 
propositions,  and  entailing  excommunication,  latce 
sententice,  on  all  who  taught  or  defended  them.  And 
Luther's  name  was  added  to  the  commination  list  of 
the  In  Ccena  Domini,  by  Hadrian  VI.  in  1524. 

So  far,  then,  the  Church  had  exercised  its  censorship 
of  books,  first  in  a  vague  and  sporadic  way,  then  in 
general  action  expressed  in  Bulls.  The  motive  for 
this  action  had  been  always  the  dread  of  dogmatic 
infection,  the  spread  of  the  Lutheran  heresy,  not  any 
anxiety  about  the  purity  of  the  press,  or  the  danger 
from  seditious  and  subversive  political  teaching.  As 
yet  there  was  no  example  of  an  Index  even  in  an 
incipient  form ;  but  we  have  now  reached  the  period 
when  such  Indices  began  to  appear. 

If  we  omit  the  Imperial  Edict  of  Worms  (1521), 
which  was  directed  against  Luther  and  all  his  writings, 
and  can  hardly  be  considered  as  containing  an  Index 
of  forbidden  books,  the  first  list  which  may  claim  that 
title  appeared  in  England  in  the  year  1526.  It  con- 
tained the  names  of  eighteen  books,  and  was  soon 
followed,  in  1529,  by  the  second  English  Index,  very 
much  enlarged,  and  reaching  to  as  many  as  eighty-five 
prohibitions.  These  English  Indices,  of  which  seven 
others  under  Henry  VIII.  and  one  under  Mary  followed 
the  first  two,  are  compiled  in  no  particular  order,  and 
contain  the  names  of  special  works  only;  there  is 
nothing  in  them  corresponding  to  the  condemnation 
of  whole  classes  of  books  and  of  authors  which 
characterizes  the  Roman  Indkes.  The  proclamation 
of  1530  expressed  the  formula  under  which  books 
were  prohibited  in  England.  It  runs :  "  Contrary  to 
the  Catholic  faith,  contrary  to  the  law  and  custom  of 
the  Holy  Church,  against  the  King,  his  Council,  and 
Parliament " ;  thus  covering  two  departments  of  cen- 
sorship, the  religious  and  the  political,  but  making  no 
provision  for  the  moral  censorship.  The  English 
Index  of  1529  contains  the  phrase — curious  in  the 


EARLIEST  INDICES  61 

mouth  of  a  damnatory  censor — "  Joannis  Wicleffi  viri 
piissimi  dialogorum  libri  quattuor."  The  Clementine 
Instructio^  which  had  not  yet  appeared,  forbade  any 
one  to  bestow  honorific  epithets  on  heretics ;  the 
English  censor,  however,  did  not  scruple  to  admire 
his  opponent. 

The  English  Indices  are,  however,  hardly  to  be 
reckoned  in  the  real  series  of  Indices  Librorum  Pro- 
hibitorum.  That  series  properly  begins  with  the  Index, 
or  more  correctly  Catalogue,  issued  in  1546  by  the 
Theological  Faculty  at  Lou  vain.  The  Louvain  Index, 
and  all  Indices  down  to  the  first  papal  Index,  are 
properly  known  as  Catalogues,  not  as  Indices.  In 
construction  the  Louvain  Catalogue  is  essentially 
different  from  any  of  its  predecessors.  It  is  the  first 
Catalogue  in  which  we  find  a  division  into  classes. 
The  Catalogue  contained,  first,  a  list  of  Latin,  German, 
and  French  Bibles  and  New  Testaments ;  second,  an 
alphabetical  list  of  German  and  French  books  pro- 
hibited. The  fountain  of  authority  in  the  Louvain 
Catalogue  was  the  Imperial  mandate  which  conferred 
upon  the  Faculty  power  to  visit  all  libraries  and  book- 
shops, and  to  remove  all  noxious  books.  The  Louvain 
Catalogue  is  by  no  means  free  from  that  carelessness 
in  compilation  which  characterizes  almost  all  the 
Indices  down  to  the  time  of  Benedict  XIV.  The 
alphabetical  list  is  compiled  upon  a  varying  principle  ; 
sometimes  the  surname,  sometimes  the  Christian  name, 
of  the  author  is  given,  sometimes  only  the  title  of  the 
book  to  be  condemned.  The  Emperor  Charles  V.  was 
not  satisfied  with  the  Catalogue  of  the  Theological 
Faculty,  and  in  1549  he  ordered  the  whole  university 
to  draw  up  a  new  Catalogue,  with  a  special  list  of 
works  appropriate  for  use  in  schools.  Both  Catalogue 
and  list  were  printed  the  following  year  in  Latin, 
French,  and  Flemish.  Here  again,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  English  Indices,  the  scope  of  the  work  is  the 
extirpation  of  heresy ;  "  pour  1'extirpation,"  so  runs  the 
title,  "des  sectes  et  erreurs  pullulez  centre  nostre 


62      INDEX  LIBRORUM  PROHIBITORUM 

saincte  foy  catholicque  et  les  constitutions  et  ordon- 
naces  de  nostre  mere  saincte  eglise.  Avec  le  Cata- 
logue des  livres  reprouvey  et  prohibez."  There  is 
not  the  slightest  reference  to  the  other  possible 
subjects  of  censorship,  while  every  care  is  taken  to 
suppress  books  which,  though  not  heretical,  yet 
under  the  cloak  of  true  religion  insinuate  false  views 
on  the  papacy,  ceremonies,  confession,  Mass,  and 
saints.  This  second  Catalogue  of  Louvain  presents 
two  distinguishing  features — first,  the  list  of  books 
approved  for  school  use  in  addition  to  the  Catalogue 
of  general  condemnations,  a  feature  which  does  not 
appear  in  other  Catalogues  or  Indices;  and,  second, 
we  find  here  for  the  first  time  the  distinction  drawn 
between  heresiarchs  and  heretics :  all  works  of  heresi- 
archs  are,  ipso  facto,  forbidden ;  while  the  works  of 
heretics  require  examination  before  they  are  condemned 
to  the  Catalogue.  The  Louvain  Catalogue  is  of  great 
importance  in  the  history  of  the  ecclesiastical  censor- 
ship of  books,  not  only  because  it  is  the  first  of  the 
regular  series  of  Indices  Librorum  Prohibitorum,  but 
also  because  Fernando  Valdes,  Inquisitor-General  in 
Spain,  published  it  entire  in  1551,  and  subsequently 
retained  it  in  the  first  Spanish  Index  of  1559.  The 
Latin  Catalogue  of  Louvain  appeared  in  the  Venetian 
Index,  and  thence  passed  into  the  Roman  Indices  ;  and 
in  this  way  the  Louvain  Catalogue  may  be  considered 
as  the  fountain-head  of  two  main  branches  of  the 
Index,  the  Spanish  and  the  Roman. 

The  Spanish  censorship  was  from  the  very  first 
declared  to  be  a  state  ecclesiastical  department.  The 
King  of  Spain  always  insisted  upon  the  independence 
of  the  Spanish  Index.  Philip  II.,  writing  to  de  Luna 
at  Trent,  says  Spain  has  her  own  rules  and  her  own 
Index;  and  must  on  no  account  be  placed  under  the 
general  orders  of  the  council.  This  independent 
position  was  always  maintained,  and  we  shall  not  have 
to  consider  the  growth  of  the  Spanish  in  dealing  with 
the  Roman  Index. 


CENSORSHIP  IN  FRANCE  63 

A  similar  process  of  state  censorship  had  been 
taking  place  in  France  contemporaneously  with  that 
which  was  going  on  in  England  and  the  Netherlands 
under  Charles.  In  the  year  1521  Francis  I.,  on  the 
invitation  of  the  University  of  Paris,  published  a  decree 
forbidding  the  Parisian  booksellers  to  print  any  new 
Latin  or  French  works  dealing  with  the  "Christian  faith 
without  first  obtaining  an  imprimatur  from  the  Theo- 
logical Faculty.  This  decree  applied  to  future  im- 
pressions only,  and  made  no  sort  of  provision  for  an 
Index.  In  1542,  however,  the  Parliament  of  Paris 
ordered  the  Sorbonne  to  draw  up  a  Catalogue  of 
objectionable  books,  and  this  task  was  accomplished 
in  the  following  year,  when  a  list  of  sixty-five  numbers, 
compiled  without  order,  was  prepared.  The  Sorbonne 
Catalogue,  properly  so  called,  was  not  published  till 
1544,  and  was  repeated  three  times  subsequently,  in 
1S47i  *55i»  and  1556.  Here,  again,  the  authority  is  the 
order  of  the  king,  suyvant  t  edict  du  rqy,  and  the  scope, 
as  always,  the  suppression  of  heresy.  The  Sorbonne 
Catalogue  is  divided  into  five  heads — first,  a  list  of 
Latin  works  by  known  authors,  arranged  alphabeti- 
cally by  surname ;  second,  a  list  of  anonymous  Latin 
works ;  third,  a  list  of  French  works  by  known  authors ; 
fourth,  a  list  of  anonymous  French  works ;  fifth,  French 
translations  of  the  Bible.  Though  the  Louvain  and 
the  Sorbonne  Catalogues  naturally  contain  many 
names  in  common,  yet  there  is  no  essential  connection 
between  the  two;  the  Sorbonne  Catalogue  is  an 
independent  compilation.  But,  like  the  Louvain 
Catalogue,  the  Sorbonne  list  draws  much  of  its 
interest  from  the  fact  that  it  was  largely  used  in  the 
compilation  of  the  Venetian  Catalogues,  and,  in  con- 
sequence, helped  to  build  up  the  first  Pontifical  Index, 
that  of  Paul  IV. 

England,  the  Netherlands,  France,  and  Spain  had 
all  issued  Catalogues  of  forbidden  books  before  Italy 
moved  in  the  matter.  When  a  Catalogue  did  appear 
in  Italy,  it  did  not  owe  its  existence  to  ecclesiastical 


64      INDEX  LIBRORUM  PROHIBITORUM 

but  to  civil  authorities,  as  had  been  the  case  with  all 
its  predecessors.  The  Senate  of  Lucca,  no  doubt 
prompted  by  the  Inquisition,  published  in  1545  a 
decree  commanding  all  Luchese  subjects  to  burn,  or 
to  hand  to  their  ordinary  within  fourteen  days,  all 
books  in  their  possession  which  were  named  on  an 
accompanying  list.  The  Lucca  Catalogue  is  drawn 
up  in  Latin,  and  contains  the  names  of  twenty-eight 
writers  whose  whole  works  are  prohibited.  There 
seems  to  have  been  a  special  dread  of  heresy  in  Lucca 
at  that  moment,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  influence  of 
Bernard  Occhino  and  of  P.  M.  Vermigli,  which  called 
the  attention  of  Rome  to  the  Republic,  and  induced 
the  Church  to  put  pressure  on  the  government,  giving 
to  this  Luchese  Catalogue  a  peculiar  character.  The 
Republic  was  alarmed  at  this  interference  from  Rome, 
and  took  very  strong  steps  to  secure  their  own  inde- 
pendence of  action,  while  at  the  same  time  proving 
themselves  good  sons  of  the  Church.  But  this 
question  belongs  rather  to  the  history  of  the  In- 
quisition than  to  the  history  of  the  Index.  The 
Luchese  Catalogue,  being  in  a  special  degree  the 
outcome  of  ecclesiastical  initiative,  shows  quite  as 
strongly  as  its  predecessors  the  tendency  to  deal 
with  dogma  only,  leaving  the  other  departments  of 
censorship  untouched.  The  most  important  fact 
about  the  Luccan  censorship  is  that  the  Republic 
established  a  civil  office,  spectabile  officium,  to  deal 
with  the  whole  question.  This  office  was  charged 
with  the  publication  of  all  future  prohibitions,  and 
was  convened  at  least  once  a  week.  It  acted  in 
concert  with  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  no  doubt, 
but  in  its  origin  and  in  its  fountain  of  authority  it 
was  a  state  and  not  an  ecclesiastical  authority. 

The  next  Catalogue  of  prohibited  books  brings  us 
to  an  important  point  in  the  development  of  the  Index. 
This  Catalogue  was  published  at  Venice  by  Giovanni 
della  Casa,  Archbishop  of  Benevento,  nuncio  and  papal 
legate  in  Venetian  territory.  Hitherto  it  has  been 


DELLA  CASA  6s 

supposed  that  no  copy  of  this  Catalogue  exists.  Reusch1 
says,  "von  der  Originalausgabe  dieses  Index  scheint 
kein  Exemplar  mehr  zu  existeren."  Our  knowledge  of  it 
depended  on  a  hostile  edition  published  by  Pier  Paolo 
Vergerio  on  July  3,  1549,  from  some  place  in  Grau- 
btlnden  (in  queste  Alpi),  probably  Poschiavo  or  Chia- 
venna.  Vergerio  entitled  his  reprint  //  Catalogo  de 
Libri,  It  quali  nuavamente  nel  nesse  di  Maggio  nelfanno 
presente  M.D.  XLVlllL\sono  stati  condannati  scontuni- 
cati  per  heretici,  Da  Giouan  della  casa  legato  di  Venetia, 
et  d  alcuni  frati.  Vergerio  adds  that  the  Catalogue 
was  published  on  the  papal  authority,  "  Mandatu 
Pauli  III.,"  and  hence,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  import- 
ance which  has  been  ascribed  to  this  Venetian  Index 
of  1549;  in  any  case,  the  fact  that  della  Casa  was  legate 
a  latere  gave  his  Catalogue  a  direct  connection  with 
the  Holy  See ;  and  it  has  been  pointed  out  that  in  the 
case  of  this  first  Venetian  Index  it  is  no  longer  the  State, 
but  the  Church,  which  compiles  the  list ;  the  fountain 
of  authority  is  the  ecclesiastical,  not  the  civil,  govern- 
ment. Hitherto,  it  is  said,  it  had  been  Henry  VIII., 
Charles  V.,  Francis  I.,  the  King  of  Spain,  or  the 
Senate  of  Lucca  which  had  ordered  the  preparation 
and  enforcement  of  the  prohibitions ;  now,  in  the  case 
of  the  first  Venetian  Index,  the  Church  assumes  the 
lead  in  the  person  of  the  papal  legate.  This  is  true 
in  a  measure,  but  requires  modification ;  for  in  the 
Biblioteca  Marciana  *  there  exists  what  I  believe  to  be 
a  copy  of  the  original  Catalogue  published  by  della 
Casa  in  May,  I549.3  The  brochure  was  printed  in 
Venice  by  Erasmo  di  Vincenzo  Valgrisi,  and  is 
entitled,  Catalogo\di  diverse  opere \ compositions,  et  libri ; \ 

1  Op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  205  ;  and  R.  L.  Poole,  Journal  of  Theological 
Studies,  Oct.  1903,  vol.  v.  127,  who  confirms  the  fact  that  no  trace  of 
this  Catalogue  has  been  found  by  the  bibliographers.  See  also 
Putnam,  The  Censorship  of  the  Church  of  Rome  (New  York  :  1906), 
vol.  i.  148. 

1  "Cose  Venete,  Storia  Ecclesiastica,"  Miscellanea,  128. 

3  The  documents  connected  with  it  are  printed  in  extenso  at  the  end 
of  this  essay. 

VOL.   II.  5 


66       INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

li  quali  come  heretici  sospetti  impii,  et  scandalosi  si 
dichiara  \  no  dannati,  et  prohibit!  in  questa  inclita  citta 
di  Vinegia,  et  in  tutto  f  Illustrissimo  dominio  Vinitiano, 
si  da  |  mare,  come  da  terra.  From  the  preface  we  gather 
that  the  Catalogue  was  compiled  by  the  Reverendo 
padre  Maestro  Marino,  a  Venetian,  monk  of  the  Order 
of  St.  Francis,  living  in  the  monastery  of  the  Minorites, 
inquisitor  in  heresy,  and  that  he  had  the  assistance 
and  advice  of  many  theologians  belonging  to  various 
Orders  (these  were  the  alcuni  frati  of  Vergerio's 
preface);  and  further  that  it  was  the  legate,  on  the 
advice  of  the  three  lay  government  assessors  of  the 
Holy  Office  in  Venice,  who  entrusted  Fra  Marino 
with  the  task;  finally,  the  Catalogue  was  printed  in 
execution  of  an  order  made  by  the  Council  of  Ten. 
It  is  clear  therefore  that  this  earliest  Venetian  Index 
was  in  part,  at  least,  the  work  of  the  civil  government, 
and  that  it  rested  on  no  papal  authority  beyond  what 
was  implied  by  the  action  of  a  legate  a  latere.  The 
resolution  of  the  Council  of  Ten  from  which  the  Index 
drew  its  authority  was  passed  on  January  16,  1548-9, 
and  is  printed  on  the  third  page  of  the  pamphlet.  It 
cites  an  earlier  proclamation  issued  by  the  Ten  on 
July  1 8,  1548,  in  which  all  Venetian  subjects  were 
called  upon  to  surrender  to  the  three  assessors  all 
books  which  contain  anything  contra  la  fede ;  no 
penalty  was  to  be  exacted  for  the  possession  of  such 
works,  provided  they  were  surrendered.  But  no  list 
of  the  condemned  works  accompanied  the  proclama- 
tion, and  to  supply  this  deficiency  della  Casa,  with 
the  assent  of  the  three  assessors,  commissioned  Fra 
Marino  and  other  monks  to  compile  the  present  list. 
The  Ten  ordered  this  list  to  be  printed,  and  a  copy 
to  be  sent  to  each  printer  and  bookseller  in  Venice, 
along  with  a  notice  as  to  where  other  copies  might 
be  purchased.  The  Catalogue  was  also  to  be  dis- 
tributed among  the  cities  of  the  mainland.  The 
principal  sources  of  della  Casa's  Catalogue  are  the 
lists  of  Louvain  and  Paris,  while  recent  trials  furnished 


THE  FLORENTINE  CATALOGUE    67 

some  names  which  had  appeared  on  no  previous 
lists.  The  list  contains  the  names  of  heretical  works 
and  of  heresiarchs  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and 
forty,  and  displays  all  the  carelessness  and  inaccuracy 
which  Vergerio  so  severely  castigated.  The  pamphlet 
closes  with  the  declaration  of  the  chancellor  of  legate 
giving  the  sanction  to  the  Catalogue,  which  was 
the  greater  excommunication  as  pronounced  in  the 
bull  In  Ccena  Domini.  The  chief  interest  of  this  the 
earliest  Venetian  Catalogue  in  the  history  of  the  Index 
lies  in  the  fact  that  here  for  the  first  time  we  find  the 
local  inquisitor  taking  a  part  in  the  compilation — 
on  the  initiative  of  the  secular  power,  it  is  true — and 
that  it  forms  the  link  between  the  damnatory  Cata- 
logues of  Louvain  and  the  Sorbonne  and  the  Papal 
Index  of  Paul  IV. 

Three  more  Catalogues  remain  to  be  noticed  before 
we  come  to  the  first  Roman  Index.  Vergerio  is  once 
more  our  source  of  information  in  the  absence  of  the 
originals  ;  but  it  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  that 
his  is  a  hostile  testimony,  though  there  is  no  apparent 
reason  to  doubt  his  evidence.  The  most  important 
general  feature  about  all  these  Catalogues,  subsequent 
to  della  Casa's,  is,  that  they  are  issued  by  ecclesiastical, 
not  by  civil,  authorities.  In  the  year  1552  the  Do- 
minicans of  Florence  published  a  Catalogue  to  which 
Vergerio  makes  reference.  This  Catalogue  is  based 
on  della  Casa's,  but  corrects  some  of  the  many  errors 
into  which  the  nuncio  had  fallen.  Vergerio  takes 
credit  to  himself  for  enabling  the  Dominicans  of 
Florence  to  discover  and  remedy  these  errors,  though 
he  asserts  that  they  made  novos  et  valde  pudendos.  Of 
this  Florentine  Catalogue  we  know  little,  and  it  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  important.  In  1554  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Milan,  Arcimboldi,  published  his  Catalogue, 
described  by  Vergerio,  as  usual  in  terms  of  great 
exaggeration,  as  a  work  "  ove  egli  condanna  et  difama 
per  heretici  la  maggior  parte  de  figliuoli  di  Dio  et 
membri  di  Cristo,  i  quali  ne'  loro  scritti  cercano 


68       INDEX  LIBRORUM  PROHIBITORUM 

la  riformatione  della  chiesa  cristiana."  Vergerio's  re- 
cension is  dated  "Cambridge,"  probably  for  Poschiavo. 
The  Milanese  Catalogue  is  compiled  alphabetically, 
and  contains  five  hundred  numbers,  sometimes  names 
of  authors,  sometimes  titles  of  books.  It  is  therefore 
far  more  comprehensive  than  della  Casa's  list,  and  was 
largely  used  in  compiling  the  first  Roman  Index.  In 
the  same  year  (1554)  another  Venetian  Catalogue  was 
published.  It  is  mainly  an  enlargement  of  the  Milan 
Catalogue,  with  some  additional  names  taken  from 
Gesner's  Bibliotheca  Universalis.  It  absorbed  most  of 
its  predecessors  except  the  English  lists,  and  included 
the  Louvain  and  della  Casa  Catalogues  almost  entire ; 
and  this  Venetian  Catalogue  served  immediately  as 
the  basis  for  the  Pauline  Index.  The  most  remark- 
able feature  about  the  Venetian  list  of  1554  is,  that 
its  preface  declares  it  to  have  been  compiled  and 
published  by  the  Venetian  Inquisition, "  De  commissione 
Tribunalis  sanctissimae  Inquisitionis  Venetiarum" ;  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  other  ecclesiastical  authorities 
or  of  the  civil  magistrates. 

The  Catalogue  of  the  Venetian  Inquisition  was  the 
last  Italian  Catalogue.  We  have  now  reached  the 
period  when  the  Roman  Indices  begin  to  appear. 
Hitherto  we  have  seen  how  the  censorship  pro- 
ceeded first  by  local  orders  as  to  the  supervision  of 
the  press  and  the  necessity  for  an  imprimatur,  then  by 
papal  Bulls  addressed  urbi  et  orbi,  confirming  the  local 
orders  and  making  them  universal.  In  the  same  way 
we  have  seen  local  catalogues  of  books  published  in 
various  parts  of  Europe,  applicable  only  to  certain 
limited  districts  and  jurisdictions.  Now  we  come 
to  the  papal  Indices,  which,  as  issuing  from  the 
head  of  the  Church,  claimed  to  be  binding  on  all 
Christendom.  The  two  main  points  about  the  early 
Catalogues  are,  first,  that  they  were  designed  almost 
entirely  as  a  censorship  of  heretical  works ;  and, 
secondly,  that  down  to  the  Catalogue  of  Lucca  they 
were  the  work  of  the  State  alone,  not  of  ecclesiastical 


THE  INQUISITION  69 

censorship.  Delia  Casa's  Venetian  Catalogue  is  the 
first  example  of  the  Church  acting  concurrently  with 
the  State  in  the  prohibition  of  books,  and  calling  in  the 
assistance  of  the  inquisitor;  and  in  the  last  Venetian 
Catalogue  this  new  instrument  seems  to  have  absorbed 
the  whole  authority,  and  the  Catalogue  is  issued  by 
the  Inquisition  alone. 

The  appearance  of  the  Inquisition  in  the  censorship 
of  books,  and  the  fact  that  the  headquarters  of  that 
censorship  were  now  transferred  to  Rome,  lead  us  to 
inquire  what  had  been  taking  place  in  the  Eternal  City. 
Almost  every  European  state  had  preceded  Italy  in 
the  censorial  attack  upon  the  Lutheran  heresy.  It  had 
taken  long  to  convince  the  Church  that  her  danger 
was  real  and  imminent.  There  was  one  man  in  Rome, 
however,  who  was  resolved  that  the  Church  should 
not  remain  indifferent  to  the  progress  of  the  new 
movement,  but  should  exert  all  her  energy  to  crush 
the  heresy,  Giovanni  Pietro  Caraffa,  the  Neapolitan, 
at  that  time  Bishop  of  Chieti.  It  was  on  his  initiative 
that  Paul  III.,  in  1542,  published  the  Bull  Licet  ab 
initio,  which  gave  a  new  organization  to  the  Inquisi- 
tion. Six  cardinals  were  named  inquisitors-general, 
with  orders  to  attack  heresy,  and  with  powers  to  act 
independently  of  the  ordinaries  in  each  diocese.  This 
was  the  weapon  with  which  Caraffa  hoped  to  fight  the 
Lutheran  schism.  He  desired  to  see  the  Inquisition 
supersede  the  ordinaries,  whose  zeal  and  energy  he 
mistrusted  as  censors  of  the  press;  it  was  owing  to 
the  prevalence  of  his  policy  at  Rome  that  we  find  the 
Inquisition  coming  to  the  front  in  the  conduct  of  the 
censorship  of  books.  Although  the  Bull  Licet  ab  initio 
did  not  expressly  name  heretical  books  as  the  peculiar 
object  of  the  inquisitors-general's  attention,  yet  it  was 
fully  understood  that  their  immediate  function  was 
to  suppress  such  books,  and  they  proved  that  they 
appreciated  the  scope  of  their  duties  by  the  publica- 
tion of  their  Edict  of  1543,  which  deals  entirely  with 
the  question  of  heretical  works.  Caraffa's  vast  and 


70       INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

grandiose  scheme  for  a  network  of  inquisition  em- 
bracing all  Christendom,  having  its  centre  at  Rome, 
and  being  thus  in  direct  relation  with  the  head  of  the 
Church,  failed  as  so  much  of  his  policy  failed.  But  in 
dealing  with  the  history  of  the  Roman  Index  we  shall 
see  how  close  a  connection  he  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing between  the  Congregation  of  the  Inquisition 
and  the  censorship  of  books. 

In  the  year  1559  the  first  Roman  Index  appeared. 
Caraflfa  during  his  cardinalate,  and  while  a  member  of 
the  Congregation  of  the  Inquisition,  had  been  occupied 
with  the  preparation  of  an  Index.  When  he  ascended 
the  throne  as  Paul  IV.  he  entrusted  the  completion 
of  the  work  to  the  Congregation.  This  Index  was 
printed  in  1557,  but  withdrawn.  It  is  not  certain  why 
the  edition  was  suppressed,  but  a  new  edition  was 
ready  in  1558,  and  given  to  the  world  as  the  first 
Roman  Index  in  1559,  with  the  declaration  that  it 
issued  from  the  Holy  Office,  and  was  addressed 
Universa  Christiana  Republica.  The  Index  is  preceded 
by  the  decree  of  the  Holy  Office  imposing  obedience 
on  pain  of  all  the  penalties  enumerated  in  the  Bull  In 
Ccena  Domini.  The  Index  is  compiled  alphabetically, 
but  a  new  feature  is  introduced.  Each  letter  is  divided 
into  three  classes,  an  arrangement  which  occurs  here 
for  the  first  time,  and  was  preserved  in  all  Roman 
Indices  down  to  the  pontificate  of  Alexander  VII. 
The  first  class  contains  the  name  of  heresiarchs — that 
is  to  say,  all  those  whose  entire  works  are  prohibited. 
The  second  class  contains  the  names  of  certain  writers, 
some  of  whose  works  are  condemned  as  heretical  or 
guilty  prcestigiosce  impietatis;  the  edition  of  1557  con- 
tained besides  the  words  aut  obscence  alicujus  turpi- 
tudiniS)  but  these  were  removed  from  the  edition  of 
1559.  The  third  class  contains  the  titles  of  books  by 
unknown  heretical  authors.  In  the  Pauline  Index  we 
find  distinct  and  unmistakable  censure  of  qualities 
other  than  heretical,  such  as  magic,  scurrility  in 
Pasquinades,  and  obscenity ;  and  the  Index  itself  is 


THE  PAULINE   INDEX  71 

rich  in  the  titles  of  astrological  works  and  prophecies. 
The  Index  closed  with  a  list  of  sixty-one  printers,  and 
a  declaration  that  any  works  whatsoever  printed  by 
them  were,  ipso  facto,  prohibited.  This  was  an 
attempt  to  apply  to  the  book  trade  the  principle 
which,  when  applied  to  authors,  had  produced  the 
category  of  heresiarchs.  The  majority  of  these 
printers  were  Germans,  but  among  them  we  find 
Francesco  Bruccioli  of  Venice,  and  Robert  Estienne 
of  Paris.  As  already  stated,  the  immediate  basis  of 
the  Pauline  Index  is  the  Venetian  Catalogue  of  1555, 
which  had  absorbed  the  larger  part  of  its  predecessors ; 
and  Gesner's  Bibliotheca  furnished  a  considerable  quan- 
tity of  new  names.  The  Pauline  Index  was  held  to  be 
very  severe,  especially  in  its  proscription  of  certain 
printers ;  and  we  shall  see  presently  that  it  was  found 
necessary  to  modify  it.  The  Index  contains  one  in- 
stance of  the  speed,  and  consequent  carelessness, 
with  which  names  were  sometimes  placed  on  the  list 
of  prohibitions.  Among  the  works  which  the  com- 
pilers of  the  Index  had  to  examine  was  a  book  called 
Monachopomomachia,  published  under  the  pseudonym 
of  Lutii  Pisoei  Juvenalis,  datum  ex  Achaia.  Its  real 
author  was  Simon  Lemnius,  teacher  in  the  Gymnasium 
at  Chur,  and  the  book  is  a  satire  on  Luther  the  married 
monk ;  but  the  censors,  satisfied  by  the  title  as  to  the 
real  scope  of  the  work,  placed  it  on  the  Index  without 
reading  it. 

The  Pauline  Index  was  not  rigorously  enforced,  even 
in  Rome ;  perhaps  because  the  Pope  did  not  live  long 
enough  to  compel  a  full  observance,  but  certainly  also 
because  it  met  with  serious  opposition.  The  learned 
found  it  excessively  severe,  and  even  complained  that 
in  Spain  the  censorship  proceeded  more  leniently ;  to 
which  the  Inquisitor-General  Ghislieri  replied  that 
Rome  gave  laws  to  Spain,  not  Spain  to  Rome.  The 
Index  was  published  by  the  Inquisition  in  Bologna, 
Genoa,  and  Venice,  but  received  little  attention.  The 
Viceroy  of  Naples  and  the  Governor  of  Milan,  as 


72       INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

Spanish  subjects,  refused  to  allow  it  to  appear  within 
their  jurisdictions,  and  reported  on  the  matter  to  their 
master.  Florence  waited  to  see  what  the  other  powers 
would  do.  In  Paris  it  was  not  even  printed.  The 
Pauline  Index  proved  a  failure,  and  on  the  death  of 
the  pope  in  1559,  the  same  year  that  the  Index  was 
issued,  his  successor  Pius  IV.  deemed  it  advisable  to 
order  Ghislieri,  the  inquisitor,  to  prepare  a  Moderatio 
Indicts,  which  was  published  in  1561.  The  Moderatio 
affected  only  the  general  provisions  of  the  Pauline 
Index.  It  sanctioned  the  use  of  translations  from  the 
Fathers  made  by  heretics,  on  a  written  permission  for 
such  use  being  obtained  from  the  Holy  Office  ;  and  it 
removed  from  the  Index  books  placed  there  only  be- 
cause the  printer  w^s  suspect.  The  Council  of  Trent 
was  now  in  its  third  convocation,  and  the  question  of 
press  censorship  came  before  it  in  the  year  1 562.  The 
general  opinion  of  the  Council  was  that  the  Pauline 
Index  required  revision.  Daniele  Barbaro,  coadjutor  of 
Aquileia,  expressed  the  real  intention  of  the  Church  as 
regards  the  use  of  a  press  censorship,  when  he  said 
that  it  was  a  flaw  in  the  Pauline  Index  that  it  con- 
demned equally  and  in  the  same  way  a  work  juvenilis 
licentice  and  a  work  containing  heretical  opinions. 
After  much  discussion,  the  whole  question  was  referred 
to  a  commission  of  eighteen,  and  the  Council  as  a  body 
took  no  further  charge  of  the  matter.  The  Tridentine 
Index  was  ready  by  the  end  of  March  1564,  and  was 
published  under  the  title  of  Index  Librorum  Prohibi- 
torum  cum  regulis  confectis  per  patres  a  Tridentina 
Synodo  delectos,  auctoritate  Sanctiss.  D.  N.  Pii  IV. 
Pont.  Max.  Comprobatus.  Except  upon  three  points, 
the  Tridentine  Index  is  merely  an  amended  edition  of 
its  predecessor.  Those  three  points  are,  first,  the 
abolition  of  the  list  of  forbidden  Bibles,  and  of  pro- 
scribed printers  ;  second,  the  introduction  of  the 
formula  donee  corrigatur,  opposite  certain  books,  im- 
plying a  modified  and  not  an  absolute  condemnation. 
The  full  significance  of  donee  corrigatur  is  that  the 


THE  TRIDENTINE  INDEX  73 

possession  and  study  of  the  work  will  be  allowed  on 
condition  that  certain  obnoxious  passages  shall  be 
corrected  or  obliterated  by  pen  in  existing  editions, 
and  in  subsequent  editions  be  removed  or  amended. 
But  by  far  the  most  important  feature  of  the  Tridentine 
Index  is  the  third  point,  the  ten  regulce,  or  rules 
upon  the  subject  of  book  censorship.  The  regulce 
collected  and  formulated  the  scattered  provisions  of 
the  Bulls,  the  Catalogues  and  Index  which  preceded 
them  ;  they  remain  in  force  to  this  day,  and  form  the 
basis  upon  which  the  ecclesiastical  censorship  of  books 
proceeds ;  as  an  example,  we  have  the  prohibition  of 
Savarese's  La  Scomunica  di*  un  idea  pronounced  in 
1884,  which  ci^es  the  second  regula  of  Trent  as  its 
chapter,  opus  prcedamnatum  ex  reg.  2  Indicis  Trid. 

The  Index  of  the  Council  of  Trent  was  the  most  im- 
portant that  had  yet  appeared.  Issuing  from  a  General 
Council  and  confirmed  by  the  pope,  it  had  all  the 
authority  and  prestige  that  any  ecclesiastical  legislation 
could  enjoy.  It  was  much  more  widely  received  than 
the  Pauline  Index.  Belgium,  Bavaria,  and  Portugal 
officially  received  it.  Spain,  while  maintaining  her 
independent  attitude,  incorporated  the  Tridentine  Index 
in  her  own.  In  France  and  in  Germany  only  individual 
provincial  synods  declared  it  as  binding.  In  Italy, 
which  was  submitting  to  the  counter-reformation,  the 
Tridentine  Council  and  Index  were  generally  acknow- 
ledged. In  Venice,  as  yet  on  good  terms  with  the 
Church,  the  government  allowed  the  patriarch,  the 
nuncio,  and  the  inquisitor  to  frame  and  publish  a  statute 
for  booksellers  based  on  the  rules  of  Trent. 

But  the  publication  of  the  Tridentine  Index,  though 
the  most  important  point  in  the  history  of  ecclesiastical 
press  censorship,  did  not  close  the  process  of  de- 
velopment in  the  Index.  The  Pauline  Index,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  published  in  the  name  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, and  it  was  to  that  body  that  Paul  IV.,  had  he 
lived,  would  have  entrusted  the  whole  treatment  of 
censurable  books.  But  the  Inquisition  had  many 


74       INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

other  duties  to  attend  to  besides  the  revision  of  books, 
and  Pius  V.  resolved  to  create  a  new  Congregation, 
which  should  devote  its  whole  energies  to  this  subject. 
In  1571  the  Congregation  of  the  Index,  consisting  oi 
four  cardinals  and  nine  councillors,  was  erected. 
Gregory  XIIL,  the  successor  of  Pius,  bestowed  upon 
the  Congregation  the  right  to  exact  obedience  from 
all  bishops,  doctors,  magistrates,  booksellers,  printers, 
and  custom-house  officers ;  and  Sixtus  V.  empowered 
it  to  revise  all  Indices  and  Catalogues  of  prohibited 
books,  past,  present,  and  future.  The  most  important 
person  on  the  Congregation  of  the  Index  was  the 
Magister  sacri  palatii,  whom,  as  we  have  seen,  Leo  X. 
created  censor  of  the  press  in  Rome,  conjointly  with 
the  vicar.  The  Magister  sacri  fialatii,  until  quite 
recently,  has  always  been  a  Dominican.  He  is  ex- 
officio  consultor  to  the  Congregation  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion and  to  the  Congregation  of  the  Index,  besides 
being  theological  adviser  to  his  Holiness.  He  there- 
fore formed  a  connecting  link  between  the  two  Con- 
gregations, uniting  them  closely  to  the  head  of  the 
Church,  and  his  influence  was  naturally  very  great. 
Although  the  Congregation  of  the  Index,  after  its 
creation,  took  its  own  independent  place  among  the 
governmental  departments  of  the  Church,  yet  its 
origin  shows  how  closely  it  was  connected  with 
the  Congregation  of  the  Inquisition.  That  Congrega- 
tion has  never  lost  its  censorial  powers,  and  its 
authority  runs  parallel  with  that  of  the  younger  Con- 
gregation. It  was  the  Inquisition  which  condemned 
Gioberti's  works  in  1852. 

Between  the  publication  of  the  Tridentine  Index  by 
Pius  IV.  and  the  year  1590  no  serious  steps  were 
taken  towards  a  new  Index  at  Rome.  The  next 
important  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Index  is  the 
action  taken  by  Sixtus  V.  In  the  year  1588  that  pope 
charged  the  Congregation  of  the  Index  to  prepare  a 
new  and  enlarged  edition  of  the  Tridentine  Index ; 
and  this,  when  ready,  was  printed  in  1590.  The  object 


THE  SIXTINE   INDEX  75 

of  this  Sixtine  Index,  as  expressed  in  the  Bull  which 
preceded  it,  was  to  amend  the  Index  and  the  rules  of 
Trent.  But  Sixtus  died  the  same  year,  and  the  diffu- 
sion of  his  Index  was  at  once  stopped;  the  reason 
being,  in  all  probability,  that  his  additional  regulce 
had  not  the  approval  of  the  Congregation.  But 
although  the  Sixtine  Index  never  took  effect,  it  is 
important  in  the  history  of  the  censorship,  as  it  formed 
the  basis  of  the  last  Index  with  which  we  have  to  deal 
—the  Index  of  Clement  VIII.,  published  in  1596.  Two 
points  distinguish  the  Sixtine  Index.  It  is  the  only 
Roman  Index  which  contains  a  list  of  heresiarchs, 
compiled  for  the  better  understanding  of  rule  ii.  of  the 
Council  of  Trent ;  this  list  was  based  upon  the 
Spanish  Index  of  Quiroga,  and  contains  in  all  eighty- 
one  names.  Secondly,  the  Tridentine  ten  rules  were 
expanded  into  twenty-two ;  but,  as  these  rules  were 
never  enforced,  it  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  upon  them 
here.  We  may  notice,  however,  that  rule  xv.  was 
entirely  directed  against  works  on  duelling ;  that 
rule  xix.  attempted  to  limit  the  impression  of  Bibles 
and  liturgical  works  to  cities  where  there  was  an 
inquisitor,  or  a  university,  or  a  censor ;  and  rule  xx. 
ordered  that  forbidden  books  were  not  to  be  destroyed 
by  their  owners,  but  surrendered  to  the  ordinary  or 
the  inquisitor.  The  Sixtine  Index  was,  in  fact,  the 
severest  which  had  yet  been  proposed,  and  the  first 
class  contains  twice  as  many  names  as  there  were  on 
the  first  class  of  the  Tridentine  Catalogue. 

When  Clement  VIII.  came  to  the  throne,  the  Con- 
gregation of  the  Index  was  commissioned  to  take  the 
question  of  a  new  Index  into  consideration.  Bellar- 
mine,  then  consultor  to  the  Congregation,  was  opposed 
to  the  Sixtine  Index  and  its  rules,  and  the  Congrega- 
tion determined  to  set  these  aside,  and  to  prepare  an 
Index  of  their  own.  In  1593  the  Index  was  ready, 
and  the  Cardinal  of  Ascoli  handed  to  the  pope  a 
printed  copy.  The  pope,  however,  gave  orders  that 
the  new  Index  should  not  be  published,  and  it  was  not 


76       INDEX   LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

till  three  years  later  that  the  Clementine  Index  was 
given  to  the  world.  Reusch  is  very  brief  upon 
the  causes  of  this  long  delay ;  but  the  despatches  of 
the  Venetian  ambassador,  Paolo  Paruta,  make  it  quite 
clear  what  was  taking  place  at  Rome.  The  notorious 
severity  of  the  Sixtine  Index  had  greatly  alarmed  the 
world  of  letters,  and  all  those  connected  with  the  book 
trade.  People  had  learned  by  experience  how  powerful 
the  action  of  an  Index  could  be.  The  centres  of  the 
book  business,  Paris,  Lyons,  Antwerp,  Venice,  and 
Frankfort,  had  suffered  severely.  Although  the  Six- 
tine  Index  had  been  suppressed,  it  was  rightly  con- 
jectured that  the  Clementine  Index  would  follow 
closely  on  its  lines  ;  and  it  was  generally  known  that 
the  new  Index  was  not  merely  a  revised  but  an 
enlarged  edition  of  the  Tridentine  list.  The  Index 
of  Clement  appeared  in  1 596,  and  though  it  extended 
the  powers  of  the  censorship,  and  required  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  Index  from  booksellers,  it  met  with 
little  opposition  anywhere  but  in  Venice. 

At  Venice  the  question  of  the  censorship  of  the  press 
was  a  point  of  vital  importance  to  the  large  and 
flourishing  industry  of  the  book  trade.  The  Republic 
had  no  objection  to  the  proper  supervision  of  the  press 
on  matters  of  religion,  politics,  and  morals,  and  she 
recognized  the  Church  as  the  proper  judge  on  questions 
of  faith  ;  politics  and  morals  she  held  to  be  matters  for 
censorship  by  the  State.  The  points  she  insisted  on 
were  that  the  State  was  the  proper  instrument  for  the 
enforcement  of  the  ecclesiastical  censorship  in  matters 
of  dogma ;  and  secondly,  that  this  ecclesiastical  censor- 
ship must  not  be  allowed  to  ruin  a  thriving  trade. 
The  position  is  summed  up  in  the  opening  words  of 
Sarpi's  memorandum  on  the  regolazione  delle  stamped 
11  La  regolazione  delle  stampe  e  materia  degna  d'  esser 
havuta  in  considerazione  e  reformata  da  VV.  SS.  Eccme, 
imperoche  per  le  stampe  facilmente  si  divulga  qual- 
unque  sorte  di  dottrina,  cosi  proffitevole  come  perni- 
1  Cecchetti,  op.  cit.  ii.  234, 


ECCLESIASTICAL  CENSORSHIP  IN  VENICE  77 

ciosa  .  .  .  et  ancora  sotto  quell1  arte  vivono  molte 
persone  nel  dominio.  Onde  £  necessario  insieme  haver 
1'occhio  che  non  si  stampi  libro  di  cattiva  dottrina  o 
contraria  alia  santa  religione  o  prejuditiale  all'  autorita 
delli  Principi,  o  pur  che  introduca  o  fomenti  cattivi 
costumi,  il  tutto  per6  in  tal  maniera  che  1'  arte  faccia  piu 
negotio  che  possibil  sia."  And  with  this  object  in  view 
Venice  had,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  evolved  for  herself, 
vaguely  and  tentatively  at  first,  finally  by  definite  press 
legislation,  a  system  of  censorship  which  met  the 
requirements  of  both  Church  and  State.  It  is  not  till 
the  Church,  face  to  face  with  the  Lutheran  heresy  and 
under  the  influence  of  the  Catholic  reaction,  begins  to 
assume  a  more  aggressive  attitude,  that  the  Curia  and 
the  Republic  come  into  collision  over  the  question  of 
press  censorship. 

The  steps  by  which  the  Venetian  censorship  of 
books  was  evolved  are  clearly  marked.  The  Senate 
or  the  Collegio  granted  copyrights,  with  which  we 
have  not  here  to  deal ;  to  the  Ten,  as  to  the  guardian 
of  state  safety,  belonged  the  duty  of  permitting 
or  prohibiting  the  publication  of  a  book — the  power, 
in  short,  to  grant  an  imprimatur.  At  first  there  was  no 
legislation  on  the  subject,  but  petitioners  for  an  im- 
primatur found  it  helpful  to  put  in  voluntarily  a  testa- 
mur from  some  ecclesiastical  authority  as  to  the 
dogmatic  soundness  of  the  book ;  the  earliest  instance 
of  such  a  testamur  is  to  be  found  in  the  Nosce  te,  pub- 
lished by  Jenson  in  1480.  In  1508  we  find  the  Ten, 
when  petitioned  for  an  imprimatur,  appointing  an 
ecclesiastical  censor  to  advise  them  before  they  grant 
the  request — an  act  which  distinctly  implies  that  the 
government  recognized  the  right  of  the  Church  to  be 
protected  by  the  State  on  matters  of  faith.  Three 
years  later,  in  1515,  the  Ten  declare  that  as  a  certain 
petitioner  has  put  in  testamurs  from  the  patriarch  and 
the  inquisitor,  the  Council  quoad  se  has  no  objection  to 
offer,  and  permittunt  fieri  quantum  prcefati  Reverendis- 
simus  et  Inquisitor  concessere.  This  looks  like  at  least 


78       INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

a  delegation  by  the  State  of  the  ecclesiastic  side  of  the 
censorship.  It  was  an  inevitable  conclusion.  If  there 
was  to  be  a  religious  censorship  at  all,  clearly  the 
patriarch  and  the  inquisitor  were  the  proper  persons 
to  exercise  it ;  and  as  long  as  the  Church  and  State 
were  in  accord,  no  difficulties  could  arise. 

Meantime,  part  passu  with  the  ecclesiastical  censor- 
ship, the  state  political  censorship  had  been  growing 
up  in  the  same  vague,  undetermined   fashion.      The 
Ten  required  the  examination  of  books  as  regards  their 
political  bearings  before  it  would  grant  an  imprimatur. 
Both   branches  of  censorship  were  concentrated   by 
the    general    order  of   the   Council    of   Ten    issued 
on  January  26,   1526-7,   which  rendered  the  imprim- 
atur obligatory,  and  appointed  two  censors  for  the 
examination   of  books.      But  this    provision   is  still 
vague ;  the  censors  are  not  named  nor  are  their  duties 
defined.     The  next  step  in  press  legislation  was  the 
appointment    of    the    Rifformatori    dello    Studio    di 
Padova,  the  university  commissioners,  as  the  perma- 
nent censorial  board  to  the  Council  of  Ten  (1544) ;  the 
ecclesiastical  side  of  press  censorship  was  still   left 
vaguely  to  the  Church  authorities.     But  the  spread  of 
the  Lutheran  heresy  was  by  this  time  causing  alarm  to 
Church  and  State  alike.    Venice,  as  usual,  took  her 
own  course  in  view  of  the  danger.     In  1547  the  law 
rendering  an  imprimatur  obligatory,   which,   like   so 
many  Venetian  laws,  had  been  infringed  or  evaded  by 
the  use   of  a  false   imprint,   was   reaffirmed,  and   its 
execution  entrusted   to  the  powerful    board   of    the 
Executori  contro  alia  Bestemmia  and  the  three  Savii 
sopra  1'  heresia,  the  three  lay  assessors  appointed  by 
the  government  to  sit  in  the  Holy  Office,  whose  action 
was  illegal  without  their  assent.    At  the  same  time, 
for  the  better  government  of  the  book  trade,  and  with 
a  view  to  more  easily  dealing  with  scandalous,  obscene, 
and  heretical  publications,  the  book  trade  was  erected 
into  a  guild.     But  the  university  commissioners,  who 
had  been  created  the  censorial  board  to  the  Council  of 


CENSORSHIP  AND  THE   BOOK  TRADE     79 

Ten,  soon  found  that  they  were  unequal  to  their  highly 
specialized  duties.  They  were  Venetian  patricians, 
quite  capable  of  managing  the  affairs  of  the  University 
of  Padua,  but  certainly  not  equipped  for  the  delicate 
task  of  examining  the  candidates  for  the  press  on  the 
points  of  dogma,  politics,  and  morals.  Accordingly,  in 
1562  the  commissioners  delegated  their  functions  to  a 
permanent  board  of  censors  composed  of  the  inquisitor 
or  his  vicar,  a  reader  in  philosophy  in  the  university 
of  Padua,  and  a  ducal  secretary,  who  were  required  to 
refuse  or  to  furnish  a  testamur  signed  by  all  three ; 
upon  the  receipt  of  the  testamur  the  university  com- 
missioners granted  a  certificate,  upon  the  presentation 
of  which  the  Ten  would  grant  an  imprimatur,  and  this 
imprimatur  was  registered  at  the  office  of  the  Executori 
contro  la  Bestemmia,  which  thus  became  a  kind  of 
Stationers'  Hall.  From  all  this  it  is  clear  that  the 
movement  of  the  book  trade  in  Venice  was  being 
seriously  hampered  by  the  operation  of  the  press 
censorship,  that  the  progress  of  a  work  from  author  to 
public  was  rendered  both  tedious  and  difficult.  The 
important  point  in  all  this  legislation  is  that  the 
Inquisition  had  firmly  established  itself  as  an  essential 
part  of  the  censorial  machinery,  and  that  while  the 
lay  members  of  the  censorial  board  were  indifferent 
and  ineffectual,  the  ecclesiastical  member  was  active, 
vigilant,  and  vigorous.  The  ecclesiastical  censorship 
became  a  real  and  living  fact,  the  state  censorship 
remained  for  the  most  part  an  empty  letter.  An  order 
published  by  the  Holy  Office  in  1558  required  the 
custom-house  authorities  to  present  a  list  of  all  books 
passing  through  the  customs,  nor  could  they  be 
removed  by  the  consignee  until  the  list  had  been  sent 
in.  This  gave  the  Holy  Office  command  of  the  trade 
in  imported  books,  while  the  law  of  1562  gave  it  a 
large  share  in  the  control  of  the  home  produce. 

We  have  now  reached  the  period  when  the  Roman 
Indices  begin  to  make  their  influence  felt  in  Venice.  The 
Pauline  Index  of  1 559,  owing  to  the  opposition  at  Rome 


8o       INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

and  to  the  death  of  the  pope,  had  but  little  effect  on  the 
book  trade ;  nor  need  we  notice  the  Moderatio  Indicts  of 
Ghislieri,  as  far  as  Venice  is  concerned.  But  in  1 564 
the  Tridentine  Index  with  its  ten  regulce  was  issued. 
This  Index  carried  with  it  a  claim  to  universal  appli- 
cation as  the  work  of  an  oecumenical  council,  and 
though  it  did  not  meet  with  acceptance  in  Spain  and 
in  Spanish  possessions,  it  was  accepted  by  the  rest  of 
Italy  and  by  Venice,  perhaps  without  a  full  apprecia- 
tion of  its  effect  on  the  book  trade.  The  tenth  rule  on 
the  censorship  of  books  implied  serious  modifications 
in  the  position  of  the  state  censorship  in  Venice. 

The  first  clause  of  rule  x.  provided  that  outside 
Rome  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  and  the  inquisitor 
should  undertake  examination  and  approbation  of 
books.  As  far  as  Venice  was  concerned,  the  law  of 
1 562  had  already  provided  for  the  representation  of  the 
Church  on  the  censorial  board.  Clause  2  declared 
that  manuscripts  shall  be  treated  as  books,  and  owners 
of  anonymous  manuscripts  shall  be  held  to  be  the 
authors  unless  they  declare  the  authors.  This  was 
a  provision  unknown  to  Venice.  By  clause  3  the 
ecclesiastical  approbation  must  be  printed  or  written 
at  the  beginning  of  every  book.  By  clause  4  the 
episcopal  and  inquisitorial  delegates  are  to  make  fre- 
quent inspection  of  bookshops  and  presses.  At  Venice 
this  duty  was  imposed  on  the  officers  of  the  guild. 
Clause  5  required  every  bookseller  to  keep  a  list  of 
his  stock  signed  by  the  bishop's  delegate  and  by  the 
inquisitor ;  the  possession  of  all  other  books  exposed 
the  bookseller  to  penalties.  The  operation  of  this 
clause  could  not  fail  to  hamper  seriously  the  sale  of 
new  books,  even  though  the  books  themselves  might 
be  harmless.  The  titles  of  all  imported  books  were, 
by  clause  7,  to  be  submitted  to  the  inquisitorial 
authority — a  provision  already  in  force  in  Venice,  in 
virtue  of  the  regulation  of  1558-9.  Imported  books 
might  not  be  circulated  without  ecclesiastical  per- 
mission; heirs  were  required  to  declare  the  contents 


THE  TRIDENTINE   INDEX  IN  VENICE      81 

of  libraries  they  inherited  ;  and,  finally,  by  clause  9, 
the  Index  itself  might  be  indefinitely  enlarged  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  bishop  or  the  inquisitors-general. 

The  Tridentine  regulce,  it  is  clear,  must,  if  enforced, 
seriously  hamper  the  free  movement  and  development 
of  the  book  trade.  The  government  of  Venice  would 
probably  have  had  no  objection  to  raise  had  their  opera- 
tion been  confined  to  heretical  books,  but  the  search 
for  these  was  made  so  widely,  so  laboriously,  so  meti- 
culously, that  the  entire  book  business  was  throttled ; 
moreover,  the  regulce  made  no  mention  of  the  co- 
operation or  the  approval  of  the  secular  authority  in 
the  censorship  of  books — a  point  upon  which  the 
Venetian  government  was  highly  sensitive.  That  the 
new  Index  and  regulce  did  actually  weigh  heavily  on 
the  book  trade  is  confirmed  by  a  letter  written  by 
Josias  Simler  in  1565.  "  A  new  Index,"  he  says,  "  has 
appeared,  and  so  many  books  are  condemned  by  it 
that  a  number  of  professors  in  the  Italian  universities 
cry  out  that  they  cannot  lecture  if  it  remain  in  force. 
Frankfort  and  Zurich  and  other  German  States  have 
written  to  the  Senate  of  Venice  urging  it  not  to  accept 
the  edict,  which  will  ruin  the  book  trade." l  And  later 
on  Bernardo  Castiglione,  a  Dominican,  writing  from 
Rome  in  1581,  declares  that  booksellers  no  longer  take 
the  risk  of  importing  books,  and  cannot  sell  those  they 
have  on  stock.  But  Venice  had  accepted  the  Council 
of  Trent  and  could  not  draw  back,  though  it  was  her 
book  trade,  as  being  the  widest,  which  suffered  most 
in  all  Italy.  The  pressure  of  the  Index  and  the  Tri- 
dentine regulce  was  gradual  but  steady — the  number 
of  Holy  Office  trials  for  press  offences  increased 
during  the  next  few  years ; 8  but  it  is  not  till  we 
reach  the  Clementine  Index  of  1593  that  com- 
plaints become  audible  and  the  State  intervenes  on 
behalf  of  the  trade.  Its  action  in  the  matter  of  the 
book  trade  was  part  and  parcel  of  its  growing  resent- 
ment against  the  new  claims  of  the  Curia  Romana, 

1  Reusch,  op.  cit.  \.  p.  346.          *  Arch,  di  Stato,  Sant'  Uffizio,  Indice. 
VOL.    II.  6 


82       INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIB1TORUM 

as  based  on  the  attitude  assumed  at  the  Council  of 
Trent  and  enforced  by  the  use  of  the  Bull  In  Ccena 
Domini,  with  its  annual  elastic  list  of  persons,  classes 
of  persons,  and  actions  placed  under  excommunication. 
Moreover,  the  new  Indices  compiled  in  Rome  showed 
a  tendency  to  enlarge  the  number  of  condemned  books. 

The  Clementine  Index  was  ready  by  1593,  but  the 
pope  hesitated  to  publish  it,  being  aware  of  a  strong 
party  opposed  to  its  excessive  severity.  Paolo  Paruta, 
the  Venetian  ambassador  at  Rome,  took  advantage  of 
the  delay  to  remonstrate  with  the  pope.  He  dwelt 
on  the  importance  of  the  Venetian  book  trade,  and 
insisted  that  the  existing  state  censorship,  provided 
motu  proprio  by  Venice  herself,  was  sufficient  to  ensure 
the  suppression  of  publications  "contra  principi,  contra 
buoni  costumi  sopra  tutto  contra  la  religione  cattolica."1 
The  new  Index  was  an  augmentation  of  the  Tridentine 
Index,  and  by  its  fresh  prohibitions  would  ruin  many 
who  thought,  and  justly,  that  they  were  covered  by 
their  observance  of  the  Tridentine  Index.  He  further 
pointed  out  that  it  was  injudicious  to  alienate  the 
learned  classes,  of  which  there  seemed  to  be  a  danger, 
judging  by  the  discontent  expressed  in  Rome.  The 
pope  gave  a  kindly  attention  to  Paruta,  and  after  some 
further  delay  and  several  meetings  of  the  Congrega- 
tion of  the  Index,  he  insisted  on  the  removal  of  a  large 
class  of  books — classics,  poetry,  and  romances — in 
which  the  Venetian  book  trade  was  deeply  interested. 
Finally,  after  three  years'  delay,  the  Clementine  Index 
was  published.  Its  most  important  feature  was  a  kind 
of  appendix  to  the  Tridentine  regulce  containing 
instructions  on  the  prohibition,  correction,  and  print- 
ing of  books,  Instructio  eorum  qui  turn  prohibendis,  turn 
expurgandis,  turn  etiam  imprimendis  diligentiam  ac 
fidem  (ut  par  est)  operam  sunt  daturi. 

The  Instructio  enlarged  and  accentuated  the  claims 
already  put  forward  by  the  Tridentine  regulce.  By 

1  Paruta,  La  I^egazione  di  Roma:  Deputazione  Veneta  di  Storia 
Patria,  serie  iv.  Miscellanea,  vol.  vii.  (Venezia). 


THE  CONCORDAT  83 

clauses  3,  4,  and  5,  on  the  prohibition  of  books,  pro- 
vision was  made  for  the  continual  enlargement  of  the 
Index  by  the  annual  lists  sent  in  to  Rome  from  Italian 
dioceses  and  foreign  nunciatures.  Clause  2,  on  the 
correction  of  books,  enlarged  the  inquisitorial  censor- 
ship to  cover  the  debatable  ground  of  political  doctrine. 
Clause  6,  on  the  printing  of  books,  required  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  Index  and  the  Church  authorities 
from  Venetian  subjects. 

The  Venetian  government  at  once  opposed  the 
Instructio,  They  were  moved  to  action  partly  by  a 
protest  of  the  whole  book  trade  and  partly  by  alarm 
at  the  infringements  of  the  rights  of  secular  princes 
implied  in  the  Instructio.  Negotiations  between  Rome 
and  Venice  were  still  proceeding  when  the  papal 
authorities  ordered  all  parish  priests  and  confessors 
to  enjoin  observance  of  the  Instructio  on  their  con- 
gregations and  penitents.  This  step,  taken  while  the 
question  was  sub  judice,  exasperated  the  government, 
who  ordered  the  printers  and  booksellers  to  disregard 
the  injunctions  of  the  clergy.  In  the  face  of  this 
attitude  the  pope  gave  way;  a  compromise  was 
reached  by  the  signing  of  the  Declaratio,  afterwards 
known  as  the  Concordat.  By  this  famous  document 
the  Venetian  book  trade  recovered  much  of  its  free- 
dom, the  press  censorship  in  Venice  was  brought  back 
to  the  terms  in  which  it  had  been  established  by 
the  State,  and  the  government  resumed  its  absolute 
authority  over  its  own  subjects.  The  oath  of  alle- 
giance demanded  by  the  Instructio  was  abolished  ;  the 
right  to  enlarge  the  Index  was  strictly  confined  to 
books  attacking  dogma,  printed  outside  Venice  or 
with  a  false  imprint;  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  no 
augmented  Index  was  published  in  Venice  till  the 
year  1766. 

Had  the  Venetian  book  trade  availed  itself  of  the 
freedom  acquired  by  the  Concordat,  it  might  have 
recovered  its  lost  activity  and  world-wide  importance. 
But  it  did  not,  and  the  Church  left  no  stone  unturned 


84      INDEX  LIBRORUM  PROHIBITORUM 

to  render  the  Declaratio  abortive.  Only  one  hundred 
and  fifty  copies  were  printed;  the  clergy  as  a  body 
still  enjoined  observance  of  Roman  prohibitions  on 
the  faithful ;  the  pressure  of  the  Index  and  the  in- 
quisitorial censorship  were  hardly  relaxed ;  the  press 
showed  a  steady  decline ;  printers  began  to  leave 
Venice ;  within  a  few  months  of  the  publication 
of  the  Clementine  Index  the  presses  had  fallen  from 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  to  forty.  The  truth  is 
that,  in  spite  of  their  opposition  to  Rome  and  in  spite 
of  the  liberty  secured  by  the  Concordat,  the  Venetians 
were  still  profoundly  Catholic  at  heart— -filii  legitimi 
of  the  Church,  whose  orders  they  were  prepared  to 
obey  in  all  departments  of  private  life,  whatever  might 
be  their  public  attitude  on  politico-ecclesiastical  ques- 
tions. They  required  the  sacraments,  and  themselves 
admitted  that  they  dared  not  and  would  not  face  excom- 
munication.1 It  was  impossible  that  their  opposition 
to  Rome  should  be  real  and  effective.  The  presence 
of  the  inquisitor  on  the  censorial  board  in  virtue  of 
the  law  of  1562  gave  the  Congregation  of  the  Index 
all  the  power  it  required.  The  inquisitor  had  merely 
to  take  the  latest  list  issued  from  Rome  and  to  steadily 
refuse  his  testamur  to  any  book  on  that  list. 

The  publication  of  the  Clementine  Index  and  the 
Concordat  closes  the  early  formative  period  of  the 
history  of  press  censorship  in  Venice.  The  struggle 
with  the  Curia  was  carried  on  under  the  direction 
of  Paolo  Sarpi,  and  the  Republic  made  a  bold  stand 
for  the  independent  rights  of  secular  princes ;  but  as 
far  as  her  press  was  concerned,  the  Church  had  won 
the  victory  in  fact,  in  spite  of  the  apparent  concessions 
granted  by  the  Concordat. 

1  Paruta,  loc.  cit. 


NOTE  85 

THE   DOCUMENTS  ISSUED   WITH   DELLA  CASA'S 
CATALOGUE 

[P-  i] 

CATALOGO I 

Di  Diverse  Opere| 
composition!,  et  libri;) 

li  quali  come  heretici,  sospetti,  impij,  et  scandalosi  si  dichiara] 
no  dannati,  et  prohibiti  in  questa  inclita  citta  di  Vinegia,  et  |  in 
tutto  1'Illustrissimo  dominio  Vinitiano,  s\  da  |  mare,  come  da 
terra :  |  Composto  dal  Reuerendo  padre  maestro  Marino  Vinitiano, 
del  |  monastero  de  frati  Minori  di  Vinegia,  dell'ordine  di  San 
Francesco,  de  |  connentuali,  Inquisitore  dell'  heretica  prauita ; 
con  mature  cosiglio,  essa  |  minatione,  et  comprohatione  di  molti 
Reuerendi  Primarij  maestri  in  |  Theologia  di  diverse  religioni,  et 
monasteri  di  delta  citta  di  Vinegia:  |  d'ordine,  et  c5missione  del 
Reuerendissimo  Monsignor  Giovanni  |  della  Casa,  eletto  di 
Benenento,  Decano  della  camera  Apostojlica  di  sua  Santita,  et 
della  Santa  Sede  Apostolica  in  tutto  1'  Illu  |  striss.  Dominio  pre- 
detto  Legato  Apostolico :  aggiutoui  anchora  il  con  |  siglio  de  i 
clarissimi  Signori  Deputati  contra  gli  heretici :  stampato  in  ]  esse- 
cutione  della  parte  presa  nell'  eccellentissimo  Consiglio  de  Died  | 
con  la  giunta;  a  laude  del  Signore  Iddio,  conseruation  della 
fede  |  Christiana,  et  felicita  di  esso  Illustrissimo  Dominio. 
In  Vinegia,  alia  bottega  d'Erasmo  di  Vincenzo  Valgrisi) 
M.  D.  XLIX. 

rM 

1549.     Adi  7  di  Mazo. 

Li  Eccellentissimi  Signori  deputati  contra  li  heretici  conce| 
deno  al  oltrascritto  stampator,  che  nissun  altro  possi  stampar  |  la 
presente  opera,  sotto  pena  alii  contrafacenti  di  perder  le  |  opere,  et 
ducato  uno  per  cadauna. 

Aloy.  Brogi  Due.  Secret. 

[P.  3] 

1548.     Die  1 6.  lanuarii  in  Consilio  x. 

cum  additione. 

Fu  fatto  publicamente  proclamar  in  questa  cit|ta,  per  delibera- 
tione  di  questo  conseglio,  alli|i8.  Luglio  passato,  che  se  alcuno 
hauesse  libri,  nclli  quajlj  si  contenesse  alcuna  cosa  contra  la  fede 


86      INDEX  LIBRORUM   PROHIBITORUM 

catholica,  do  |  uesse  in  termine  do  otto  giorni  presentarli  alii  tre 
dilet  |  tissimi  nobili  nostri  deputati  sopra  li  heretici  senza  in| 
correre  in  pena  alcuna,  et  non  fu  dechiarito  altramen|te  li 
nomi  de  simili  libri,  hora  mo  essendo  stato  fatto  di  |  ordine  del 
Reueredo  Legato,  per  il  Venerando  Inquisi|tor  con  interuento, 
et  consiglio  di  tre  prefati  nobili  nojstri,  et  di  molti  maestri  in 
Theologia  un  Catalogo,  o  |  summario  di  tutti  i  libri  heretici,  et  de 
altri  suspetti,  e  |  grandemente  a  proposito  farlo  publicar  a  notitia 
de  |  tutti  perho.  | 

L'  andara  parte,  che  il  sopraditto  Catalogo  sia  fatto  |  stampar, 
e  per  i  ditti  nobili  ne  sia  dato  uno  a  cadaun  |  stampator,  et 
uenditor  de  libri,  et  si  facci  etiam,  che  in  |  una  bottega  se  ne 
uendi  publicamente,  et  sia  reiterate  |  in  questa  citta  il  detto 
proclama  de  18.  Luglio,  con  particular  mentione  del  presente 
Catalogo,  et  del  libra  |ro,  che  li  uendera,  accioche  se  alcuno  con- 
trafara,  non  |  habbia  causa  di  escusarsi.  il  qual  Catalogo  sia  medesi  | 
mamente  mandato  a  tutti  i  Rettori  delle  terre  nostre  |  principal, 
da  terra,  e  da  mare  con  ordine,  che'l  faccino  |  publicar  per  tutta 
la  sua  Diocese,  dando  quel  termine,  |  che  le  parera  de  farseli 
presentar  senza  pena,  il  qual  pas  [p.  4]  sato,  debbano  proceder, 
contra  li  inobedienti,  secondo  li  parera  meritar  la  temerita  loro.  | 

II  tenor  del  proclama  del  qual  si  fa  mentione  |  in  delta  parte, 
sequita.  | 

II  Serenissimo  Principe  fa  a  saper  etfe  parte  presa  |  nel  Eccel- 
lentissimo  Conseglio  di  Dieci  con  la  zon  |  ta,  a  cadauna  persona 
habitante  in  questa  citta  et  dejstretto  suo,  cosi  stampatori  ouer 
ueditori  de  libri,  come  |  cadaun  altro,  sia  de  che  condition  et 
qualita  esser  si  uo  |  glia,  cosi  clerici  come  laici,  che  se  alcuno  di 
loro  si  ritro|ua  haver  libri,  cosi  stapati  in  questa  citta,  come 
uenuti  |  da  altri  luoghi  sottoposti,  o  n5  sottoposti  al  serenissimo  | 
Dominio  de  Venetia,  nelli  quali  libri  sia  scritto  alcuna  |  cosa 
contra  la  fede  Catholica,  debbano  in  termine  de  |  giorni  otto 
presentar  alii  clarissimi  signori  deputati  |  sopra  li  heretici,  perche 
non  obstante  le  parte  del  Illu  |  strissimo  Conseglio  di  Dieci  contra 
quelli,  che  tengo  |  no  simil  libri,  non  incorrerano  in  pena  alcuna. 
Ma  pas  |  sato  che  sara  il  ditto  termine,  essi  Clarissimi  Signori  fa  | 
ranno  diligentissima  inquisitione  et  retrouando  alcun  |  contrafa- 
cente,  li  daranno  seuerisimo  castigo,  secondo  |  1'auttorita  con- 
cessali  dal  prefato  Illustrissimo  Conse|glio  di  Dieci  in  questa 
materia.  Et  se  alcuno  accusera  |  qualche  contrafacente,  sara 
tenuto  secretissimo,  et  ha|uera  il  dono  pecuniario  promessoli 
dalle  sopraditte  Le  |  ze.  Et  uiua  San  Marco.  | 


BELLA  CASA'S  CATALOGUE  87 

Publicata  sopra  le  scale  di  San  Marco,  et  de  Rialto  per  ser 
Hartholojmio  Centurer,  comadador  al  officio  del  Forestier  Die. 
19.  Luio  1548. 

[P-5] 

Intendonsi  Dannate  el  |  prohibite  tutte  le  opere  de  gli  infrascriti  | 
heretic!  et  heresiarchi,  che  si  ritronano  |  composte  in  sacra  Theo- 
logia,  et  in  |  ogni  altra  materia  Ecclesiastica,  |  si  latine,  come 
uolgari,  cio  e. 

Then  follows  a  list  of  140  names  and  titles,  with  the  same 
errors  as  in  Vergerio's  edition. 

[P-  »] 

Mandato,  et  commissione  pnelibati  Reuerendissimi  |  Domini 
in  toto  Illustrissimo  Dominio  Venetorum  Le|gati  Apostolici, 
tenore  praesentium  denuntiantur  ex  |  communicati  excommunica- 
tione  maiori,  contenta  in  |  Bulla  Ccence  Domini,  iu.xta  illius 
tenorem  et  formam  |  omnes  illi  qui  penes  se  in  domibus  propriis, 
et  in  quo  |  uis  alio  loco  ausi  fuerint  absque  auctoritate,  et  licentia  | 
sanctae  sedis  Apostolicae  tenere  publice  nel  occulte,  et  |  quouis 
modo  legere,  imprimere,  et  defendere  libros,  |  compositiones,  et 
opera,  de  quibus  in  huiusmodi  Cajthalogo  sit  mentio,  et  pro 
talibus  ac  ut  tales  declaran  |  tur  et  publicantur.  In  quorum  fidem, 
etc.  Datum  Venetiis  apud  sanctum  loannem  a  templo.  Die  VII. 
Mensis  Maii.  MDXLIX. 

Presbyter  Bartholomeus  a  Capello  cancellarius  de  mandate,  etc. 


A   Venetian    PrinterxPublisher   in   the  Sixteenth 

Century 

THE  subject  of  this  study  is  Gabriele  Giolito,1  the  chief 
of  a  firm  of  printers  and  booksellers  who  flourished 
in  Venice  during  a  large  part  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

At  the  eastern  end  of  that  line  of  hills  upon  which 
the  Superga,  the  tomb  of  the  House  of  Savoy,  now 
stands  is  a  little  valley  in  the  district  of  Monferrat, 
called  Valle  de'  Gioliti,  and  its  inhabitants  are  for  the 
most  part  named  after  their  valley.  This  was  the 
original  home  of  that  family  whose  fortunes  we  are 
about  to  follow.  It  was  from  the  Valle  de'  Gioliti  that 
they  moved  into  the  town  of  Trino,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Po,  some  time  before  we  find  them  famous 
as  printers.  The  name  Giolito  is  not  unknown  in 
modern  Italy.  One  of  the  family  pleased  himself 
with  a  derivation  from  the  French  joli,  asserting  that 
an  ancestor  who  had  sojourned  in  France  gained 
the  endearing  epithet  from  his  grace  of  person.  The 
Gioliti  bore  another  name,  De'  Ferrari  or  De  Ferraris, 
which  they  exchanged  at  pleasure  with  that  of  Giolito; 
so  that  we  find  indifferently  Giolito  de'  Ferrari  or 
Ferrari  de  Giolitis,  though  the  former  is  the  more 
common. 

The  Giolito  settled  in  the  town  of  Trino  at  least 
as  early  as  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century.  They 
took  an  active  part  in  the  civic  life  of  their  home;  were 
wealthy  merchants  and  became  nobles  of  Trino,  where 
they  possessed  houses  and  property  of  value.  Their 

1  Throughout  this  study  I  have  followed  Signer  Salvatore  Bongi  in 
his  admirable  Annali  di  Gabriele  Giolilo  de  Ferrari  (Rome  :  1890). 

88 


THE  PRINTERS  OF  TRINO  89 

descendant,  Gabriele,  had  occasion  to  write  from 
Venice  to  the  Duchess  of  Mantua,  whose  husband, 
the  duke,  was  also  lord  of  Monferrat,  complaining 
bitterly  of  the  damage  done  to  his  house  in  Trino  by 
the  continual  billeting  of  soldiers  therein;  "whose 
number  and  insolence,"  he  says,  "  have  grown  day  by 
day  to  such  a  pitch  that  if  your  Highness  does  not 
interfere  on  my  behalf,  and  that  quickly,  the  whole 
place  will  go  to  ruin."  Gabriele's  petition  produced 
the  desired  effect.  The  soldiery  were  withdrawn  from 
the  Giolito  house.  But  the  relief  did  not  long  endure. 
Presently  we  find  Gabriele  writing  to  the  imperial 
ambassador,  lamenting  that  the  mischief  of  the  billet- 
ing has  been  renewed  with  twofold  violence,  and 
imploring  the  ambassador  to  secure  for  him  the 
privilege  that  no  troops  may  be  lodged  in  his  house 
without  his  leave.  "  Not  that  I  wish  to  avoid  my  just 
burdens,  but  that  my  property  may  not  be  entirely 
destroyed."  In  the  annals  of  the  town  of  Trino  the 
names  of  other  members  of  the  Giolito  family,  dis- 
tinguished in  war  and  in  commerce,  frequently  occur  ; 
and  we  conclude  that  at  the  time  when  they  embarked 
upon  printing  and  bookselling,  they  had  attained  a 
very  high  position  in  their  adopted  city. 

It  is  impossible  now  to  discover  what  induced  them 
to  add  the  book  trade  to  their  other  industries.  The 
idea  was  in  the  air.  The  new  art  had  been  introduced 
into  Italy  in  1465  ;  and  the  attention  of  cultivated 
society  was  attracted  to  it.  The  district  in  which 
Trino  stands  soon  became  one  of  the  chief  centres 
of  the  business ;  the  whole  country  around  the  home  of 
the  Gioliti  is  full  of  memories  of  the  earliest  masters 
of  typography,  and  the  names  of  Trino,  Gabiano, 
Verolengo,  will  recall  to  bibliographers  many  a  speci- 
men of  Italian  incunabula.  Other  Trinesi  had  already 
preceded  the  Gioliti  in  the  exercise  of  the  new  industry, 
among  them  Bernardino  Stagnino  and  Guglielmo,  the 
latter  of  whom  rejoiced  in  the  nickname  of  Animamia. 
Perhaps  the  success  of  these  fellow-countrymen  induced 


90       A  VENETIAN   PRINTER-PUBLISHER 

the  wealthy  and  mercantile  Gioliti  to  follow  in  their 
steps.  However  that  may  be,  we  can  hardly  doubt 
that  the  migration  of  Bernardino  and  Animamia  to 
Venice  and  their  activity  in  that  city  attracted  the 
Gioliti  also  to  the  capital  of  the  Venetian  Republic ; 
and  the  example  set  by  them  was  continued  through 
centuries.  The  number  of  Trinesi  to  be  found  among 
Venetian  printers  is  quite  remarkable.  The  succession 
is  continued  from  the  year  1483  down  to  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  when  Trino  was  represented  by  the 
family  of  the  Pezzana,  successors  of  the  famous  firm  of 
Giunta,  whose  Florentine  lily  they  bore  as  a  sign. 

Giovanni  Giolito,  father  of  Gabriele,  set  up  a  printing- 
press  in  Trino  in  the  year  1508,  and  continued  to  print 
there  till  the  year  1523,  when  the  disasters  of  war 
compelled  him  to  close  his  workshops.  His  chief 
issues  were  legal  tomes,  printed  in  Gothic  character ; 
and  the  activity  of  his  press  was  in  no  way  remarkable, 
for  only  thirty  Giolitan  editions  are  recorded  between 
1508  and  1523.  In  all  probability  Gabriele  was  born 
during  the  earlier  years  of  this  period  ;  so  that  he  was 
brought  up  within  sight  and  sound  of  a  printing-press. 
When  political  troubles  compelled  Giovanni  to  close 
his  shop  in  Trino,  he  went  to  Venice,  and  appears 
to  have  put  himself  at  once  in  relations  with  his  com- 
patriots, Stagnino  and  others,  who  had  preceded  him 
to  the  city  of  the  lagoons.  It  is  possible  that  he  was 
in  straitened  circumstances  at  the  moment,  for,  though 
Venice  offered  such  an  excellent  field  for  the  art  of 
printing,  we  do  not  find  that  Giovanni  established 
a  press,  or  even  issued  any  works  under  his  own 
name,  whereas  it  is  nearly  certain  that  he  was  employed 
by  other  printer-publishers.  Giovanni  took  with  him, 
or  caused  to  follow  him  to  Venice,  some  of  his  family, 
among  them  his  son  Gabriele.  But  of  this  period  in 
the  history  of  the  Gioliti  we  know  almost  nothing. 
The  next  certain  point  is  Giovanni's  return  to  his 
native  city  in  1534.  There  he  reopened  his  press; 
using  this  time  not  Gothic  character,  but  that  exquisite 


GABRIELE   IN   VENICE  91 

Roman  type  copied  from  the  fount  of  Nicolas  Jenson, 
and  known  then  as  caratere  rotondo  or  veneziano. 
Giovanni  occupied  himself  in  printing  for  the  University 
of  Turin ;  and  his  books  were  sold  contemporaneously 
in  Trino  and  in  that  city.  But  this  new  venture  was 
destined  to  a  brief  existence.  The  French  Army  seized 
Trino  in  the  year  1534;  and  Giovanni  found  himself 
obliged  to  leave  his  native  city,  and  to  betake  himself 
once  more  to  the  safety  and  shelter  of  the  only  quiet 
state  in  Italy,  the  Republic  of  Venice. 

This  brief  period  of  Giovanni's  sojourn  in  Trino 
is  of  moment  in  the  history  of  the  Gioliti,  for  it  intro- 
duces us  for  the  first  time  to  the  subject  of  this  study, 
Gabriele  Gioliti,  whom  his  father  had  left  behind  in 
Venice.  Gabriele's  name  occurs  in  an  epistle  dedicatory, 
dated  January  18,  1535,  and  prefixed  to  Giovanni's 
edition  of  Perotto's  grammar.  The  letter  was  written 
by  Pre  Antonio  Craverio,  proof-reader  and  school- 
master in  Turin.  He  says :  "  Notwithstanding  my 
daily  occupation  in  matters  spiritual  and  temporal, 
I  am  resolved  right  readily,  gladly,  and  willingly,  to 
undertake  the  revision  of  those  works  which  you  pro- 
pose to  print  in  Venetian  character  in  the  city  of 
Turin.  And  with  the  help  of  the  highest  and  most 
mighty  God,  1  will  make  it  my  care  that  they  shall 
be  published  in  such  a  fashion  as  to  spread  throughout 
the  whole  world,  and  especially  in  Turin,  where  the 
printer's  art  has  ever  been  held  in  such  esteem.  The 
nobility  of  your  profession  and  the  fame  you  enjoy, 
not  only  in  your  native  Trino,  but  in  Venice,  Germany, 
France,  and  Spain,  urge  me  to  comply  with  your 
request ;  and  in  truth  your  merits,  which  also  adorn 
your  son  Master  Gabriele,  whom  you  have  left  in 
Venice  to  fill  your  place,  render  both  you  and  him 
dear  to  all  the  learned  ;  for  you  live  not  for  yourselves 
alone,  and  therefore  do  scholars  bear  you  great  affection 
and  good  will."  From  the  reference  to  Gabriele  in  this 
letter,  it  seems  probable  that  he  was  already  a  full- 
grown  man,  left  behind  in  Venice  in  order  to  maintain 


92        A  VENETIAN   PRINTER-PUBLISHER 

business  relations,  but  as  yet  without  a  press  or  book- 
shop of  his  own ;  for  when  Giovanni  returned  to 
Venice,  after  the  closing  of  his  university  press,  he 
was  obliged  once  more  to  employ  other  printing- 
presses  to  produce  the  volumes  he  proposed  to  issue 
— the  press  of  Bindoni  for  his  Ariosto,  and  that  of 
Stagnino  for  his  Dante.  This  dependence  on  others 
did  not  satisfy  Giovanni,  and  soon  after  settling  in 
Venice  he  established  a  printing-press  of  his  own, 
from  which,  in  the  years  1536  and  1539,  several  works 
were  issued,  bearing  on  their  title-page  the  well-known 
emblem  of  the  Gioliti,  a  phoenix  rising  from  the  flames, 
surmounting  a  globe,  ribboned  with  the  motto  Semper 
eadem.1 

Giovanni  died  in  1540,  and  left  to  his  son  Gabriele, 
who  now  became  the  head  of  the  firm,  his  printing 
business,  at  that  time  merely  in  its  infancy,  his 
wealth,  and  a  lawsuit  which  proved  a  source  of 
considerable  trouble  to  Gabriele.  Giovanni  was 
twice  married,  and  by  these  marriages  he  had  had 
four  sons  and  some  daughters.  He  made  a  will 
during  the  lifetime  of  his  second  wife,  directing  that 
any  child  born  to  him  posthumously  should  share 
equally  with  those  for  whom  he  now  provided.  His 
second  wife  died,  however,  and  Giovanni  took  a  third, 
by  whom  he  had  one  son  and  three  daughters,  who 
claimed  the  right  to  share  with  the  children  of  the 
former  marriages.  The  case  was  probably  tried  at 
Casale ;  and  Gabriele  was  compelled  to  leave  Venice 
in  1541,  in  order  to  attend  to  the  suit.  The  opinion  of 
counsel  was  hostile  to  the  children  of  the  third  marriage; 
but  we  do  not  know  how  the  court  decided  the  case. 
Gabriele  was  not  detained  for  any  long  time  away  from 
Venice.  He  returned  to  that  city,  and  set  himself 
seriously  to  the  great  business  of  his  life,  the  establish- 
ment of  the  famous  Giolitan  press  and  book  trade. 

1  See  Catalogo  (Tuna  Raccolta  di  opere  stampate  dai  Gioliti  d(? 
Ferrari  in  Venezia  (Milano,  Hoepli).  The  Dante  belongs  to  the  year 
J536. 


OPENING  OF  GABRIELE'S  PRESS        93 

Gabriele's  first  step  in  this  direction  was  a  modest 
one.  He  found  the  plant  of  his  father's  press  inade- 
quate to  the  work  he  proposed  to  undertake.  He 
accordingly  began  by  acquiring  both  the  stock  and 
the  plant  of  two  eminent  printer-publishers :  the  one 
his  compatriot  Bernardino  Stagnino ;  the  other  Bar- 
tolomeo  Zunetti,  a  Brescian,  well  known  in  the  literary 
world  as  the  object  of  a  scurrilous  attack  by  that 
free  lance  Gian  Francesco  Doni.  With  these  imper- 
fect instruments  Gabriele  worked  for  two  years. 
That  he  conducted  his  business  successfully  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  at  the  end  of  this  time  he  was  able 
to  furnish  his  shop  with  type  and  ornaments,  quite 
new  and  all  his  own.  It  is  interesting,  as  an  indica- 
tion of  public  taste,  to  note  the  works  to  which 
Gabriele  owed  these  beginnings  of  his  fortune :  they 
were  the  Decamerone  and  the  Orlando  Furioso, 
published  in  1542,  the  Cortegiano  of  Castiglione, 
Bede's  Commentary  on  St.  Paul,  and  Nicold  Franco's 
Dialoghi  and  Petrarchista. 

At  the  outset  of  his  career  Gabriele  enjoyed  three 
great  advantages  over  the  majority  of  his  brother 
tradesmen  :  he  was  a  man  of  means,  of  education, 
and  of  position.  The  first  of  these  qualifications, 
his  wealth,  enabled  him  to  embark  upon  editions 
without  waiting  for  orders,  and  so  to  keep  his  press 
constantly  alive.  All  that  was  required  of  him  to 
insure  his  success  was  intelligence  in  the  choice 
of  the  works  he  printed,  and  a  just  perception  of  the 
general  current  of  public  taste.  And  here  his  two 
other  qualifications  of  position  and  of  education  were 
of  value  to  him.  He  was  a  good  judge  of  the  literary 
impulse  of  his  day ;  and  his  position  enabled  him  to 
make  the  acquaintance  of  many  of  the  more  eminent 
lights  in  the  world  of  letters.  His  taste  was  catholic, 
as  a  great  publisher's  should  be.  We  find  among 
his  friends  persons  of  such  varied  ability  and  character 
as  Aretino,  Bernardo  Tasso,  Nicolo  Franco,  Doni, 
Giovanni  Battista  Giraldi,  the  novelist,  Antonio 


94       A  VENETIAN  PRINTER-PUBLISHER 

Brucioli,  Remigio  Florentine,  Sansovino,  Porcacchi. 
For  some  of  these  Gabriele  acted  as  printer  and 
publisher ;  others  were  employed  by  him,  either  to 
write  books  on  subjects  suggested  by  him,  or  in  the 
correction  of  works  on  which  he  had  resolved  to 
embark  his  capital.  Many  of  these  collaborators 
lodged  with  Gabriele  in  his  house  at  Sant'  Aponal. 
The  house  was  a  large  one,  and  fitted  with  consider- 
able luxury ;  large  enough  and  sumptuous  enough 
to  entertain  the  Duke  of  Mantua  on  the  occasion  of 
a  visit  to  Venice.  Gabriele  himself  records  this  fact 
with  pride  in  the  dedication  of  the  Life  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick  to  the  emperor's  daughter,  the  Duchess 
of  Mantua,  wherein,  recounting  the  honours  done  him 
by  the  duke,  her  husband,  he  says,  "  But  greatest  of 
all  was  the  favour  he  showed  me  in  deigning  to  lodge 
in  my  small  and  humble  hostelry  in  Venice." 

Gabriele's  chief  difficulty  in  the  way  of  a  successful 
career  lay,  as  we  have  already  suggested,  in  the  choice 
of  a  line  of  business.  Between  the  date  of  the  intro- 
duction of  printing  into  Italy  and  the  period  with 
which  we  are  dealing  a  change  had  come  over  the 
quality  of  Italian  taste  in  letters.  Two  divergent 
currents  displayed  themselves.  The  pure  scholars 
still  existed,  the  men  who  lived  with  the  classics,  and 
considered  a  translation  a  doubtful  boon.  But  the 
classics  had  all  been  edited  and  published  with  the 
greatest  diligence  and  in  the  most  sumptuous  form. 
Critical  scholarship  had  not  made  advance  sufficient 
to  render  new  editions  a  necessity;  and  the  art  of 
printing  had  so  deteriorated  that  there  was  little 
prospect  of  a  reprint  competing  in  beauty  with  the 
works  of  John  of  Speyer,  of  Jenson,  or  of  Aldus.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  men  with  whom  Gabriele  was 
thrown  in  contact  were  almost  all  engaged  in  deve- 
loping the  vulgar  tongue,  in  letters,  in  comedies,  in 
novels,  in  translations.  The  press  had  performed  its 
inevitable  function  of  gran  volgarizzatore ;  the  reading 
public  was  immensely  increased  in  number,  but  had 


THE  ITALIAN   CLASSICS  95 

ceased,  for  the  most  part,  to  be  truly  literate.  It  is 
therefore  obvious  that  Gabriele's  own  good  sense  and 
business  acumen  would  lead  him  to  make  the  choice 
he  did,  and  to  determine  to  devote  the  chief  energies 
j  of  his  press  to  works  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  As  a 
\  proof  of  Gabriele's  activity  in  the  publication  of  the 
Italian  classics,  and  as  an  indication  of  the  public 
taste,  we  note  that  between  the  years  1542  and  1560 
he  issued  twenty-eight  editions  of  the  Orlando  Furioso, 
twenty-two  of  Petrarch,  nine  of  the  Decamerone,  and 
one  edition  of  Dante.  On  comparing  these  figures 
with  the  list  of  all  editions  between  1536  and  1560, 
it  becomes  clear  that  Gabriele  played  a  very  large 
part  in  the  diffusion  of  these  great  Italian  texts. 
During  these  twenty-four  years  the  Orlando  was 
published  sixty-nine  times,  Petrarch  sixty-one,  the 
Decamerone  twenty-six,  and  Dante  nine  times. 

The  most  fruitful  and  flourishing  period  of  Gabriele's 
career  as  a  publisher  may  be  reckoned  from  1560 
to  1575.  But  within  this  period  the  nature  of  the 
Giolitan  press,  while  still  retaining  its  general  charac- 
teristic of  issues  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  underwent  a 
change,  the  causes  of  which  are  to  be  sought  in  the 
history  of  the  times,  and  more  especially  in  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Church  towards  the  press.  Gabriele  had 
begun  by  dealing  largely  in  belles-lettres,  light  litera- 
ture, and  the  sceptical  philosophers.  The  works  of 
Boccaccio,  Ariosto,  Nicol6  Franco,  and  Machiavelli 
employed  a  large  part  of  his  activity.  But  the  spirit 
of  reform  in  manners,  which  was  animating  the 
Church  and  being  formulated  in  the  sessions  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  was  about  to  make  itself  felt  in 
the  world  of  letters.  The  Church  resolved  to  attack 
light  literature  and  sceptical  teaching.  In  1549  the 
first  Italian  Index,  or  Catalogue  of  Prohibited  Books, 
was  published  in  Venice.  Gabriele,  whether  from 
conviction  or  from  prudence,  determined  immediately 
to  comply  with  the  movement.  He  abandoned  light 
literature  almost  entirely,  and  ceased  to  print  Ariosto, 


96       A  VENETIAN   PRINTER-PUBLISHER 

Boccaccio,  Petrarch,  and  Machiavelli,  although  they 
had  hitherto  formed  the  chief  staple  of  his  publishing 
business.  We  shall  see  presently  that  this  ready 
obedience  to  the  wishes  of  the  Church  did  not  save 
him  from  a  collision  with  the  Holy  Office.  In  the 
meantime,  however,  he  found  it  necessary  to  inaugu- 
rate some  new  line  of  industry  to  compensate  for  that 
source  of  profit  which  he  found  was  suddenly  run 
dry.  Without  renouncing  his  predilection  for  the 
vulgar  tongue,  he  devised  a  scheme  of  publication 
which  was  undoubtedly  the  most  remarkable  and 
most  original  feature  in  his  career  as  printer-publisher. 
It  had  been  no  infrequent  habit  of  the  early 
publishers  to  issue  in  one  volume  the  works  of 
several  different  authors  on  cognate  subjects.  But 
the  idea  of  a  series,  in  our  sense  of  the  word,  was 
absolutely  unknown  to  the  publishers  of  that  day. 
Gabriele  conceived  the  idea  of  presenting  to  the  world 
translations  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics  and  the 
masterpieces  of  Italian  literature  in  uniform  series 
of  many  volumes.  The  various  series  he  called 
collane,  or  necklaces;  each  necklace  was  to  be  com- 
posed of  anelli,  or  links,  represented  by  the  various 
authors  in  the  series,  and  of  gioielli,  or  gems,  repre- 
sented by  excursuses  for  the  elucidation  of  those 
authors.  This  idea  of  Gabriele,  though  never  carried 
to  completion,  was  probably  the  parent  of  those 
numerous  series  which  have  continued  to  multiply 
down  to  the  present  day.  But,  like  many  novel  ideas, 
the  scheme  was  conceived  on  too  grandiose  a  scale. 
Gabriele  was  unable  to  carry  the  execution  of  his 
design  for  any  considerable  distance.  The  Collana 
Istorica  was  entrusted  to  Tommaso  Porcacchi  as 
editor,  and  he  published  the  programme  of  the  Greek 
portion  in  the  preface  to  the  translations  of  Thucy- 
dides  and  Polybius;  the  programme  of  the  Latin 
authors  who  were  to  form  links  in  the  historical 
necklace  was  prepared,  but  never  published ;  the 
Italian  links  and  all  the  gems  are  wanting.  The 


THE  SPIRITUAL  GARLAND  97 

proposal  appears  to  have  met  with  favour  from  the 
learned ;  but  the  plan  was  too  vast.  Gabriele  very 
soon  found  himself  obliged  to  reprint  translations 
already  in  vogue,  instead  of  supplying  new  render- 
ings, as  he  intended,  in  order  to  satisfy  an  impatient 
public,  and  to  fill  the  serious  gaps  in  his  necklace. 
Nor  were  internal  difficulties  the  only  ones  which 
confronted  him.  The  plague  broke  out  in  Venice,  and 
for  a  time  brought  all  trade  to  a  standstill.  Gabriele's 
historical  series  remained  uncompleted,  a  mere  sketch 
of  the  design  he  had  set  before  him.  But  the  collection 
of  all  that  Gabriele  had  ever  printed,  together  with 
the  attempt  to  fill  up  his  programme  from  other  sources, 
was  for  long  a  hobby  with  Italian  bibliophiles. 

Giolito  did  not  confine  his  idea  of  a  series  to  the 
works  of  profane  writers  only.  He  embarked  upon 
an  undertaking  of  less  ambition  than  his  Collana 
Istorica,  and  in  this  he  succeeded.  Among  his  inti- 
mates and  collaborators  Gabriele  numbered,  besides 
men  of  letters,  many  learned  divines,  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  whom  was  Remigio  Fiorentino.  With 
the  help  of  these  men  he  collected  and  published  a 
series  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Ghirlanda 
Spirituale,  or  Spiritual  Garland,  in  which  the  various 
volumes  formed  the  flowers.  Not  content  with  the 
Garland,  he  projected  a  second  series  of  pious  works, 
to  be  known  as  the  Albero  Spirituale,  or  Spiritual 
Tree,  with  various  fruits,  the  component  parts  of  the 
series,  on  its  branches.  The  Garland  was  completed, 
and  enjoyed  a  wide  circulation ;  but  only  the  seventh 
fruit  on  the  Spiritual  Tree,  Tauler's  Exercises,  ever 
came  to  maturity. 

The  conception  and  execution  of  these  series  are 
the  most  striking  feature  in  Giolito's  life  as  a 
publisher.  He  was  proud  of  his  idea,  and  allowed 
one  of  his  editors  to  address  him  in  a  dedication  as 
"  he  who  has  set  before  himself  the  task  of  bettering 
the  world  by  Christian  and  pious  books,  printed  in 
his  splendid  type,  as  he  has  already  enriched  it  with 

VOL.  ii.  7 


98       A  VENETIAN   PRINTER-PUBLISHER 

the  works  of  historians  and  poets,  to  his  own  great 
fame  and  glory."  This  praise  bestowed  on  Gabriele's 
type  leads  us  to  consider  his  position  as  a  printer. 
One  of  the  most  extraordinary  features  in  the  story 
of  the  Venetian  printing-press  is  the  great  beauty 
of  its  very  earliest  productions  and  the  rapidity 
with  which  deterioration  set  in.  It  would  be  safe 
to  affirm  that  nothing  more  lovely  typographically 
than  the  monuments  of  the  first  Venetian  presses, 
the  works  of  the  brothers  John  and  Wendelin  of 
Speyer,  of  Nicolas  Jenson,  or  of  Bernard  Pictor  and 
Ratdolt,  ever  issued  from  the  workshops  of  that  city. 
At  the  period  of  which  we  are  writing  the  press  was 
in  rapid  decadence,  and  the  praise  bestowed  on  the 
books  brought  out  by  Gabriele  Giolito  must  be  taken 
as  relative  to  the  work  of  his  contemporaries ;  in 
which  case,  no  doubt,  his  publications  deserve  the 
title  of  bellissime  stampe.  Among  the  various  causes 
which  brought  about  the  decline  of  typographical  art 
in  Venice,  one  of  the  most  important  has  hardly  received 
sufficient  attention  from  bibliographers :  we  mean  the 
rise  of  type-founding  as  a  separate  branch  of  industry. 
The  earlier  masters,  such  as  Jenson,  were  frequently 
men  accustomed  to  cut  in  metal,  and  therefore  able  to 
produce  their  own  punches  from  which  the  moulds 
for  their  founts  were  impressed.  Much  of  a  printer's 
success  depended  on  his  skill  in  cutting  punches,  and 
on  his  artistic  sense  of  proportion  and  form  in  the 
letters  he  designed.  The  punches  of  men  like  Jenson 
and  Aldus  were  valuable  property,  worthy  to  be 
bequeathed  by  will,  and  finding  ready  purchasers 
when  they  came  into  the  market.  The  result  of  this 
individual  designing  of  type  by  the  printer  himself 
was  that  the  works  of  the  early  masters  had  each  a 
style  and  cachet  of  their  own.  No  one  would  confuse 
a  Jenson  with  a  John  of  Speyer,  for  example:  the 
notes  of  their  character,  the  forms  of  their  letters, 
their  signs  of  contraction,  distinguish  them  at  once 
from  each  other.  But  about  the  middle  of  the  six- 


TYPE-FOUNDING  99 

teenth  century  a  type-foundry,  independent  of  any 
particular  printer  or  group  of  printers,  was  opened 
as  a  commercial  speculation  in  Venice.  The  object 
of  the  promoters  was  monetary  success,  and  the  chief 
means  towards  this  end  was  cheapness.  The  result 
was  that  in  a  very  short  time  the  printing-presses 
of  Venice  were  supplied  with  a  character  uniform  in 
quality  and  inferior  in  artistic  beauty.  The  book- 
buying  public  was  willing  to  accept  the  innovation. 
The  days  were  already  past  in  which  the  printed 
book  was  expected  to  rival  the  manuscript  in  elegance 
of  form.  The  literary  world  seemed  indifferent  to 
the  quality  of  their  books ;  and  even  such  well-known 
printers  as  Giovanni  Rossi,  Paul  Manutius,  and 
Gabriele  Giolito  yielded  to  the  temptation,  and  lost 
their  distinctive  features  in  the  general  mass.  The 
date  of  this  revolution  in  printing  may  be  placed  in 
the  year  1555,  so  that  Gabriele  had  been  at  work 
about  thirteen  years  with  characters  of  his  own, 
displaying  his  conception  of  a  good  type,  before  his 
press  was  invaded  by  the  undistinguished  and  un- 
distinguishable  flood  of  mediocre  characters  produced 
wholesale  by  speculating  type-founders.  The  brilliant 
period  of  Gabriele  Giolito's  career  as  a  printer  was 
previous  to  the  year  1555;  and  if  his  books  at  any 
time  merited  the  title  of  bellissime  stampe,  it  was  before 
the  opening  of  the  wholesale  type-foundry.  But,  as 
we  have  said,  the  general  public  did  not  resent  the 
deterioration.  In  1560  Gabriele  was  employed  to 
produce  Bernardo  Tasso's  Amadigi.  It  was  a  work 
of  great  importance,  eagerly  looked  for  in  the  literary 
world,  and  author  and  publisher  were  united  in  the 
desire  to  do  it  justice.  Yet  we  find  that  the  character 
employed  was  that  to  be  found  in  almost  every  press 
in  Venice,  the  work  of  the  type-foundry.  Gabriele 
never  suffered  in  his  publishing  business  from  yielding 
to  the  innovation,  and  the  years  of  his  greatest  activity 
were  subsequent  to  his  adoption  of  the  new  type. 
So  far,  then,  we  have  followed  Gabriele's  course  as 


ioo     A  VENETIAN  PRINTER-PUBLISHER 

a  publisher  and  as  a  printer,  two  branches  of  the  book 
trade  which  he  combined,  like  most  of  his  contempor- 
aries, and  personally  superintended,  in  his  large  estab- 
lishment at  Sant'Aponal,  called  the  Libreria  della 
Fenice.  His  fame  among  his  contemporaries  and  his 
high  position  in  Venice  are  beyond  a  doubt.  Aretino 
said  of  him  that  he  "  printed  like  a  prince,  not  like  a 
bookseller  " ;  Charles  V.  sent  him  a  present  of  a  work 
of  art — what,  we  do  not  know — representing  his  famous 
emblem,  the  Phoenix ;  the  Duke  of  Mantua  came  to 
lodge  with  him ;  and  the  Republic  bestowed  upon  him 
the  citizenship  of  Venice. 

But  Giolito's  business  was  not  confined  to  Venice. 
As  his  reputation  became  Italian,  if  not  European,  he 
opened  branches  in  Ferrara  and  Bologna  for  the  sale 
of  books,  and  thought  of  establishing  a  press  in  the 
former  city  if  the  duke  would  grant  him  special  privi- 
leges.    A  third  shop,  of  which  we  shall  have  more  to 
say  presently,  was  opened  in  Naples.    Besides  carrying 
on  these  branch  shops,  which  were  known  to  be  his, 
and  in  all  likelihood  displayed  the  sign  of  the  Phoenix, 
Gabriele  was  in  business  relations  with  book  merchants 
not  only  in  Italy,  but  also  abroad.    At  Mantua,  for  in- 
stance,he  was  creditor  of  three  booksellers,  one  of  whom 
never  discharged  his  debt ;  and  in  Lyons  he  had  most 
cordial  relations  with  the  printer  Roville,  who  wrote 
of  him  that  he  was  "  a  man  truly  deserving  of  his  time, 
for  he  had  published  more  beautiful  books  in  Italian 
and  in  Spanish  than  any  one  alive."    At  his  branch 
shops,  Gabriele,  following  the  example  of  Aldus  and 
many  Venetian  houses,  kept  in  stock  not  only  his  own 
publications,  but  also  the  works  of  other  printers  ; 
moreover,  he  undertook  to  supply  foreign  books,  which 
were  purchased  for  him  at  the  great  German  fairs,  like 
Frankfort,  which  Venetian  merchants  were  in  the  habit 
of  frequenting.   In  this  way  he  combined  three  branches 
of  the  book  trade  which  are  generally  conducted  separ- 
ately :  he  was  at  once  a  printer,  a  publisher,  and  a 
bookseller. 


THE  NEAPOLITAN   HOUSE  101 

But  to  return  to  the  Naples  branch,  which  was  the 
source  of  much  trouble  to  Giolito.  We  find  that  he 
had  entrusted  the  conduct  of  this  business  in  Naples 
to  a  certain  Pietro  Ludrini.  As  time  went  on,  how- 
ever, Gabriele  had  occasion  to  suspect  Ludrini's 
honesty.  He  accordingly  sent  Giovanni  Battista 
Capello  to  Naples  to  take  over  the  management  of  the 
house ;  and  for  Capello  he  drew  up  the  following 
instructions,  with  which  he  despatched  him  on  the 
delicate  task  of  expelling  Ludrini  and  assuming  the 
direction  of  the  Neapolitan  shop.  The  document  is 
so  vivid  and  so  instructive  that  we  shall  translate  it 
nearly  in  full : 

44  In  the  name  of  God,  April  10,  1563,  in  Venice. 

4'  I,  Gabriele    Giolito,    present    to    you,    Giovanni 
Battista  Capello,   this    memorandum    of   that  which 
you  are  to  do  when  once  you  are  in  Naples,  whither 
God  lead  you  safe  and  sound.     First,  as  soon  as  you 
reach  Naples  you  will  put  yourself  in  communication 
with  Messer  Stefano  Corsini,  merchant,  and  Messer 
Giovanni  de   Bottis,   bookseller,  and  will   ask  their 
advice  as  to  the  best  means  for  becoming  possessed 
of  my  shop.     And  do  not  forget  to  have  an  inventory 
made  out  by  a  notary;  for  I  desire  that  my  affairs 
should  be  all  clear  and  in  order,  even  if  I  have  to 
spend  a  little  more  upon  them.     It  will  be  as  well 
to  call  in  the  arm  of  the  law  ;  so  that  if  Pietro  makes 
any  resistance,  you   may  be  able  to  compel  him  to 
reason.      Do  not  let   Pietro   know  that  you  are  in 
Naples  till   all  is  ready.     When  you  are  quite  pre- 
pared, go  to  Pietro,  and  pretend  that  you  have  only 
just  arrived.     Give  him  my  letters,  in  which  I  charge 
him  to  surrender  my  business  to  you.      If  he  yield 
quietly,  lose  no  time,  but  send  for  a  notary  at  once 
to  draw  up  the  inventory;  and  ask  Pietro  to  hand  over 
all  moneys  he  may  have  on  my  account,  and  give  him 
a  receipt  for  the  same.     If  he  resist,  enter  a  formal 
protest  holding  him  responsible  for  all  damage  or  loss 
that  may  arise.     Messer  Corsini  will  consign  to  you 


102      A  VENETIAN   PRINTER-PUBLISHER 

nineteen  boxes  and  five  sacks,  numbered  from  one  to 
twenty-four.  They  contain  books  for  stocking  the 
shop.  I  have  given  you  the  invoice,  and  you  will 
verify  the  contents.  I  have  told  Messer  Corsini  to 
furnish  you  with  money  for  legal  and  other  expenses. 
You  will  keep  minutely  a  day-book  of  the  shop,  in 
which  you  will  enter  all  income  and  expenditure. 
Further,  should  you  find  in  my  shop  any  prohibited 
books,  I  will  not  have  them  on  sale.  They  must  be 
put  aside.  The  Spicelegium  is  copyrighted  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  and  cannot  be  sold  there.  When 
once  you  have  everything  in  your  hands,  you  will  see 
that  new  keys  are  made  for  all  the  doors  and  all  the 
chests,  so  that  no  one  who  has  duplicates  of  the  old 
keys  can  play  any  tricks.  Letters  for  me  are  to  be 
handed  to  Corsini,  but  franked  as  far  as  Rome.  You 
will  also  take  stock  of  all  my  books,  for  I  fear  that 
many  are  imperfect.  I  know  that  Pietro  used  to  sell 
loose  sheets  of  them  to  make  up  other  booksellers' 
copies.  Send  me  a  list  of  all  imperfections,  and  they 
shall  be  remedied  at  once.  Above  all,  live  like  a  good 
Christian,  with  the  fear  of  God  before  your  eyes,  if  you 
wish  to  get  on.  Don't  get  into  bad  habits,  for  they 
ruin  a  man  ;  fly  them  if  you  desire  that  this  our  good 
beginning  should  endure.  God  give  you  light  to  act 
fairly  by  us  both. 

"  I  forgot  to  say  that  if  Pietro  offers  you  any  debtors 
for  books  sold  on  credit,  let  him  look  to  them  himself. 
But  if  he  draws  the  cash,  enter  it  to  his  credit.  He 
had  no  authority  from  me  to  sell  a  single  sheet  on 
credit ;  and  I  charge  you  not  to  do  so,  either.  If, 
however,  you  should  hear  that  a  debtor  is  of  better 
substance  than  Pietro,  you  may  accept  him  and  enter 
him  on  the  books.  All  the  takings  of  the  shop  you 
will  consign  every  month  to  Corsini." 

This  memorandum,  apart  from  the  light  it  throws  on 
Gabriele's  character  as  a  man  of  business,  is  of  great 
importance  in  the  history  of  his  life,  for  it  was  the  means 
of  clearing  him  when  on  trial  before  the  Inquisition. 


THE  NEAPOLITAN   HOUSE  103 

Capello  arrived  in  Naples ;  and,  so  far  as  we  know, 
Ludrini  surrendered  the  shop  and  the  stock  without 
raising  any  opposition.  An  inventory  was  drawn  up ; 
and  Capello,  in  obedience  to  his  instructions,  sorted 
out  the  prohibited  books  and  placed  them  in  the 
entresol  above  the  shop.  But  Ludrini  was  bent  upon 
revenge  for  his  expulsion  ;  and  he  took  it  in  a  way 
which  was  certain  to  prove  most  troublesome  both  to 
Capello  and  to  Giolito.  In  January,  1565,  he  made  out 
a  list  of  prohibited  books  which  he  knew  to  be  in 
Giolito's  shop,  and  presented  it  at  the  office  of  the 
Neapolitan  Inquisition.  The  result  of  this  denuncia- 
tion was  that  Giovanni  Ortega  de  Salina,  captain  of 
the  civic  guard  of  Naples,  in  obedience  to  orders  from 
thr  Holy  Office,  went  to  the  sign  of  the  Phoenix,  and, 
finding  Capello  there  with  some  shopmen,  he  an- 
nounced his  intention  of  searching  the  dwelling-house. 
The  quest  proved  fruitless.  No  books  were  found  in 
Capello's  rooms.  But  on  coming  downstairs  Salina 
turned  aside  into  the  entresol;  and  there  he  saw  a 
number  of  books  piled  upon  tables.  In  answer  to  a 
question  Capello  said  that  all  these  were  books  for- 
bidden by  the  Index,  and  that  he  had  set  them  aside 
because  he  had  been  told  that  the  Holy  Office  had 
ordered  the  bookshops  of  Naples  to  be  searched. 
When  asked  how  he  came  to  have  prohibited  books 
in  his  possession  at  all,  Capello  replied  that  he  had 
them  in  his  shop  in  virtue  of  a  licence;  but,  on  being 
ordered  to  produce  it,  he  admitted  that  the  licence  was 
only  a  verbal  one,  and  did  not  exist  in  writing.  Giolito's 
memorandum  shows  that  Capello's  last  answers  and 
explanations  were  disingenuous ;  and  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  why  he  gave  such  compromising  replies, 
unless  he  did  so  under  a  lively  terror  of  the  Inquisition. 
The  result  was  inevitable:  both  he  and  his  master 
became  seriously  embroiled  with  the  Holy  Office.  On 
receiving  Capello's  replies,  Salina  at  once  ordered  all 
the  books  to  be  placed  in  three  trunks,  which  he  sealed 
and  deposited  in  a  neighbouring  shop,  with  instructions 


io4     A  VENETIAN  PRINTER-PUBLISHER 

that  they  were  to  be  surrendered  to  the  Inquisition 
officers,  and  to  no  one  else.  Capello  was  arrested  and 
confined  in  the  Vicaria. 

The  books  seized  were  certainly  of  a  nature  to  bring 
Capello  and  Giolito  into  trouble.  They  included 
Antonio  Brucioli's  translation  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  many  works  of  Aretino,  Machiavelli,  Melanchthon, 
Boccaccio,  and  Erasmus;  and  the  Neapolitan  Inquisi- 
tion showed  a  desire  to  proceed  rapidly  and  with 
vigour.  On  February  2  Capello  was  examined  before 
the  Tribunal.  He  declared  that,  when  the  captain  of 
the  guard  appeared  at  his  house,  he  thought  forbidden 
arms,  not  forbidden  books,  were  the  object  of  his 
search.  When  Salina  had  asked  him  about  the  books 
found  in  the  entresol,  he  had  answered  that  they  were 
forbidden  books  which  he  had  placed  there  so  that 
they  might  not  be  sold,  and  that  he  was  awaiting  in- 
structions from  his  master  Giolito,  to  whom  he  had 
applied  for  orders  in  the  matter.  He  also  stated  that 
the  only  forbidden  book  he  had  for  sale  was  the 
Adagia  of  Erasmus. 

The  introduction  of  Gabriele's  name  made  the 
Inquisition  determine  to  involve  him  too  in  the 
trial.  The  Holy  Office  of  Naples  placed  itself  in 
communication  with  the  Venetian  Inquisition,  and 
sent  a  list  of  interrogatories  which  were  to  be  applied 
to  Giolito.  The  scene  of  the  trial  now  shifts  to  Venice, 
where  Gabriele  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the 
Sacred  Tribunal  in  May,  1565.  He  deposed  as  follows: 
"  I  have  three  shops,  one  in  Naples,  one  in  Bologna, 
and  one  in  Ferrara,  besides  my  own  shop  here  in 
Venice  at  Rialto.  My  agent  in  Naples  is  a  certain 
Giovanni  Battista  Capello ;  before  him  my  agent  was 
Pietro  Ludrini,  who  left  me  because  he  said  he  was 
going  to  marry.  Since  Capello  went  to  Naples  I  have 
supplied  him  with  no  books  from  Venice  ;  he  has  had 
in  Naples  the  stock  in  the  shop,  and  also  some  bales 
of  books  which  I  had  entrusted  to  Messer  Stefano 
Corsini,  since  dead.  I  did  not  give  these  books  to 


BEFORE  THE  HOLY  OFFICE  105 

Ludrini,  because  I  found  he  was  dishonest ;  nor  have 
I  given  them  all  to  Capello,  because  I  know  that  he 
too  is  cheating  me.  I  have  certainly  never  sent  for- 
bidden books  to  Naples  so  far  as  I  am  aware ;  but  a 
copy  of  the  invoices  of  all  consignments  to  my  agents 
is  open  to  inspection.  Perhaps  my  shopmen  may  have 
inadvertently  despatched  some  books  on  the  Index.  I 
have  never  read  the  Index ;  but  when  it  was  sent  to 
me  I  had  it  placed  in  all  my  shops,  with  orders  to  clear 
the  stock  of  all  books  whose  names  were  on  the  pro- 
hibitory list."  When  asked  if  he  knew  a  certain 
Francesco  Spinola,  Gabriele  replied :  "  Yes,  I  have 
known  him  for  three  years,  as  he  used  to  frequent 
the  Fenice,  and  eventually  stayed  in  my  house  as 
proof-reader  and  tutor  to  my  son.  We  never  dis- 
cussed  matters  of  faith,  as  I  do  not  mix  in  affairs  I 
do  not  understand.  We  parted  because  Spinola 
neglected  both  his  proof-reading  and  his  tutorship. 
Spinola  once  procured  for  me  a  copy  of  Sleidan's 
works  which  Dolce  required  for  his  Life  of  the 
Emperor  Frederick."  Gabriele  admitted  that  he  had 
attended  the  Lent  lectures  of  Bernardino  of  Siena, 
and  had  found  them  most  illuminating.  As  regards 
a  certain  Cesare  de  Lucca,  he  had  once  been  in  the 
service  of  Giolito,  but  had  left  him  to  serve  the  Giunti. 
Cesare  never  showed  any  dubious  opinions  in  matters 
of  faith,  and  conformed  to  the  rule  of  the  Giolito 
household  which  required  all  its  members  to  confess 
and  to  communicate  at  least  thrice  a  year.  Finally, 
as  a  proof  that  he  desired  to  obey  the  orders  of  the 
Church,  and  that  he  had  acted  bona  fide  in  the  whole 
matter,  Gabriele  produced  the  memorandum  which  he 
had  drawn  up  forCapello's  instruction  on  his  departure 
for  Naples.  The  orders  in  the  memorandum  appear 
to  have  satisfied  the  Inquisition,  and  Giolito's  trial 
proceeded  no  further;  nor  did  it  entail  any  punish- 
ment or  evil  consequences  upon  him,  though  we 
cannot  but  be  surprised  that  he  should  have  ventured 
to  plead  ignorance  of  the  contents  of  the  Index,  when 


io6      A  VENETIAN   PRINTER-PUBLISHER 

we  remember  that  he  himself  had  issued  the  Venetian 
Index  of  1554. 

We  have  followed  Gabriele  through  the  details  of 
his  business  as  far  as  they  have  been  recorded  for  us 
by  Salvatore  Bongi's  patient  research.  It  only  re- 
mains, in  conclusion,  to  give  some  account  of  his 
family  and  of  his  private  life,  which  will  show  him 
to  have  been  as  engaging  in  his  home  relations  as 
he  was  astute  and  able  in  his  business  affairs.  In  the 
year  1544  Gabriele  married  Lucrezia  Bini,  whose 
family  lived  in  Venice.  Lucrezia  herself  gives  us 
much  information  about  her  relations  in  the  will  which 
she  made  five  years  after  her  marriage.  "Considering," 
she  says,  "the  dangers  of  this  frail  life,  I  have  re- 
solved to  make  this  my  will.  And  first  I  commend 
my  soul  to  Almighty  God,  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and 
to  all  the  court  of  heaven.  I  name  as  my  executors 
my  husband,  my  mother-in-law,  my  uncles  Benedetto 
and  Giovanni  Pietro  Bini,  my  brother  Alvise,  and  my 
maternal  uncles  Alvise  and  Francesco  de'Anzoli.  I 
desire  to  be  buried  wherever  my  husband  may  appoint, 
but  on  condition  that  within  two  years  of  my  death  he 
shall  have  erected  a  tomb  for  me  to  lie  in.  Failing 
this,  I  wish  my  body  to  be  placed  in  the  tomb  of  my 
uncles  in  the  Franciscan  Church ;  and  until  the  con- 
dition be  complied  with  or  neglected  my  corpse  shall 
be  left  in  some  safe  depository."  After  making  several 
legacies,  Lucrezia  continues :  "  To  my  husband  I  leave 
as  a  pledge  of  love  my  big  ruby,  and  that  is  all ;  for  he 
has  no  need  of  aught.  The  rest  of  my  dower,  and 
all  that  I  may  subsequently  become  possessed  of, 
I  leave  in  equal  portions  to  my  children,  should  I 
have  any.  When  I  depart  this  life,  I  wish  to  be 
wrapped  in  the  habit  of  the  Madonna  of  the  Conception, 
for  to  that  guild  I  belong."  Lucrezia's  phrase  about 
her  children,  "  se  ne  havero,"  leaves  some  doubt  as  to 
whether  any  had  yet  been  born,  or  whether  those 
born  had  died.  A  letter  written  by  Gabriele  to  his 
kinsman,  Lelio  Montalerio,  and  dated  August  19,  1570, 


GIOLITO'S  CHILDREN  107 

sufficiently  explains  the  position  of  the  family  at  that 
date.  "  I  have  two  sons,"  he  writes,  "  one  sixteen 
rising  seventeen,  the  other  eight;  and  I  have  four 
daughters,  one  fifteen,  another  twelve,  another  ten, 
and  another  seven.  This  makes  up  the  half-dozen. 
Another  half-dozen  are  in  heaven.  That  makes  twelve 
in  all,  and  now  we  intend  to  rest,  if  so  it  shall  please 
God.  And  may  He  grant  us  to  live  all  together  till 
they  be  old  enough  to  govern  themselves  without  our 
aid."  Under  their  mother's  guidance  the  Giolito  family 
was  brought  up  in  all  the  exercises  of  piety.  Gabriele's 
friends  in  the  world  of  religious  letters  bear  testimony 
to  their  appreciation  of  her  rule.  Fra  Remigio 
Fiorentino  dedicated  his  translation  of  the  Imitatio  to 
Lucrezia,  that  she  might  be  able  to  place  it  in  the 
hands  of  her  youthful  family.  Tommaso  Porcacchi 
sent  a  reproduction  of  the  same  work  to  Lucrezia, 
with  a  letter  in  which  he  praises  the  piety  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  Giolito  household,  "which  seems  a 
sainted  Paradise,  made  glorious  by  the  beauty  and 
goodness  of  those  little  angels  who  day  by  day  sing 
psalms  and  lauds  and  hymns  to  the  honour  of  God  "  ; 
and,  making  all  allowance  for  the  florid  emphasis  of 
the  period,  we  can  quite  believe  that  the  family  of 
Gabriele  was  distinguished  for  its  piety.  We  find  a 
sober  confirmation  of  the  religious  atmosphere  in 
which  they  lived  in  the  words  of  Bonaventura 
Gonzaga,  who  records  the  daily  celebration  of  the 
divine  office  in  a  chamber  set  apart  in  the  house  for 
that  purpose. 

Among  the  daughters  born  to  Gabriele  and  Lucrezia, 
the  one  of  whom  we  hear  most  was  called  Fenice, 
doubtless  in  memory  of  the  famous  sign  over  Gabriele's 
house.  She  was  born  in  1555,  and,  under  her  mother's 
care,  became  the  chief  centre  of  the  religious  fervor 
which  characterized  the  family.  When  a  little  girl, 
seven  years  old,  she  one  day  asked  her  father's  friend 
Fra  Remigio  to  recommend  a  work  which  should 
teach  her  how  to  acquire  and  keep  the  divine  grace. 


io8      A  VENETIAN   PRINTER-PUBLISHER 

Remigio  replied  by  publishing,  and  dedicating  to 
Fenice,  Girolamo  Sirino's  Modo  cTacquistare  la  Divina 
Gratia.  Fenice's  pious  bent  of  mind  acquired  force 
with  her  growing  years,  until  she  at  last  announced 
her  resolve  to  become  a  nun.  This  occasioned 
a  display  of  Gabriele's  sound  sense.  Writing  to 
Montalerio,  he  says :  "  My  eldest  girl  is  fifteen  years 
old,  and  God  has  inspired  her  with  the  wish  to  be  a 
nun.  Though  it  is  now  two  years  that  she  has  been 
begging  me  to  place  her  in  a  convent,  I  have  always 
refused  my  consent  until  she  should  have  reached  a 
ripe  age  and  shown  me  that  her  resolve  is  permanent. 
As  yet  she  is  at  home  with  the  others.  But  she  is  to 
enter  a  convent  for  three  or  four  months,  and  then 
I  will  bring  her  home  again  for  a  month  more,  to 
see  whether  her  resolve  is  firm,  and  whether  she  likes 
a  convent  better  than  her  own  home."  The  experi- 
ment was  tried  ;  but  Fenice's  resolve  held  firm,  and 
she  became  a  nun  in  the  Benedictine  convent  of  Santa 
Marta. 

If  Gabriele's  sons  were  employed  in  their  father's 
business  at  all,  it  was  not  as  partners  ;  for  Gabriele's 
name  alone  continues  to  appear  on  the  Giolitan  title- 
pages  till  his  death.  There  is  a  note  of  lassitude 
in  the  first  letter  to  Montalerio  from  which  we  have 
quoted,  and,  as  it  were,  a  summing  up  of  his  life's 
work  by  a  man  who  felt  that  his  career  was  drawing 
to  a  close.  Old  age  and  weariness  were  creeping 
over  Gabriele,  and  showed  their  presence  in  the 
gradual  relaxing  of  that  activity  which  had  charac- 
terized his  press.  As  to  the  exact  date  and  cause  of 
Giolito's  death  we  have  no  information.  But  it  appears 
that  he  escaped  the  plague,  which  was  raging  in  1576 
and  1577,  only  to  die  the  year  after  its  cessation.  The 
Corporation  Rolls  of  the  Booksellers,  Printers,  and 
Binders  prove  that  Gabriele  was  already  dead  before 
March  3,  1578.  Nor  did  his  wife  survive  him 
long.  In  the  year  1581  their  sons  Giovanni  and 
Giampolo  raised,  in  the  church  of  Santa  Marta,  where 


HIS  TOMB  109 

Fenice,  their  sister,  was  a  nun,  a  monument  to  the 
memory  of  Gabriele  and  Lucrezia,  with  this  in- 
scription : 

GABRIELI  IOLITO  DE  FERRARIIS  NOBILI  V1RO,  ET  INTE- 
GERRIMO,  LVCRETI^EQE  BIN^E  MATRI  HONESTISSIMJE  IOANNES 
ET  IOANNES  PAVLVS  FRATRES  PARENTIBVS  OPTIMIS  ET 
B.  M.  SIBI  IPSIS,  AC  POSTERIS  MONVMENTV  HOC  PONEN- 
DVM  CVRARVT  ANNO  DNI  1581. 

Giovanni  Giolito,  the  elder  son,  assumed  the  direction 
of  the  business ;  but  in  the  brief  space  of  ten  years 
he  too  died,  and  Giampolo  became  the  head  of  the 
house.  He  found  the  business  little  to  his  taste.  He 
allowed  the  press  to  remain  idle  throughout  entire 
years  at  a  time ;  and  the  appearance  of  the  Giolitan 
editions  became  less  and  less  frequent.  Indeed,  it 
would  appear  that  soon  after  his  brother's  death 
Giampolo  resolved  to  withdraw  from  printing  and 
publishing;  and  for  that  purpose  he  issued  the  only 
catalogue  of  Giolitan  editions  ever  put  forth  by  the 
firm.  The  prices  were  added  in  order  to  facilitate 
the  disposal  of  the  stock.  In  the  year  1606,  while  the 
Republic  was  in  the  very  heat  of  its  famous  quarrel 
with  Paul  V.f  the  Giolitan  editions  finally  ceased,  and 
the  famous  press,  after  a  brilliant  career  of  seventy 
years,  no  longer  occupied  a  place  in  the  annals  of 
Venetian  printing. 


Cardinal  Contarini  and  his  Friends 

THE  general  impression  that  the  influence  of  Renais- 
sance culture  upon  Italian  society  was  corrupt  is,  on 
the  whole,  justified.  That  influence  began  to  show 
itself  distinctly  at  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  period  of  humanistic  study  and  acquisition  had 
passed ;  the  period  of  application  had  begun ;  and 
Rome  was  the  focus  of  the  application,  as  Florence 
had  been  the  seat  of  the  earlier  efforts  to  acquire.  At 
Rome  society  gathered  round  the  court  of  the  Vatican 
and  the  head  of  the  Church ;  but  it  was  a  Church  in 
which  Aretino  might  aspire  to  the  purple,  in  which 
Bandello  was  a  bishop,  and  della  Casa  legate  and 
compiler  of  the  first  Index.  The  society  was  corrupt 
but  eminently  refined,  displaying  a  finish  and  a  charm 
which  captivated  the  gentler  temper  of  men  like 
Erasmus  and  made  them  cry  that  only  the  floods  of 
Lethe  could  drown  for  them  the  memory  of  Rome, 
though  in  Luther's  sterner  fibre  this  refinement  merely 
added  disgust  to  indignation.  It  is  needless  to  dwell 
upon  this  point,  it  has  been  made  again  and  again ; 
but  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  there  did  exist  a  portion 
of  this  society  which  was  refined  and  not  corrupt. 
The  nature  of  men  like  Contarini,  Pole,  Sadoleto, 
Giberti,  and  their  friends  stands  out  with  additional 
sweetness  and  lustre  when  we  remember  the  dark 
setting  of  intrigue,  of  dissoluteness,  and  of  ruin  which 
surrounded  them.  They  were  a  company  of  noble 
men  animated  by  noble  objects  of  ambition,  and  bound 
together  by  the  closest  bonds  of  friendship.  We  come 
across  them  with  a  feeling  of  pure  pleasure ;  they  shine 
like  good  deeds  in  an  evil  world.  It  does  not  matter 


JULIUS  AND  LEO  in 

that  they  failed  in  their  ecclesiastical  policy ;  that  the 
i'in  media  which  they  espoused  between  the  youthful 
vigour  of  Protestantism  and  the  corruption  of  the 
Roman  Church  was  never  adopted;  that  it  exposed 
them  only  to  suspicion  from  the  Lutherans  and  to 
charges  of  heresy  from  Farnese  and  Caraffa ;  that  they 
foundered  between  the  two  great  and  divergent  lines 
of  Reform  and  counter-Reformation.  Their  object  was 
a  noble  one,  and  it  ennobled  lives  singularly  adapted 
to  take  the  lustre  of  nobility. 

To  understand  the  place  of  these  men  in  the  eccle- 
siastical policy  of  the  Reformation,  it  is  needful  to  look 
a  little  more  closely  at  the  conditions  which  surrounded 
them.  The  aims  of  the  papacy  had  become  secularized 
in  the  hands  of  such  mundane  and  warlike  popes  as 
Sixtus,  Alexander,  and  Julius.  The  desire  to  found  a 
reigning  house  and  to  realize  that  ever-present,  ever- 
vanishing  dream  of  the  Church,  a  temporal  kingdom, 
determined  the  policy  of  these  pontiffs,  and  the 
Venetian  ambassador  thus  summed  up  Julius  in  a 
despatch  to  his  government :  "  The  pope,"  he  said, 
"wishes  to  be  the  lord  and  master  in  this  world's 
game."  As  the  head  was,  so  was  the  body.  The 
bishops  endeavoured  to  make  their  sees  heritable 
property — the  basis  on  which  to  establish  a  family. 
The  secularization  of  aim  resulted  in  a  secularization 
of  manner.  The  pope  who  aspired  to  be  a  prince 
adopted  the  manners  of  a  prince.  The  bishops  who 
contemplated  founding  a  house  adopted  the  bearing 
which  became  the  head  of  a  house.  Mundane  aspira- 
tions induced  mundane  habits,  splendour  of  life,  of 
dress,  of  retinue,  of  board.  And  again,  a  Venetian 
summed  up  Leo  as  a  pendant  to  Julius.  Julius  desired 
to  be  lord  and  master  of  this  life's  game.  Leo  "  desired 
to  live."  Beyond  the  immediate  region  of  the  Church 
the  Italians  had  been  engaged  in  breaking  open  the 
treasure-house  of  the  dead  languages,  and  the  perfume 
invaded  the  country.  The  secularized  manners  of  the 
churchmen  came  in  contact  with  a  wavering  ethical 


112  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

standard,  the  outcome  of  humanism  and  the  free  play 
of  intellect  that  recognized  nothing  superior  to  itself. 
The  result  of  this  contact  was  twofold — a  deterioration 
in  the  manners,  habits,  and  thoughts  of  society,  and  a 
confirmation  of  the  secular  tendency  among  the  clergy. 
For  humanism  brought  with  it  scepticism  as  to  the 
foundations  of  Christianity,  and  with  this  scepticism 
there  arose  a  doubt  whether  the  Church  had  any  rights 
other  than  secular.  In  Rome  this  twofold  result  soon 
disclosed  itself  in  a  brilliant  and  intellectual  atmo- 
sphere that  was  at  the  same  time  corrupt.  Poets  and 
scholars  and  accomplished  women  crowded  to  the 
court  of  the  Vatican  or  to  the  palaces  of  cardinals, 
princes,  and  ambassadors.  Each  great  house  had  its 
clique,  its  coterie  of  parasites  enjoying  the  refined 
sunshine  and  speculating  on  the  prizes  that  lay  in 
store  should  their  patron  attain  to  the  papacy.  To  the 
charm  of  life  was  added  the  zest  of  a  hazard,  and  the 
adventurer  who  sought  the  favour  of  this  or  that  prince 
of  the  Church  secretly  prayed  that  his  cardinal  might 
draw  the  winning  number.  But  at  the  very  moment 
when  the  Italians  had  so  prepared  life  as  to  be  able  to 
enjoy  the  papacy,  should  God  give  it  to  them,  the  cup 
of  pleasure  slipped  from  their  hands.  The  refinement 
and  brightening  of  intelligence  which  rendered  the 
papacy  enjoyable,  the  secularization  of  its  aims  which 
added  a  further  colour  to  life's  game,  were  preparing 
beyond  the  Alps  the  very  means  by  which  the  papacy 
was  to  be  robbed  of  all  enjoyment,  were  paving  the 
way  for  Luther's  advent  and  the  sack  of  Rome.  The 
expansion  of  intelligence,  the  discovery  of  intellectual 
muscles,  and  the  pleasure  experienced  in  their  play, 
which  resulted  from  these  years  of  humanistic  study 
and  training,  opened  for  the  ancient  and  organized 
people  of  Italy  the  door  of  delightful  existence.  But 
the  quickening  element  passed  beyond  the  borders  of 
Italy  itself.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Alps  it  found  a 
different  nidus,  harder  and  more  vigorous,  in  which 
to  germinate.  And  so  among  the  Teutonic  people  the 


LUTHER  113 

revival  took  the  character  of  religious  earnestness; 
let  us  reform  the  Church,  they  cried.  In  Italy  it  had 
taken  the  aspect  of  cynical  pliability ;  let  us  enjoy  the 
Church,  said  the  Italians.  The  result  was  Luther's 
advent  with  all  its  compulsive  power  over  the  papacy. 
The  schism  north  of  the  Alps  put  into  the  hands 
of  two  great  princes,  the  King  of  England  and  the 
Emperor,  a  weapon  for  mastering  the  papacy  so 
powerful  that  Clement  could  not  stand  against  it.  At 
any  hostile  movement  on  his  part  Charles  threatened 
to  release  Luther ;  on  the  first  refusal  to  obey,  Henry 
declared  the  secession  of  England.  The  screw  was 
too  powerful,  and  had  bitten  only  too  well.  Escape 
was  impossible.  It  remained  to  be  seen  what  com- 
pliance could  do ;  to  test  the  appeasing  efficacy  of 
compromise  and  reform. 

But  before  reform  had  become  a  necessity  publicly 
acknowledged  by  the  Church,  there  existed  inside  the 
Church  itself  a  party  of  men  who  had  begun  to  recog- 
nize the  need,  and  who  turned  their  thoughts  to  the 
question.  These  men  used  to  meet  together  for  dis- 
cussion at  the  Church  of  SS.  Dorothy  and  Silvester, 
in  the  Trastevere,  and  under  the  presidency  of  Padre 
Dato,  its  parish  priest.  In  the  midst  of  corrupt  and 
indifferent  Rome,  of  Rome  that  was  enjoying  the 
Papacy,  this  handful  of  earnest  men  had  caught  an 
echo  of  the  elemental  movement  that  was  in  progress 
beyond  the  Alps.  Reform  and  not  enjoyment  was  the 
subject  of  their  thoughts.  This  company,  which  met 
in  the  gardens  of  SS.  Dorothy  and  Silvester,  called 
itself  "  The  Oratory  of  Divine  Love."  It  was  composed 
of  men  drawn  together  from  various  parts  of  Italy; 
from  Venice,  Modena,  Vicenza,  and  Naples;  all  of 
them  distinguished,  but  for  whom  the  future  reserved 
widely  differing  issues.  There  was  John  Peter  Caraffa, 
the  lean  and  impetuous  Neapolitan,  with  the  fierceness 
of  the  Inquisition  in  his  heart,  destined  to  become 
Paul  IV.,  to  wage  a  hopeless  war  against  Spain,  to  be 
forced  by  circumstances  he  could  not  control  into  the 

VOL.    II.  8 


ii4  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

arms  of  this  power  he  hated,  to  die  deceived  by  his 
nephews  and  detested  by  the  Church.  There  was 
Gaetano  Thiene,  founder  of  an  order  of  nobles,  en- 
thusiastic in  zeal,  but  of  gentler  mould  and  fascinated 
by  the  impetuosity  of  the  fiery  Neapolitan.  There, 
too,  were  Contarini  and  Sadoleto,  fast  friends  through 
life,  working  for  the  same  object  and  sharing  the  same 
hopes — a  possible  compromise  with  Protestantism  and 
a  reunion  of  the  Church  under  her  ancient  chief,  the 
pope.  In  fact,  the  Oratory  of  Divine  Love  contained 
in  miniature  the  future  of  the  Roman  Church.  Its 
tendencies  were  there,  as  yet  undeveloped.  The  two 
lines  it  might  possibly  adopt  were  expressed  in  the 
temper  of  the  Oratorians — the  line  of  absolute  defiance 
to  Protestantism,  of  uncompromising  and  haughty 
antagonism,  of  fire  and  blood  and  inquisition  tortures  ; 
and  the  other  line  of  toleration,  of  patience,  of  hope 
that  the  lost  sheep  might  yet  be  won  back  to  the  fold. 
But  in  the  gardens  by  the  Tiber  the  companions  were 
still  undivided,  unconscious  of  the  heart-burnings  and 
the  cruelty  at  one  another's  hands  which  lay  in  store 
for  them  ;  no  Luther  had  yet  come  among  them  with 
a  sword  of  separation.  It  is  only  by  the  light  of 
subsequent  history  that  we  see  how  they  met  later  on, 
when  the  divergence  of  their  natures  had  become 
marked  under  the  pressure  of  the  growing  schism ; 
how  that  fierce  monk  Caraffa,  drinking  his  thick  black 
wine,  his  "  champ-the-battle,"  as  he  called  it,  turned  in 
fury  on  his  former  friends ;  how  he  thwarted  Contarini 
at  Ratisbon  ;  how  Sadoleto's  Commentary  was  placed 
upon  the  Index ;  how  Pole  was  deprived  of  his 
office  of  legate  in  England ;  how  even  their  humble 
followers  were  pursued ;  how  Priuli  lost  the  bishopric 
of  Brescia.  We  do  not,  however,  intend  to  follow  all 
the  members  of  the  Oratory  to  the  close  of  their 
divergent  ways,  but  only  that  party  among  them 
which  gathered  round  Contarini,  the  party  of  modera- 
tion and  compromise,  the  party  also  of  failure.  Nor 
is  it  in  their  public  life  and  their  ecclesiastical  policy 


THEIR  LETTERS  115 

that  we  wish  to  look  closely  at  these  men ;  that  belongs 
to  the  general  history  of  the  counter-Reformation.  It 
is  rather  to  their  inner  lives  that  we  would  turn  and 
note,  if  possible,  the  manner  of  men  these  friends 
appear  among  themselves. 

It  would  be  a  difficult,  and  almost  a  hopeless  task, 
to  extract  the  essence  of  these  men,  had  not  both 
Pole  and  Sadoleto  left  a  copious  correspondence  behind 
them.  In  their  letters,  through  the  obscurity  of  a 
foreign  tongue,  we  see  themselves  and  their  friends 
taking  shape  acting  and  reacting  on  one  another, 
growing  nearer  together  as  the  years  pass  by.  "  I 
seem  to  hear  your  voice  speaking  to  me  out  of  your 
last  letter,"  writes  Sadoleto  to  Pole.  "  My  letters  to 
you  have  apparently  miscarried.  They  reached  you 
either  later  than  they  should  have  done,  or  else  not  at 
all.  But  whatever  betide  the  letters,  it  is  not  in  paper 
and  ink  that  our  love  resides,  but  rather  in  the  hearts 
of  both  of  us ;  and  not  merely  written  there,  but 
inburnt,  so  that  it  can  never  be  obliterated."  And 
these  phrases  of  affection  pass  current  among  them  all. 
They  were,  in  sympathy,  one  at  heart.  The  common 
trials  and  dangers  which  beset  them  bound  them 
closely  together.  Each  one  of  them  suffered  misfor- 
tune. Contarini  saw  his  country  barely  escaping  from 
the  ruin  of  Cambray.  Pole  was  an  exile  with  a  price 
upon  his  head.  Sadoleto  experienced  the  fluctuations 
of  court  favour  and  disgrace.  Not  one  of  them  avoided 
the  imputation  of  heresy.  And  it  was  inevitable  that 
it  should  be  so.  The  intellectual  aspect  of  Luther's 
reform,  the  distinctly  rational  assertion  of  free  judg- 
ment, could  not  fail  to  appeal  to  the  cultivated  Italians 
brought  up  on  Aristotle  at  the  feet  of  Pomponazzo. 
It  was  only  the  narrowest  margin  which  distinguished 
Contarini  and  his  friends  from  Castelvetri,  the  excom- 
municated outlaw,  driven  to  the  mountains  to  save  his 
life,  and  dying  at  length  in  exile  at  Chiavenna.  And 
when  Sadoleto  made  his  last  effort  on  Castelvetri's 
behalf  he,  though  a  cardinal,  appeals  to  the  heretic  as 


ii6  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

a  man  of  letters  first,  as  a  good  churchman  last.  "  I 
love  you  on  every  score,  and  cannot  believe  that  you 
hold  any  opinion  unworthy  of  a  man  of  letters  and  a 
good  Christian."  The  reasons  which  kept  these  men 
just  inside  the  Church  were  twofold.  They  were 
already  high  in  the  office  of  that  Church,  and  the  wish 
of  their  hearts  was  not  to  pass  outside  themselves,  but 
to  bring  the  wanderers  in.  Another  and  profounder 
reason  held  them  where  they  were.  The  economy  of 
the  Church,  so  complete  in  its  details,  so  precise  in  its 
gradations  of  rank  and  of  duties,  could  not  fail  to  exer- 
cise a  strong  fascination  over  the  Italian  temper,  which 
desires  form  above  everything.  And  now  this  satis- 
fying symmetry  was  threatened  with  destruction ;  its 
very  crown  and  apex  was  in  danger ;  a  many-headed 
Church  appeared  to  be  no  Church  at  all.  It  was 
Henry's  declaration  of  himself  as  chief  of  the  English 
Church  which  compelled  Pole  to  choose  exile  rather 
than  obedience.  With  the  theological  and  philo- 
sophical doctrines,  however,  of  the  reformers  these 
friends  showed  a  deep  sympathy  which  continually 
made  itself  felt  in  their  writings.  And  this  common 
attitude  towards  the  great  question  of  their  day— an 
impossible  attitude,  and  doomed  to  failure  just  because 
it  appreciated  too  accurately  the  good  and  the  evil  on 
both  sides — formed  the  groundwork  upon  which  the 
affection  of  these  men  was  based.  This  is  the  sphere 
within  which  they  exercised  their  finest  qualities,  their 
warm  friendship  and  loyalty,  their  intellectual  keen- 
ness, their  devotion  to  high  and  noble  studies.  Within 
this  region  they  differed,  as  even  the  best  friends  must 
differ,  in  cast  of  character ;  each  of  them  displayed  his 
individual  temperament ;  but  within  this  region  also 
they  were  sure  of  one  another's  sympathy,  and  stood 
together  as  a  party. 

It  is  round  Contarini  that  the  party  gathers ;  he  is 
the  most  active  and  the  most  distinguished  of  their 
number.  Born  in  1483  of  noble  Venetian  parents,  an 
October  child,  when  eighteen  years  of  age  he  went 


CONTARINI'S  EARLY  CAREER          117 

to  the  University  of  Padua.  With  characteristic 
impetuosity  of  temper  he  attacked  both  practical  and 
speculative  studies — mathematics,  engineering,  and 
philosophy  ;  and  gave  solid  proofs  of  his  ability  to  use 
them  all.  On  his  return  to  Venice  he  was  employed 
by  the  government  to  regulate  the  river  courses 
throughout  the  difficult  country  of  Bassano.  It  is 
said  that  when  he  was  in  Spain,  representing  Venice 
at  the  court  of  Charles,  Magellan's  ship,  the  Victory, 
came  home  after  her  voyage  round  the  world,  laden 
with  cloves  gathered  in  the  Spice  Islands.  The 
Victory  arrived  a  day  later  than  her  log-book  showed, 
and  Contarini  alone  was  found  able  to  explain  what 
had  become  of  the  missing  day.  The  temper  of  his 
mind,  the  Venetian  mind,  was  chiefly  practical ;  and 
the  larger  part  of  his  life  was  spent  in  active  political 
duties,  for  Venice  first,  and  then  for  the  Church. 
Writing  to  a  friend,  he  says  his  letters  are  not  in- 
tended for  circulation  :  "  They  are  scribbled  in  haste 
by  a  busy  man." 

But  Contarini  never  lost  his  interest  in  philosophy, 
nor  the  passion  for  Aristotle,  which  consumed  him 
when  he  first  went  to  Padua.  His  friends  used  to  say 
that  if  the  whole  of  the  Stagyrite's  works  were  lost, 
Contarini  could  supply  them  all  again  from  memory. 
And  it  may  well  have  been  so,  for  his  biographer  and 
constant  friend,  Beccadello,  tells  us  that  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  reading  Aristotle  for  seven  continuous  years 
three  or  four  hours  a  day,  and  then  during  his  after- 
noon walk  he  "  ruminated "  on  the  subject  of  his 
morning's  study,  reconstructing  the  whole  chain  of 
argument  until  it  was  indelibly  impressed  upon  his 
mind.  And  philosophy  remained  for  him  a  constant 
source  of  relaxation  and  delight  after  the  more  pressing 
engagements  of  his  political  career.  "You  ask  me," 
he  writes  to  a  friend,  "  for  my  opinion  on  the  relation 
between  the  mind  and  the  understanding.  Till  now  I 
have  been  too  deeply  occupied  by  my  duties  in  the 
Council  of  Ten.  But  to-night,  Christmas  Eve,  I  am 


ii8  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

free,  and  shall  take  some  recreation  and  no  small 
pleasure  in  discussing  the  point  with  you.  Moreover, 
meditation  on  this  subject  is  by  no  means  unsuited  to 
the  solemn  nature  of  the  day."  Then  he  passes  on  to 
the  topic,  and  loses  himself  in  a  lofty  flight  which 
closes  in  the  nature  of  the  Divine.  He  forgets  the 
Ten  and  his  political  duties  in  the  eternal  consolations 
of  a  philosophy  based  on  faith,  in  the  happiness  of  a 
man  whose  hopes  and  whose  reason  are  not  divorced. 
Study  and  writing,  however,  were  the  rare  pleasures 
and  not  the  constant  occupation  of  Contarini's  life,  and 
he  valued  them  more  highly  for  their  rarity.  "  I  know 
no  better  means  for  whiling  away  a  summer's  after- 
noon than  listening  to  the  music  of  some  mighty 
poet."  Poetry  and  philosophical  discussion  were  a 
relief  and  a  delight,  but  writing  was  a  veritable  passion 
with  the  man.  He  lost  his  appetite  and  his  sleep ;  he 
wandered  about  restless  and  alone,  while  planning  a 
work  in  his  head.  His  friends  could  always  tell  when 
the  labour  was  upon  him  and  he  was  about  to  produce. 
After  he  had  once  seen  and  grasped  his  subject,  he 
wrote  with  the  greatest  fury  and  rapidity,  as  much 
as  six  pages  in  an  hour,  so  hurriedly,  indeed,  that 
"  many  words  remained  in  his  pen."  Having  thus 
discharged  his  mind,  he  handed  the  whole  work  over 
to  a  secretary,  to  polish,  rewrite,  and  find  the  missing 
words.  He  absolutely  refused  to  touch  his  thoughts 
again,  partly,  no  doubt,  from  lack  of  time,  partly  from 
indifference  to  the  graces  of  style  and  from  pre- 
occupation with  the  matter  of  his  work,  partly  also 
owing  to  a  slight  impatience  with  the  laboured 
polish  of  his  contemporaries  Sadoleto  and  Bembo. 
His  style  suffered  from  this  haste,  but  his  health 
suffered  more  owing  to  this  addiction  to  the  passionate 
pleasure  of  writing.  He  became  subject  to  insomnia ; 
sleeping  but  little,  and  never  after  he  had  wakened 
from  his  first  sleep.  These  night  vigils  were  devoted 
to  the  study  of  St.  Augustine,  or  to  the  solution  of 
some  problem  in  ethics.  "  Here  I  am,"  he  writes, 


CONTARINI'S  CHARACTER  119 

"  awake  in  one  of  these  long  winter  nights,  as  so  often 
happens  to  me ;  and  I  turn  my  thoughts  to  the  con- 
sideration of  your  question,  which  are  the  nobler,  the 
speculative  or  the  moral  qualities?" 

With  a  temper  keen  and  impetuous,  we  should 
expect  to  find  that  Contarini  possessed  a  certain 
amount  of  fearlessness  and  the  courage  of  his  opinions. 
And,  indeed,  he  always  did  display  a  frankness  of 
manner  and  directness  of  speech  little  in  accordance 
with  the  courtly  habits  of  the  Vatican.  Though 
choleric,  he  never  allowed  his  temper  to  pass  beyond 
his  control ;  and  his  real  gentleness  of  nature,  and 
his  unswerving  loyalty  to  his  friends,  bound  them  to 
him  in  the  closest  attachment.  Pole  consulted  him 
about  his  private  affairs  in  England.  "  Keep  a  good 
heart,"  answers  Contarini,  "and  do  not  doubt  that 
the  day  will  come  when  we  shall  sing  the  psalm, 
1  Glad  were  we  for  the  days  in  which  we  saw  evil,  for 
the  years  wherein  Thou  hast  humiliated  us.'  ...  I 
have  no  time  to  write  except  to  say,  keep  well  and 
come  back  soon  to  the  man  who  loves  you  more  than 
any  other."  It  was  not  his  friends  only  who  knew 
the  worth  of  the  man ;  that  was  only  natural.  But 
perhaps  no  one  in  that  age  of  difficult  and  crooked 
policy  had  a  greater  power  of  inspiring  confidence 
than  Contarini.  The  Venetians  knew  very  well  what 
they  were  about  when  they  sent  him  as  their  am- 
bassador to  the  court  of  Charles,  with  whom  their 
relations  were  strained  and  hostile.  And  Contarini 
immediately  won  the  regard  of  the  emperor  and 
retained  it.  Charles  took  Contarini  with  him  when 
he  made  his  hurried  visit  to  England,  and  had  not 
forgotten  him  when  they  met  once  more  at  Bologna, 
at  Nice,  and  at  Ratisbon.  The  mixture  of  frankness, 
goodness,  and  grace  which  characterized  Contarini, 
made  him  a  singularly  lovable  man — one  to  whom 
people  turned  with  a  sense  of  confidence  and  rest ; 
and  his  modesty  and  simplicity  in  no  way  lessened 
his  charm.  There  is  a  pretty  story  told  of  how  he  met 


120  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

Margaret,  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  at  Nice  when  the 
pope  and  Francis  and  Charles  were  trying  to  arrange 
their  differences.  Contarini  went,  as  in  duty  bound, 
to  pay  his  respects  to  Margaret.  The  queen  came 
from  her  rooms  towards  the  head  of  the  stairs  to  meet 
him,  and  the  cardinal  was  about  to  kneel  and  kiss  her 
hand,  when  the  lady  ran  forward  laughing,  and  crying, 
"  No,  no,  not  to  me,"  took  him  by  both  his  hands  and 
kissed  him  on  the  cheek.  Contarini  stood  blushing 
like  a  boy,  and  all  confused,  till  one  of  the  bystanders 
told  him  with  a  laugh  that  such  was  the  dolce  costume 
of  Navarre. 

It  was  from  his  own  countrymen,  however,  and 
early  in  life  that  his  worth  received  the  highest  tribute 
of  praise.  Contarini  was  in  Venice,  actively  engaged 
in  the  business  of  the  Republic.  He  had  just  returned 
from  an  embassy  to  Rome,  and  was  looking  forward 
to  a  long  life  in  the  secular  service  of  his  native  city, 
when  Paul  III.  determined  to  raise  him  to  the  car- 
dinalate  and  to  summon  him  to  Rome  in  order  to 
initiate  those  reforms  of  the  Church  which  the  pro- 
gress of  Luther  made  imperative.  Contarini,  unaware 
of  the  honour  in  store  for  him,  was  at  his  place  in  the 
Great  Council  when  the  pope's  messenger  arrived  on 
Sunday  morning  and  requested  to  see  him.  This, 
while  the  council  was  in  session,  could  not  be  allowed; 
but  a  secretary  took  the  despatches,  and,  opening 
them,  suddenly  announced  to  Contarini  that  he  had 
been  raised  to  the  purple.  The  counsellors  rose  in 
a  body  and  pressed  forward  to  congratulate  their 
colleague.  But  one  of  them,  Alvise  Mocenigo,  was 
not  so  easily  pleased  ;  he  could  not  rise  from  his  seat 
with  the  others,  as  he  was  suffering  from  the  gout, 
but  above  the  buzz  and  patter  of  congratulation  he 
cried,  "  These  priests  have  robbed  us  of  the  best 
gentleman  this  city  has."  Old  Mocenigo's  growl  was 
fully  justified ;  Venice  was  struggling  to  repair  the 
mischief  wrought  by  the  League  of  Cambray,  and 
nothing  could  have  been  more  useful  to  her  than  the 


CONTARINI'S  OBJECTS  121 

tact,  the  firmness,  and  the  popularity  of  Contarini. 
But  she  lost  him  ;  and  that  activity  which  might  have 
been  employed  to  good  purpose  in  the  service  of 
Venice  was  transferred,  with  no  result  but  failure, 
to  the  service  of  the  Church. 

Contarini  was  no  sluggard ;  the  change  of  climate 
did  not  change  his  temper.  He  no  sooner  reached 
Rome  than  he  began  to  form  his  party,  clearly 
understanding  the  objects  for  which  he  had  been 
summoned  thither.  He  had  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Pole  in  Venice.  He  now  called  Pole,  Sadoleto, 
Giberti,  Aleandro,  and  Cortese  to  his  aid ;  and,  in 
spite  of  bitter  opposition  and  jealousy  inside  the 
Sacred  College,  he  pressed  the  proposals  for  reform. 
The  College  endeavoured  to  crush  the  new-comer  with 
scorn.  "  Had  Contarini  come  from  the  Senate  of 
Venice  to  reform  the  cardinals  whose  very  names 
he  did  not  know?"  That  was  true.  Contarini  did 
not  know  their  names ;  but  he  had  been  beyond  the 
Alps,  and  knew  better  than  any  of  them  the  strength 
of  Luther's  party  and  the  imperative  need  for  puri- 
fication inside  the  Church.  Yet  his  enemies  were  able 
to  poison  the  ear,  though  not  the  mind,  of  the  pope 
against  him.  "  I  know  how  it  is,"  said  Paul  to 
the  cardinal  while  the  latter  was  remonstrating  with 
him  on  some  of  his  recent  creations  ;  "  it  is  in  the  very 
nature  of  cardinals  to  be  jealous  lest  others  should  be 
made  their  equals  in  consideration."  "  Pardon  me," 
replied  Contarini,  "your  Holiness  cannot  with  justice 
bring  this  charge  against  me,  for  I  have  suggested  the 
appointment  of  many  who  have  proved  good  servants 
to  your  Holiness  and  the  Church.  And  indeed  I  do 
not  count  my  hat  my  chiefest  honour.  ...  If  your 
Holiness  would  make  the  Church  fair  to  see,  publish 
no  more  decrees ;  there  are  enough ;  but  rather  set 
forth  living  books  who  shall  give  voice  and  expression 
to  these  decrees."  This  was  Contarini's  appeal  that 
his  hands  might  be  strengthened  by  the  admission  of 
his  friends  to  the  Sacred  College.  To  the  credit  of 


122  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

Paul,  he  did  not  take  umbrage  at  a  frankness  so  un- 
wonted in  the  court  of  St.  Peter,  but  read  the  earnest 
sincerity  of  the  man.  He  commissioned  Contarini 
and  his  friends  to  draw  up  a  scheme  of  reform ;  and 
the  result  of  their  meetings  was  the  famous  Advice 
of  the  Select  Cardinals,  which  Sadoleto  latined  in 
such  vigorous  style.  This  document  is  the  most 
singular  monument  to  Contarini's  courage.  He  struck 
fearlessly  at  the  root  of  the  evil — at  the  College  itself, 
at  the  boy  bishops,  at  the  absentee  and  pluralist 
cardinals,  and  at  the  monastic  orders  whose  entire 
suppression  he  advocated.  But  all  his  zeal  was  in 
vain.  The  Advice  was  read  and  shelved ;  the  hydra  of 
abuse  did  not  lose  a  single  head. 

And  in  the  midst  of  these  absorbing  public  occupa- 
tions Contarini  was  ceaselessly  engaged  in  literary 
correspondence  with  his  friends ;  in  reading,  emend- 
ing, and  annotating  the  work  submitted  to  him  by 
Bembo,  Sadoleto,  or  Pole.  Busy,  too,  with  treatises 
of  his  own  on  Free-will,  Justification,  Predestination, 
the  authority  of  the  pope,  written  with  such  out- 
spoken frankness  and  with  such  deep  sympathy  for 
the  Lutheran  point  of  view,  that  it  is  a  marvel  how 
they  escaped  the  Index  Expurgatorius.  Nor  did 
all  this  engagement  make  him  bate  one  jot  of  his 
activity  on  his  friends'  behalf.  He  hears  that  Pole 
is  in  want  of  cash  ;  by  the  next  post  his  friend  learns 
that  the  pope  will  increase  his  salary.  For  Sadoleto's 
sake  he  undertakes  the  cause  of  the  poor  peasants  at 
Carpentras  against  the  Jews.  But  if  he  willingly 
expends  himself  for  his  friends'  behoof,  he  claims 
that  they,  too,  shall  not  be  dilatory  nor  self-indulgent. 
His  letters  calling  them  to  Rome  and  the  service  of 
the  Church  shook  Pole  and  Sadoleto  in  their  peaceful 
study  at  Carpentras.  Both  felt  and  obeyed  the 
compulsion  of  this  vigorous  and  loving  man. 

The  failure  of  Contarini's  hopes  of  reform  and 
the  collapse  of  the  Advice  did  not  extinguish  his 
activity.  And  when  Charles  proposed  the  Diet  of 


THE  DIET  OF  RATISBON  123 

Ratisbon,  and  asked  the  pope  to  send  Contarini  as 
legate,  the  cardinal,  though  fifty-eight  years  old, 
gladly  embraced  the  opportunity  of  attempting  once 
more  the  task  of  reconciliation  and  compromise.  At 
the  end  of  January  he  left  Rome,  and,  to  the  horror 
of  his  attendants,  he  pressed  straight  on  across  the 
Apennines  above  Bologna,  though  they  lay  deep  in 
snow.  "  We  arrived  here,"  writes  one  of  his  retinue 
from  Bologna,  "  all  of  us  pierced  through  with  cold, 
which  accompanied  us  the  whole  way,  and  will  not 
leave  us  yet  awhile.  The  Padre  Beccadello,  though 
smothered  in  a  mountain  of  furs,  looked  as  if  he  would 
have  perished  of  the  frost."  But  Contarini  never 
complained.  His  eyes  were  fixed  on  Ratisbon,  and 
his  thoughts  were  occupied  by  a  vision  of  the  Church 
made  once  again  through  his  endeavours.  Pole  had 
followed  the  same  road  two  years  before  on  his  way 
to  Spain,  but  with  fainter  hopes  and  a  feebler  courage. 
4  The  fine  weather,"  he  wrote  to  Contarini,  "  has 
allowed  us  to  cross  the  Apennines,  but  the  cold  on 
the  mountains  actually  burned  us.  The  passage  would 
have  been  impossible  had  there  been  rain  or  snow." 
Contarini  would  not  have  admitted  such  an  "impos- 
sible," but  he  did  not  know  the  greater  difficulties 
that  waited  him  in  Ratisbon,  difficulties  which  defied 
even  his  powers  of  gentleness  and  zeal  to  overcome. 
When  the  work  of  the  Diet  was  once  begun  he  made 
rapid  progress  towards  a  reconciliation  with  the  Pro- 
testants, and  differences  seemed  to  be  vanishing  under 
the  charm  of  his  treatment.  But  every  step  in  that 
direction  only  rendered  the  consummation  of  his 
desire  more  hopeless.  Luther  suspected  such  a  facile 
agreement ;  Charles  dreaded  a  Germany  united  and 
catholic  once  more  through  the  labours  of  the  pope  ; 
at  Rome  Caraffa  inveighed  against  compromise,  and 
accused  Contarini  of  heresy;  the  treacherous  offers 
of  Francis  to  the  one  party  and  the  other  induced 
both  Protestant  and  Roman  to  hope  that  concession 
might  be  avoided.  The  legate's  task  was  an  impossible 


124  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

one.  Inspired  by  Caraffa,  Cardinal  Farnese  wrote  a 
long  despatch  to  Contarini,  in  which  the  latter  could 
not  fail  to  read  the  ruin  of  his  prospects.  "  Bear 
yourself  cautiously,  and  do  not  be  drawn  to  assent 
to  any  proposition  through  the  hope  of  accord.  In 
the  exposition  of  doctrine  let  us  have  no  ambiguity. 
And  finally,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  sum  up  all  in  a 
word,  do  not  conduct  yourself  so  frankly  as  to  run  the 
risk  of  being  gulled  by  our  enemies."  Such  was  the 
temper  of  Rome,  and  this  despatch  was  the  warrant 
of  Contarini's  failure.  He  returned  to  Italy  and  found 
his  acquaintances  cold  towards  him.  "  What  are  these 
monstrous  articles  to  which  you  have  subscribed  at  the 
bidding  of  the  Lutherans  ?  "  said  one.  "  That  is  only 
some  squib  of  Pasquin  ;  do  not  believe  it."  "  Pardon, 
this  is  no  squib.  I  read  it  in  a  letter  from  a  great 
cardinal."  So  the  Church  which  he  had  tried  to  serve 
refused  to  acknowledge  his  efforts.  Only  his  friends 
drew  closer  to  his  side,  and  their  letters  came  faster 
and  fuller  of  affection  as  the  end  approached.  Con- 
tarini was  sent  as  legate  to  Bologna  in  1542,  the  year 
after  the  Diet  of  Ratisbon.  The  summer  heats  began 
to  rage  with  great  fierceness,  and  he  retired  to  S.  M. 
del  Monte  above  the  town.  In  the  monastery  there 
was  a  loggia  looking  northwards  across  the  Lombard 
fields  towards  the  Alps,  which  were  just  visible  in  the 
distance,  a  fine  and  serrated  line  of  snow  above  the 
tropical  shimmer  and  haze  of  the  plain.  Here  Con- 
tarini loved  to  sit  and  talk  and  feel  the  cooler  breeze. 
But  the  keen  wind  gave  him  a  chill  and  threw  him 
into  a  fever.  He  knew  at  once  that  he  was  dying. 
Beccadello,  his  faithful  attendant,  tried  to  cheer  him. 
"  Do  not  think  of  this ;  let  the  doctors  see  to  it ;  only 
get  well  and  we  will  set  out  on  our  mission  to  the 
emperor."  "  Before  another  and  a  greater  Emperor 
I  must  present  myself  this  day."  He  was,  as  always, 
only  too  wise,  says  his  biographer ;  he  died  that  same 
evening,  fifty-nine  years  old. 

If  Contarini  proved  himself  vigorous  in  the  political 


SADOLETO  125 

life  which  he  adopted,  his  friend  Sadoleto  was  hardly 
less  so  in  his  own  particular  way.  It  is  part  of  the 
charm  of  this  company  of  Contarini  that  each  member 
displays  his  own  distinctive  features  clearly  marked ; 
though  all  are  bound  together  by  affection  and  sym- 
pathy. Sadoleto  is  first  and  foremost  a  man  of 
letters.  He  cannot  help  regarding  Rome  from  the 
humanist  point  of  view ;  he  is  one  with  Erasmus  in 
the  colour  of  his  indignation  at  the  sack  of  the  Eternal 
City.  "  O  barbariem  inauditam !  Quae  fuit  unquam 
tanta  Scytharum,  Quadorum,  Wandalorum,  Hun- 
norum,  Gothorum,  immanitas?"  Sadoleto  wished 
to  contemplate  Rome  from  a  distance ;  to  focus  it 
through  the  line  of  its  classical  history;  to  see  it 
through  the  emotional  atmosphere  of  all  the  ages  and 
of  all  learning.  To  be  compelled  to  deal  with  Rome 
as  the  seat  of  the  Sacred  College,  as  the  home  of  the 
pontiff  at  war  with  Luther,  destroyed  the  illusion. 
Therefore  Sadoleto  escaped  from  Rome  whenever  he 
saw  his  opportunity.  He  escaped  to  plunge  himself 
among  his  books  in  his  see  of  Carpentras ;  to  lose 
himself  in  the  region  that  he  loved,  the  study  of  the 
classics  and  the  conversation  of  his  friends.  Not  that 
he  was  cold-hearted  to  the  Church  ;  he  was  willing  to 
labour  for  her  ;  but  she  did  not  fill  and  brim  his  whole 
sphere  of  vision  as  was  the  case  with  Contarini.  When 
his  friend  Pole  failed  in  his  legation  to  France,  Sado- 
leto wrote  to  him  with  hardly  concealed  indifference. 
44 1  was  sorry  to  learn  that  your  mission  has  failed,  but 
I  take  it  the  less  to  heart,  as  I  always  foresaw  the  issue. 
Only  come  back  safe  and  sound  to  us."  He  was  a 
scholar  and  a  good  friend,  but  hardly  a  politician  or 
a  churchman.  He  knew  that  politics  were  not  his 
region  ;  and  when,  under  the  pressure  of  Contarini,  he 
did  mix  in  affairs  he  chose  the  pen,  the  weapon  that 
came  the  readiest  to  his  hand.  But  we  never  can  read 
far  in  his  epistles  before  we  find  him  abandoning  the 
discussion  of  events  to  cry,  4<  Veniamus  ad  litteras." 
The  criticism,  the  correction,  and  the  composition  of 


126  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

books  were  the  main  passion  of  life  for  Sadoleto ;  for 
Contarini  they  were  luxuries  to  be  enjoyed  but 
sparingly.  Yet  the  gravity  and  weight  of  Sadoleto's 
style  fully  justified  his  choice.  And  this  engine  of 
vigorous  diction  which  he  perfected,  he  devoted  almost 
entirely  to  the  service  of  the  Church.  Within  his 
chosen  sphere  of  literature  he  was  a  diligent  servant. 
But  as  he  grew  older  this  literary  temper  and  its  claim 
upon  him  grew  stronger.  "  I  wish  to  devote  the  rest 
of  my  life  to  study,"  he  writes  to  Farnese.  "  I  there- 
fore think  of  giving  up  my  diocese ;  I  only  long  for 
peace  and  quiet  anywhere.  I  renounce  Carpentras 
and  my  gardens ;  only  give  me  quiet,  be  it  where  you 
will."  This  quiet  for  which  he  prayed  was  employed 
in  no  ignoble  manner.  It  was  then  the  custom  to  pass 
books  in  manuscript  from  hand  to  hand  among  the 
friends  of  the  author.  Criticism  and  correction  were 
invited,  and  this  led  to  a  continual  correspondence 
upon  literary  topics.  Sadoleto's  study  in  his  villa 
suburbana  at  Carpentras  was  one  of  the  centres  of  this 
activity,  one  of  the  fires  of  the  literary  forge.  And  he 
was  happiest  when  he  was  thus  employed  in  company 
with  some  congenial  spirit.  He  caught  Pole  once  on 
his  return  from  one  of  his  many  embassies,  and  we  can 
see  from  their  correspondence  how  happy  they  were 
together.  Sadoleto  preludes  to  Pole :  "  I  have  not 
written  before  because  I  know  that  you  are  in  receipt 
of  all  our  news.  My  love  for  you,  however,  requires 
the  verification  of  no  letters.  Only  come  back  safe  and 
sound  to  me."  Then  Pole  follows  to  Contarini :  "  I  am 
here  in  Carpentras,  living  in  a  monastery,  a  place 
solitary  and  devout;  moreover,  quite  close  to  the 
gardens  of  Sadoleto,  whither  I  go  at  least  once  a  week 
to  spend  the  whole  day  "  ;  and  again  :  "  These  politics 
prevent  me  from  enjoying  to  the  full  the  delightful 
and  tranquil  company  of  Sadoleto.  Here,  however,  is 
an  admirable  solitude ;  and  were  it  not  for  the  letters 
from  Rome  we  should  have  no  news  at  all." 

Pole,  the   most   feminine   spirit   of  the  three,  was 


SADOLETO'S  TEMPERAMENT  127 

continually  swayed  between  the  stronger  characters  of 
his  friends  Contarini  and  Sadoleto.     On  this  occasion 
Contarini  broke  in  upon  their  peace  with  cries  and  claims 
of  duty.    Pole  had  to  face  the  French  legation,  and  the 
happiest  months  of  his  life,  those  spent  with  Sadoleto 
at  Carpentras,  came  to  an  end.     But  it  was  not  literary 
work   solely   which   occupied  Sadoleto's   days  in  his 
bishopric.      He  was  a  man  capable  of  the  strongest 
personal   attachments  when   the  object  was  brought 
within  his  immediate  reach.     All  that  lay  beyond  his 
direct  perception,  and  which  yet  commanded  his  regard, 
he  transferred    to   a   region    of  emotion  other  than 
personal,   into  an   atmosphere    that    was  artistic  or 
intellectual.     But  his  personal  feelings  were  rendered 
all  the  stronger  for  this  concentration.     His  affections 
are  the  affections  of  an  artist  accustomed  to  deal  with 
the  whole  sphere  of  emotion  as  the  matter  of  his  art, 
and  who  suddenly  finds  his  familiarity  with  passion 
translated   into  terms  of  himself  and  overmastering. 
But  it  is  just  in  these  burning  moments  of  his  heart 
that  the  true  nobility  and  gentleness  of  Sadoleto  most 
appear.      He    has    left    one  love-letter    behind   him, 
through  which  the  deep  current  of  a  genuine  affection 
flows  unmistakably.     It  does  not  appear  to  whom  it 
was  addressed ;  but  he  says,  "  I  have  never  ceased  to 
love  you.    Yet,  since  it  is  the  wont  of  lovers  to  be  ever 
anxious  on  behalf  of  those  they  love,  I  wish  to  enjoin 
on  you  one  thing  which  both  my  love  and  your  youth 
recommend  ;   strive,  without  any  appearance  of  vain 
glory,  but  in  wisdom  and  modesty,  to  approve  yourself 
among  your  company.     I,  as  beseems  my  love  for  you, 
and  my  ever-constant   wish   in   all   that  affects  you, 
promise  and  dedicate  to  you,  to  your  well-being  and 
adornment,  whatever  belongs  to  me  ;  my  every  effort, 
forethought,     influence,    authority,    diligence,   all,   in 
short,  that  nature  or  fortune  has   bestowed   on  me, 
however  trifling  it  may  be,  is  yours  for  all  time ;  not 
only  on  my  word  as  an  honourable  man,  but  on  the 
faith  and  evidence  of  this  letter  wherewith,  as  by  a 


128  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

solemn  pact,  I  desire  to  be  bound  to  you."  With  such 
a  well  of  affection  in  his  nature,  Sadoleto  could  not 
miss  the  warm  attachment  of  his  friends.  But  his  lot 
was  cast  in  troublous  times  fora  scholar  and  a  recluse. 
He  experienced  the  changes  and  caprices  of  favour  and 
disgrace,  and  was  forced  to  undertake  no  less  than  five 
journeys  between  Rome  and  Carpentras.  Thanks  to 
one  of  these,  he  escaped,  by  twenty  days,  the  sack  of 
the  Eternal  City  and  all  the  horrors  it  brought  upon 
his  learned  friends.  But  these  long  and  dangerous 
expeditions  broke  in  upon  his  leisure  and  seriously 
embarrassed  his  affairs,  and  towards  the  close  of  his 
life  he  found  himself  in  extreme  poverty.  "  I  am  so 
utterly  poor,"  he  writes,  "  that  I  cannot  make  even  a 
four  days'  journey  in  a  manner  becoming  to  a  cardinal. 
Horses  or  mules  I  have  none."  But  his  poverty  could 
not  purchase  him  seclusion.  He  lived  to  see  his  friends 
die  away  one  by  one;  to  hear  that  his  Commentary 
on  St.  Paul  was  condemned  and  placed  upon  the  Index; 
to  be  torn  from  his  study  by  an  imperious  summons 
to  Rome,  where  he  died  in  his  house  by  San  Pietro  in 
Vincola,  seventy  years  of  age. 

The  third  of  this  trio  of  friends,  Reginald  Pole, 
"  the  gentle  cardinal,"  the  spirito  angelico,  "  my  Saint 
Pole,"  as  Sadoleto  calls  him,  was  at  once  the  least 
powerful  and  the  most  femininely  attractive  of  the 
three.  It  is  not  only  his  gentleness — a  gentleness 
which  led  him  to  shelter  the  man  who  tried  to 
assassinate  him — nor  yet  his  misfortunes,  his  own 
exile,  and  his  mother's  execution  that  engage  our 
sympathy.  It  is  the  sweetness  and  sprightliness  of 
his  character  which  are  so  attractive;  for  Pole,  the 
Englishman,  is  the  only  one  of  the  three  friends  who 
shows  a  grain  of  humour.  Cast  among  strangers 
whom  he  had  to  make  his  friends,  whom  he  desired 
above  all  to  have  as  his  friends,  it  is  touching  to 
watch  him  struggling  with  the  barrier  of  language 
between  them.  In  his  early  letters  he  sometimes 
attempts  Italian.  He  halts  along  for  a  sentence  or  so, 


POLE 

and  then  reverts  to  the  more  formal  but  more  familiar 
Latin.  Gradually,  however,  the  barrier  was  broken 
down,  and  Pole  learned  to  use  Italian  freely.  Before 
the  disgrace  of  himself  and  the  ruin  of  his  whole 
family,  Pole  had  come  to  study  at  Padua,  after  leaving 
Oxford.  He  had  an  income  of  nine  hundred  pounds 
a  year,  and  lived  as  became  a  nobleman  and  a  relation 
of  the  King  of  England.  On  his  return  home  the 
question  of  the  king's  divorce  placed  him  on  the  horns 
of  a  dilemma — obedience  to  the  king  and  rupture  with 
the  Church,  or  exile.  Pole  chose  the  latter  alterna- 
tive, and  remembering  his  days  of  study  in  the 
Venetian  city,  he  made  his  way  to  Padua  once  more. 
It  was  upon  this  second  visit  that  he  formed  an 
intimacy  with  his  friends  Contarini  and  Priuli,  and 
also  with  the  man  who  afterwards  proved  his  foe, 
Caraflfa  the  Neapolitan.  Contarini  at  once  established 
an  ascendency  of  affection  over  the  gentle  English- 
man ;  and  it  was  between  the  political  impulse  of 
Contarini  and  the  literary  impulse  of  Sadoleto  that 
Pole  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  Italy.  When 
Contarini  was  summoned  to  Rome  to  undertake  the 
work  of  reform,  he  called  Pole,  among  other  friends, 
to  his  aid ;  and  Pole  appears  as  "  the  English  car- 
dinal" among  the  signatories  of  the  Advice.  Pole 
had  never  enjoyed  robust  health,  and  the  strain  of 
work  in  Rome  made  him  glad  to  escape  whenever 
possible.  Contarini  was  well  aware  of  his  friend's 
delicate  constitution,  and  anxiously  urged  him  to  pay 
more  heed  to  his  physical  condition,  and  to  keep 
himself  efficient  for  the  service  of  the  Church.  And 
thereupon  followed  a  humorous  correspondence.  Con- 
tarini recommends  a  fish  diet,  and  above  all  attention 
to  the  advice  of  Priuli  and  his  Italian  friends,  who 
understand  the  climate.  Pole  replies,  "  You  have 
now  commissioned  Priuli  to  act  as  a  keeper  of  my 
health  and  arbiter  of  my  goings ;  but  he  began  to  use 
his  authority  after  so  cavalier  a  fashion  that  my  horse, 
which  he  had  borrowed,  guessed  my  feelings  towards 
VOL.  ii.  9 


130  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

him  and  gave  him  a  fall ;  since  then  I  find  him  much 
milder.  But,  joking  apart,  travelling  tries  me  severely. 
The  wind  and  open  air,  to  which  I  have  not  been 
accustomed  for  some  months,  give  me  a  fever;  and 
that  attacks  me  chiefly  at  night."  This  same  Priuli 
is  the  man  who,  of  all  others,  was  most  deeply 
attached  to  Pole.  From  the  time  when  they  first  met 
in  Venice  Priuli  never  left  his  friend.  His  villa  near 
Treviso  was  always  open  to  Pole;  and  thither  Pole 
retired  when  in  need  of  rest,  or,  as  in  the  middle  of 
the  Council  of  Trent,  in  search  of  health.  Priuli  was 
with  him  on  his  many  legations ;  with  him  too  at  his 
palace  of  Lambeth  during  the  two  years  that  Pole 
was  Archbishop  of  Canterbury ;  and  when  Pole  died, 
"  Alvise  Priuli,  for  twenty  years  my  tried  friend,"  was 
left  his  heir  and  executor.  In  spite  of  the  joke  about 
the  horse,  and  his  unwillingness  to  be  drilled,  Pole 
had  the  good  sense  to  listen  to  Priuli's  recommenda- 
tions, and  from  his  next  letter,  written  to  Contarini 
from  Piacenza,  it  is  clear  that  he  has  profited.  "  Again ! 
another  letter  on  the  same  subject !  Do  you  think  you 
have  no  weight  with  me  that  you  must  follow  up 
the  first  by  a  second?  But  from  this  I  learn  how 
anxious  all  love  must  needs  be.  I  cannot  deny  that 
my  strength  has  greatly  benefited  by  listening  to  your 
advice,  and  I  am  not  only  well,  but  even  in  robust 
health.  We  stop  here  a  whole  day,  a  thing  I  have 
never  done  before  upon  the  journey.  I  am  left  alone 
in  the  house,  as  my  people  have  all  gone  out  to  see 
the  town.  So  I  take  up  my  pen  once  more  that  I  may 
spend  the  time  with  you."  It  was  partly  his  delicate 
health,  partly  his  poverty — for  all  his  English  fortune 
had  been  confiscated — partly,  too,  a  constitutional 
shyness  and  shrinking  from  publicity,  which  made 
Pole  dislike  and  avoid  these  official  journeys.  He 
came  only  too  willingly  to  the  lure  of  Sadoleto's 
gardens  at  Carpentras,  and  loudly  bewailed  the  hard- 
ship which  compelled  him  to  quit  them  for  a  journey 
into  France.  And,  later  on,  he  writes  as  legate  from 


POLE'S  TEMPERAMENT  131 

Viterbo  to  Contarini,  explaining  how  he  likes  to  live : 
"  I  use  my  morning  hours  in  study,  and  am  therefore 
very  jealous  of  them.  Business  comes  after  dinner, 
and  the  rest  of  the  day  is  devoted  to  the  company  of 
Messer  Carnesechi  and  Antonio  Flaminio.  If  only  you 
were  here  this  place  would  be  a  paradise  on  earth. 
Your  absence  is  the  sole  drawback  to  my  complete 
satisfaction.  But  were  I  to  judge  from  my  past 
experience  of  the  way  in  which  God  has  ordered  my 
goings,  I  should  have  reason  to  doubt  whether  this 
full  measure  of  quiet  could  be  mine  for  long."  It  is 
only  in  the  company  of  a  friend  or  of  a  friend's  volume 
that  he  can  forget  the  tedium  of  the  road.  "  Your 
book,"  he  writes  to  Sadoleto,  "was  carriage,  and 
springs,  and  companion  to  me,  so  much  did  it  ease 
my  journey."  Pole  never  could  see  a  monastery  with- 
out wishing  to  seek  rest  inside  its  walls ;  he  constantly 
speaks  of  himself  as  though  he  were  a  hunted  deer 
running  for  the  shelter  of  a  cloister,  be  it  at  Dilingen, 
at  Carpentras,  or  on  the  Lake  of  Garda.  He  is  happy 
when  he  escapes  from  Rome  to  the  country;  he  is 
happy  at  Viterbo  in  the  company  of  Flaminio,  the  poet 
of  the  country ;  or  at  Rovollon,  among  the  Euganean 
hills,  "  our  paradise,  as  I  can  truly  call  this  place,  both 
because  of  the  charm  of  its  situation  amid  these 
delicious  hills,  and  also,  and  much  more,  because  of 
the  friends  whose  society  I  here  enjoy " ;  happy,  too, 
at  Dandolo's  villa,  "  ubi  jucunde  et  hilare  epulati 
sumus."  Pole  was  made  for  the  frank  enjoyment 
and  companionship  of  his  friends  in  all  the  quiet  and 
refined  conditions  of  life,  but  not  for  the  bustle  and 
self-assertion  of  the  great  world.  Whether  it  was 
the  poverty  of  his  health,  or  that  the  tragedy  of  his 
house  was  ever  present  to  his  memory,  this  instinctive 
shrinking  accompanied  him  through  life.  It  showed 
itself  in  his  refusal  of  the  cardinalate — a  refusal  which 
compelled  the  pope  to  take  him,  as  it  were,  by  sur- 
prise, first  appearing  to  consent,  and  then,  on  the 
morning  of  the  Consistory,  causing  him  to  be  tonsured, 


132  CARDINAL  CONTARINI 

consecrated,  and  declared  a  cardinal  before  he  well 
knew  what  had  happened  to  him.  It  showed  itself 
later  on,  when  he  declined  to  urge  his  candidature 
for  the  tiara;  and  in  the  indifference  with  which  he 
learned  that  he  had  missed  it  by  a  single  vote,  an 
indifference  that  irritated  a  member  of  the  Sacred 
College  into  calling  him  un  pezzo  di  legno  to  his  face. 
But  Pole  was  not  wooden  in  insensibility ;  he  had  his 
objects  of  desire.  He  longed,  as  most  men  do,  for 
what  he  never  did  possess,  quiet  and  the  enjoyment 
of  his  friends.  Caraffa  pursued  him  as  he  pursued  all 
who  belonged  to  Contarini  and  the  party  of  concilia- 
tion. Pole  missed  the  pain  of  seeing  England  break 
with  his  Church  once  more.  He  and  Queen  Mary 
died  in  1548,  on  the  same  day;  but  Pole  closed  his 
career  under  a  cloud  of  suspicion  at  Rome,  deprived 
of  his  office  as  legate,  and  threatened  in  his  see ;  the 
youngest,  the  gentlest,  and  the  most  unfortunate  in 
this  trio  of  Contarini  and  his  friends. 

These  three  men  differed  widely  from  one  another ; 
though  chance  threw  them  together  in  a  close  and 
beautiful  intimacy.  The  happiest  of  Pole's  days  were 
passed  in  Italy.  There,  in  contact  with  the  friends 
he  had  made,  his  character  is  at  its  brightest  and  its 
best.  Pole's  Italian  sojourn,  however,  is  no  more  than 
an  episode  in  his  story.  His  real  life  centres  in  Eng- 
land. In  England  he  experienced  the  misfortunes  of 
his  youth ;  and  there  the  dark  story  of  the  persecutions 
from  Canterbury  gathers  about  his  last  years.  In 
England  he  was  called  on  to  face  the  crucial  trials 
of  his  career.  Sadoleto's  life  could  hardly  have  had 
a  different  issue.  He  was  a  scholar  and  a  recluse  by 
nature,  and  the  difficulties  of  the  times  made  his  high 
station  a  certain  source  of  unhappiness.  Yet  among 
these  three  friends  Sadoleto's  character  presents  the 
greatest  harmony  and  completeness.  For  Contarini 
the  problem  was  rather  different.  He  was  endowed 
with  a  burning  activity  of  spirit,  and  a  natural  bias 
in  two  directions,  towards  philosophical  study  and 


CAUSES  OF  FAILURE  133 

towards  politics.  The  fact  that  he  was  a  Venetian 
determined  him  rather  as  a  man  of  action  than  as  a 
speculator.  But,  having  adopted  the  career  of  politics, 
his  philosophical  bias  avenged  itself  and  compelled 
him  to  pursue  a  line  of  compromise.  Such  a  line  was 
an  impossible  one,  and  doomed  to  failure  between 
Luther,  Caraffa,  Charles,  and  Francis.  Had  he  not 
been  a  philosopher  Contarini  might  have  been  a 
politician  of  the  type  of  Caraffa ;  had  he  been  less  of 
a  politician  he  might  have  been  a  speculator  in  the 
school  of  Pomponazzo,  and  a  possible  precursor  of 
Bruno.  Through  his  intellectual  sympathies  he  felt 
the  tumult  and  the  doubt  of  this  period  of  change,  and 
his  sleepless  nights  are  witness  to  the  questionings 
of  his  soul.  The  interest  of  his  life  and  the  pathos  of 
his  failure  lay  in  this,  that  he  was  at  once  something 
more  and  something  less  than  a  politician  or  a 
philosopher.  He  reflected  faithfully  the  period  of 
transition  and  the  complexity  of  his  own  day. 


The  Marriage  of  Ibraim  Pasha 

AN  EPISODE  AT  THE  COURT  OF  SULTAN  MURAD  III., 

I5861 

TOWARDS  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Otto- 
man Empire  had  begun  to  show  signs  of  decline. 
In  the  year  1574,  the  sultan,  Selim  the  Drunkard,  died, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Murad  III.  The  new 
sultan's  person,  his  physical  condition,  his  tastes 
and  his  habits  are  described,  with  some  slight  varia- 
tions, by  the  representatives  of  foreign  powers  at  the 
Porte.  The  picture  is  not  a  pleasant  one.  "The 
sultan  is  of  medium  height,"  says  Ungnad,  the 
imperial  ambassador,  "not  stout;  his  body  flaccid; 
his  eyes  languid  and  protruding,  covered  by  enor- 
mous eyebrows.  He  wears  a  long,  straggling  reddish 
beard."  His  thinness  is  attributed  to  an  abuse  of 
opium,  or,  as  Knolles  reported,  of  absinthe,  and  to 
his  intemperance  in  other  matters,  which  rendered 
him  subject  to  the  falling  sickness,  or  epilepsy.  He 
was  twenty-eight  years  old,  but  had  the  air  of  a 
professor  rather  than  of  a  general.  He  was  some- 
thing of  a  poet,  and  was  passionately  fond  of  me- 
chanical toys,  such  as  clocks  and  watches  which 
showed  the  movements  of  the  celestial  bodies.  He 
loved  to  pass  his  days  in  a  garden,  entertained  by 
conjurers,  mimes,  buffoons.  At  sunset  he  would  rise 
and  retire  to  the  harem,  saying,  "  Thanks  be  to  God 
who  has  allowed  me  to  get  through  another  day  not 

1  This  account  of  Ibraim's  marriage  is  based  upon  the  despatches 
of  the  Venetian  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  hitherto  inedited. 

134 


SOKOLLI  135 

so  badly."     A   man   very  different  from  his  father, 
the  brutal  but  vigorous  Selim. 

At  his  accession  to  the  throne  Murad  found  one 
minister,  the  Grand  Vizir  Sokolli,  who  was  able  to 
maintain  the  dignity  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  and 
to  prevent  its  inherent  weakness  from  becoming  too 
patent  to  the  world.  But  Sokolli's  influence  waned ; 
Murad's  favourites  succeeded  in  ousting  the  great 
statesman,  and  his  place  was  taken  by  the  cultivated 
but  corrupt  Scemsi  Pasha.  Scemsi  claimed  descent 
from  the  family  of  Kizil  Ahmedltl,  and  vaunted  a 
lineage  more  noble  than  that  of  the  reigning  family. 
An  interesting  anecdote,  which  illustrates  the  man- 
ners of  the  period  and  the  bitterness  of  family  feud, 
is  narrated  by  the  historian  Aali.  Aali  one  day 
found  himself  in  Scemsi's  house  when  the  favourite 
had  just  left  the  sultan.  Scemsi  was  radiant  with 
pleasure,  and,  turning  to  his  majordomo,  he  said, 
"At  last  I  have  avenged  the  royal  line  of  Kizil 
Ahmedld  on  the  Osmanlis ;  their  doom  is  fixed." 
"  How  is  that  ? "  said  the  majordomo.  "  I  have 
persuaded  the  sultan  to  accept  a  bribe.  His  example 
will  spread,  and  will  ruin  the  state."  Whereupon 
Aali,  who  was  standing  by,  broke  in,  "  Your  Excel- 
lency is  a  worthy  descendant  of  your  ancestor  Caled 
Ben  Welid,  who,  as  the  story  tells  us,  bribed  his 
way  to  the  presence  of  the  calif,  and  so  began  the 
seduction  of  Islam";  to  which  Scemsi,  in  confusion, 
replied,  "Ah!  Aali,  you  know  too  much."  The  course 
of  the  episode  we  are  relating,  the  marriage  of  Ibraim 
Pasha  to  the  sultan  Murad's  daughter,  will  prove 
how  right  both  Scemsi  and  Aali  were  in  their  obser- 
vations. 

Perhaps  nothing  about  the  court  of  Murad  is  more 
surprising  than  the  fact,  abundantly  illustrated  by 
the  Venetian  ambassador's  despatches,  that  almost  all 
the  persons  of  importance  were  either  renegade 
Christians  or  Jews.  To  begin  with,  the  favourite 
and  powerful  sultana  Ssaffije  (the  Pure)  was  a  lady 


136    THE  MARRIAGE  OF  IBRAIM  PASHA 

of  the  Venetian  family  of  Baffo,  whose  father  had 
been  Governor  of  Corfu,  from  which  island  she  was 
stolen  when  quite  a  child,  and  placed  in  the  harem 
of  Murad.  Among  the  vizirs,  we  find  Sokolli,  the 
grand  vizir,  was  a  Bosnian ;  Piale,  a  Hungarian ; 
the  captain  of  the  sea,  the  famous  Ulugi  or  Occhiali, 
a  Calabrian  ;  the  chief  of  the  janizaries,  a  very  impor- 
tant post,  the  Genoese  Cigala. 

The  Jews  did  not  occupy  so  prominent  a  place  at 
court,  though  their  back-stair  influence  was  very  great. 
Hardly  any  business  was  transacted  without  their 
interposition ;  in  all  diplomatic  negotiations  we  find 
Jews  acting  as  intermediaries,  sounding  the  ground 
and  promising  bribes.  No  ambassador  of  a  Christian 
power  dreamed  of  carrying  on  his  diplomatic  trans- 
actions without  the  assistance  of  a  Jew :  Benveniste, 
for  example,  acted  for  the  King  of  Spain  and  for  the 
Venetian  Republic,  David  Passi  for  the  English  agent, 
Angeli  for  the  Swiss.  One  of  the  most  important 
personages  at  the  Porte  was  the  Jew  Salomon 
Eschinasi.  All  ambassadors  found  it  necessary  to 
make  presents  to  Chieraggia,  the  Jewess,  purveyor- 
general  to  the  Sultan's  harem. 

Various  reasons  contributed  to  confer  upon  the  Jews 
this  exceptional  position.  First  of  all,  they  were  not 
Christians,  and  their  presence  did  not  defile.  They 
were  doctors,  and  in  the  exercise  of  their  profession 
they  had  ready  access  to  the  houses  of  the  great  officers 
of  state.  They  were  money-lenders  and  jewellers, 
and  the  Turks,  in  their  love  for  precious  stones,  were 
obliged  to  have  frequent  recourse  to  the  Jews.  They 
were  astronomers,  and  the  more  superstitious  Turks 
applied  to  them  for  information  about  the  future ;  we 
hear  of  an  observatory  sunk  down  at  the  bottom  of 
a  deep  well,  so  as  to  allow  of  the  diurnal  observation 
of  the  stars.  But,  above  all,  the  Jews  displayed  that 
pliant  and  insinuating  servility  which  is  so  character- 
istic of  their  race.  On  a  great  occasion  of  state,  such 
as  the  circumcision  of  the  sultan's  eldest  son,  the 


IBRAIM   AT  CAIRO  137 

Jews  did  not  refuse  to  take  part  in  ribald  comedies, 
and  submitted  to  play  buffoon  to  the  assembly. 

Among  the  many  foreigners  who  rose  to  prominence 
upon  the  accession  of  Murad  III.  was  the  renegade 
Christian,  Ibraim.  He  was  a  Slav  by  birth ;  his 
native  city  was  Kanischa,  near  Ragusa.  While  still 
a  lad  he  had  been  presented  to  the  sultan  Selim  by 
one  of  the  pashas.  Selim  placed  Ibraim  in  the  harem, 
and  caused  him  to  be  educated  with  his  own  son, 
the  future  sultan  Murad,  to  whom  he  was  attached 
as  servant.  To  the  intimate  relations  thus  formed 
between  Murad  and  Ibraim  the  latter  owed  his  subse- 
quent advance.  When  Murad  ascended  the  throne, 
Ibraim  was  made  a  pasha,  and  was  sent  as  governor 
to  Cairo. 

Ibraim  was  then  thirty-seven  years  old ;  of  medium 
height,  with  a  dark  complexion,  a  brown  beard, 
bright  eyes,  and  a  quick  intelligence.  He  possessed 
grace  of  manner  and  charm  of  speech.  He  was, 
however,  extremely  ambitious,  and,  as  he  saw  his 
ambitions  realized,  he  developed  a  haughtiness  of 
bearing  which,  as  the  Venetian  ambassador  declared, 
made  it  impossible  to  transact  business  with  him. 

Ibraim's  appointment  to  Cairo  gave  him  the  oppor- 
tunity for  amassing  wealth,  which  he  knew  to  be 
indispensable  at  the  Porte,  especially  for  those  no 
longer  young.  Egypt  was  an  enormously  rich  store- 
house to  plunder.  At  the  accession  of  Murad,  the 
governor  was  the  eunuch  Mesih  Pasha ;  he  was 
merely  cruel,  not  rapacious.  But  his  successor, 
Hassan  Pasha,  owed  his  downfall  to  the  excessive 
wealth  which  he  had  wrung  out  of  the  suffering 
province.  He  laboured  for  others,  however.  A 
sudden  order  from  Constantinople  recalled  him.  He 
obeyed,  leaving  his  treasure  behind  him,  and  on  his 
arrival  at  the  capital  he  was  confined  in  the  Seven 
Towers.  Ibraim  received  the  vacant  appointment. 
No  sooner  had  he  reached  Cairo  than  he  took 
possession  of  Hassan's  treasure,  and  so  industrious 


138    THE   MARRIAGE  OF  IBRAIM   PASHA 

was  he  in  pursuit  of  wealth  that,  when  an  order 
of  the  Sultan  recalled  him  to  the  capital  a  year 
and  a  half  later,  he  returned  to  Constantinople  with 
fabulous  riches. 

Ibraim  was  commissioned  by  Murad  to  reduce  the 
Druses,  on  his  way  home  to  Constantinople.  He 
did  so  partly  by  treachery  and  partly  by  superior 
force.  To  render  his  return  more  triumphant,  he 
sent  on  before  him  four  hundred  heads,  all  of  which 
he  said  were  those  of  Druses  slain  in  battle,  though 
fears  were  expressed  at  Constantinople  that  some 
of  these  ghastly  trophies  were  the  heads,  not  of 
Druses,  but  of  Ibraim's  own  Turkish  troops,  many 
of  whom  fell  before  the  hardy  mountaineers.  So  far 
all  had  prospered  with  Ibraim.  On  his  return  to 
Constantinople  he  began  to  employ  his  riches  in  the 
recognized  way,  by  making  presents  to  the  sultan; 
among  others,  we  hear  of  a  richly  jewelled  throne, 
and  one  great  emerald  in  the  rough,  so  large  that 
eight  flat  emeralds  about  the  size  of  an  eyeglass  were 
cut  from  it.  But  whether  the  result  of  these  presents 
was  that  which  Ibraim  desired  is  more  than  doubtful ; 
for,  a  very  few  days  after  his  return  home,  the  sultan 
sent  to  inform  the  pasha  that  he  had  resolved  to  give 
him  his  daughter  in  marriage,  and  that  the  wedding 
festival  should  be  held  "  in  the  time  of  the  roses,"  the 
month  of  May. 

This  was  a  great  honour,  no  doubt,  but  a  dubious 
satisfaction.  It  was  impossible  to  decline  to  marry 
the  sultan's  daughter ;  and  yet  her  rank  was  so 
exalted  that  her  husband  could  no  longer  enjoy  the 
same  freedom  in  his  domestic  arrangements  as  was 
permitted  to  less  favoured  Turks.  Not  merely  were 
the  more  exotic  pleasures  of  the  seraglio  denied  him, 
but  he  was  compelled  to  a  monogamic  existence,  upon 
pain  of  his  fortune,  perhaps  of  his  very  life.  If  the 
honoured  subject  could  succeed  in  retaining  the 
sultan's  favour,  there  were  compensations  for  these 
drawbacks.  Thanks  to  his  near  connection  with  the 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  MARRIAGE       139 

calif,  he  was  supposed  to  possess  great  influence,  and 
became  the  recipient  of  large  sums  of  money,  pre- 
sented to  him  for  favours  sought. 

When  Ibraim  received  the  message  of  the  sultan, 
nothing  remained  for  him  but  to  obey,  and  to  begin 
the    preparations    for    his    marriage.     He    presented 
gifts  to  those  who  brought  him  the  news,  and  pro- 
ceeded  at  once  to  kiss  the  sultan's  hand.     His  next 
step  was  to  choose  his  best  man  and  best  woman— 
his  compadre  and  commadre.     His  choice  fell  on  the 
captain   of  the  sea,  and  on  Gianfeda,  the  governess 
of  the  sultan's  harem.     It  was  no   slight   burden   to 
be  chosen  best  man  on  such  an  occasion  as  this.     The 
presents  were  costly.     Those  of  the  captain  of  the 
sea    to    Ibraim    Pasha    consisted    of   two    complete 
palaces :   one  in  the  Hippodrome  at  Constantinople, 
which  had  once  belonged  to  another  Ibraim  Pasha, 
favourite   of  Suleiman   the  Great;   the  other  among 
gardens   upon   the   Bosphorus,  which   was  to   serve 
as  a  villeggiatura  for  the  newly  married  couple.     The 
palace   in   the   Hippodrome  was  not  considered  fine 
enough  for  the  sultan's  daughter,  and  the  best  man 
undertook  to   make   it   suitable  at  his  own  expense. 
The  seraglio,  as  it  then  stood,  was  built  upon  vaulted 
arches  springing  from   three  rows  of  columns  which 
had   belonged  to  some   building  of  the  late  empire. 
In    the    middle   of  the    seraglio  were    the  women's 
apartments,  with  gardens,  courtyards,  loggias,  baths, 
and  fountains.     In  the  centre  of  one  of  the  gardens, 
and  quite  surrounded   by  fountains,  was  a  chamber 
entirely  inlaid  with  precious  marbles.     But,  beautiful 
as  these  apartments  were  in  their  decoration,  they 
were  too  dark  for  the   modern  taste,  and  somewhat 
melancholy.      The    captain    of   the    sea    accordingly 
constructed  an  apartment  especially  for  the  use  of  the 
bride.     It  consisted  of  a  saloon  adorned  with  mosaics 
like  majolica.     Next  to  this  was  a  vaulted  chamber 
in   mosaics  and  gold,  and  frescoed  in  part;   in  this 
chamber  was  a  fountain.    Behind  the  vaulted  chamber 


THE   MARRIAGE  OF   IBRAIM   PASHA 

came  a  toilet  closet  decorated  in  gold,  and  out  of  that 
opened  a  bath.  All  round  the  new  apartment  ran  a 
covered  loggia,  fully  protected  from  the  sun  and  the 
heat.  This  was  the  present  from  the  best  man  to 
bridegroom.  Meantime,  the  sultan  had  given  to  his 
daughter  all  the  jewels  which  belonged  to  the  sultana, 
her  mother,  and  two  beautiful  ponies  trapped  in  gold 
and  jewels,  which  were  to  take  her  from  the  seraglio 
of  her  father  to  that  of  her  husband. 

Ibraim,  too,  was  busy.  He  had  sent  to  all  the 
embassies  to  ask  the  ambassadors  to  supply  him  with 
pheasants,  partridges,  hares,  and  other  game.  The 
Venetian  and  French  representatives  excused  them- 
selves on  the  ground  that  they  were  foreigners,  and 
did  not  know  how  to  get  any  game  even  for  themselves. 
The  English  ambassador  not  only  provided  game  and 
sent  it,  but  added  a  vast  quantity  of  fowls. 

The  ceremonies  which  were  to  lead  up  to  the  wed- 
ding began  on  May  15.  On  that  day  the  sultana 
mother,  the  bride,  and  all  the  women  of  the  sultan's 
harem  passed  from  the  new  seraglio  on  the  water  to 
the  old  seraglio  in  the  city.  There  they  found  the 
other  sultanas,  the  sisters  and  relations  of  the  sultan, 
and  the  wives  of  the  pashas  and  great  officers  of  state. 
All  these  ladies  began  an  eight  days'  revelry,  which 
was  kept  up  day  and  night.  Female  slaves  danced 
and  sang.  The  ladies  lay  on  couches,  drinking 
sherbet.  No  men  were  allowed  near  the  place  except 
the  black  eunuchs  who  kept  watch  at  the  doors.  The 
day  after  the  ladies  arrived  at  the  old  seraglio,  the 
pashas  and  other  ministers  of  the  Porte  made  their 
presents  to  the  bride.  The  next  day  the  best  man, 
the  captain  of  the  sea,  having  prepared  all  his 
presents  in  several  small  houses  near  the  seraglio, 
went  there  early  in  the  morning,  attended  by  upwards 
of  three  hundred  horsemen  and  a  like  number  of  foot. 
He  then  headed  the  procession  which  conveyed  his 
gifts  to  the  bride.  These  presents  were  vast  in  size 
and  quantity,  and  required  hundreds  of  sailors  to 


THE  PRESENTS  141 

carry  them.  They  consisted  of  fifty  life-size  figures 
of  animals  made  of  sugar;  a  great  castle,  also  of 
sugar ;  five  bowls  filled  with  necklaces  of  gold, 
jewelled  slippers,  crowns,  girdles,  earrings,  all  richly 
jewelled ;  five  bales  of  cloth  of  gold  and  of  silk ;  one 
packet  of  henna,  which  these  ladies  use  to  dye  their 
hands,  feet,  and  other  parts  of  the  body,  for  greater 
beauty ;  lastly,  four  parcels  of  comfits.  All  these  gifts 
were  consigned  to  the  black  eunuchs  at  the  door  of 
the  seraglio,  to  be  presented  to  the  bride. 

The  next  day  was  the  turn  of  the  best  woman,  the 
commadre.  She  walked  first,  followed  by  the  captain 
of  the  janizaries,  the  captain  of  the  sea,  and  all  the 
ministers  of  state ;  behind  them  came  the  music  and 
the  crowd  of  shouters,  and  then  the  presents.  These 
consisted  of  a  huge  structure  of  silver-gilt,  studded 
with  turquoise  let  into  it  in  various  patterns.  This 
machine  was  twenty  yards  high,  and  from  one  and 
a  half  to  two  yards  wide  ;  it  was  covered  with  flowers 
and  plants  wrought  in  gold,  silver,  and  coloured  silks ; 
it  required  a  large  number  of  men  to  carry  it,  and  was 
valued  at  twenty  thousand  sequins.  After  the  big 
machine  came  eight  smaller  ones,  of  similar  construc- 
tion, eight  horses  laden  with  bales  of  silk  and  cloth  of 
gold,  and  five  bales  of  that  kind  of  cloth  which  is  used 
by  Turkish  ladies  to  hang  on  each  side  of  the  landing- 
stages  which  lead  from  their  caiques  to  their  houses 
or  gardens,  to  shut  out  inquisitive  gazers.  When  the 
bride  had  received  all  her  presents,  her  father,  the 
sultan,  came  in  state  to  inspect  them,  and  to  assure 
himself  that  they  were  worthy  of  his  daughter's 
acceptance. 

So  far,  the  father,  the  best  man,  and  the  best  woman 
had  all  done  their  part.  It  was  Ibraim's  turn  now. 
On  the  1 8th  he  began  a  series  of  banquets  at  his  own 
house.  His  first  guests  were  the  emirs  of  the  green 
toque,  relations  of  the  Prophet.  The  following  day 
he  received  all  the  priests,  preachers,  doctors  of  law, 
and  divines.  The  sultan's  secretary  on  behalf  of  his 


THE  MARRIAGE  OF  IBRAIM   PASHA 

Majesty,  and  the  captain  of  the  sea  on  behalf  of 
Ibraim,  were  both  present  on  this  occasion,  and  drew 
up  the  marriage  contract.  The  dowry  was  fixed  at 
three  hundred  thousand  ducats.  After  dinner  Ibraim 
held  a  reception,  and  received  the  congratulations  of 
all  the  dignitaries  of  the  Porte.  After  this  ceremony 
was  concluded,  accompanied  by  all  who  had  attended 
his  Iev6e,  he  went  to  the  old  seraglio  to  receive  the 
presents  and  the  dowry  of  the  bride,  and  to  take 
them  to  his  own  house.  At  the  end  of  this  proces- 
sion came  a  coach  hung  round  with  crimson  brocade, 
so  that  it  was  impossible  to  see  who  was  inside ;  but 
it  was  supposed  to  contain  the  governess  of  the  harem, 
the  best  woman,  whose  suite  consisted  of  fifty  waiting- 
women,  who  were  conveyed  in  fifty  closely  draped 
coaches,  each  one  with  a  black  eunuch  on  horseback 
as  guard.  It  was  the  duty  of  these  women  to  prepare 
the  chamber  and  the  couch  for  the  newly  wedded 
couple.  On  the  return  journey  to  the  seraglio  of 
Ibraim,  one  hundred  female  slaves  riding  astride, 
and  all  of  them  richly  dressed  in  brocade,  followed 
the  fifty  coaches,  and  scattered  money  among  the 
crowd.  Each  horse  was  led  by  a  slave,  and  the 
whole  band  was  escorted  by  fifty  handsome  black 
eunuchs  on  horseback.  After  the  slave  women  came 
a  gold-bound  Koran  carried  on  a  golden  desk  studded 
with  jewels ;  then  six  silver  candelabra  with  lighted 
torches,  a  crystal  box  full  of  gems,  and  many  other 
caskets  of  jewels ;  then  the  bride's  bed,  made  of 
silver-gilt,  and  carried  in  several  pieces,  to  be  put 
together,  and  bedquilts  and  coverlids  of  gold  brocade 
embroidered  with  pearls;  then  a  cook  with  a  whole 
sheep  spitted  on  a  spit ;  then  kitchen  utensils  in  silver; 
then  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  mules  laden  with 
boxes  of  precious  stones,  silver,  gold,  cushions,  carpets, 
curtains  ;  and,  to  wind  up,  all  the  common  kitchen  and 
scullery  utensils,  piled  up  anyhow.  By  the  time  this 
long  procession  of  household  furniture  reached  the 
seraglio  of  Ibraim,  the  fifty  waiting-women,  under 


THE  PRESENTS  143 

the  direction  of  the  governess  of  the  harem,  were 
ready  to  receive  it,  and  in  a  short  time  the  rooms 
of  the  bride,  the  kitchen,  and  the  rest  of  the  house 
were  in  order. 

Besides  the  big  structure  already  described,  which 
was  presented  to  the  bride  by  the  governess  of  the 
harem,  the  captain  of  the  sea  had  prepared  two 
others  of  even  greater  size.  They  were  made  in  the 
shape  of  a  pyramid,  and  on  the  top  of  each  was  a 
huge  candle.  They  were  carried  on  the  shoulders 
of  a  number  of  men,  whose  movements  were  re- 
gulated by  the  whistle  of  a  boatswain  who  stood 
at  the  foot  of  the  pyramid.  As  these  huge  and  cum- 
bersome erections  were  borne  through  the  streets, 
one  of  them  had  its  candle  knocked  over  by  the 
topmost  branches  of  a  lofty  tree,  and  it  was  found 
necessary  to  cut  away  the  eaves  of  the  houses  in 
those  streets  through  which  they  were  to  pass.  They 
reached  the  old  seraglio  in  safety  at  last,  and  were 
placed  one  on  each  side  of  the  door. 

At  last  the  22nd  of  May  arrived,  the  day  destined 
for  the  passage  of  the  bride  to  Ibraim's  house.  The 
procession,  headed  by  the  three  great  constructions 
already  described,  was  formed  in  much  the  same  order 
as  on  the  occasion  of  previous  processions,  only  every 
one  was  more  richly  dressed,  and  the  number  of 
foot  and  horse  was  increased  by  several  hundreds. 
Jugglers,  mountebanks,  and  conjurers  were  added  to 
the  throng.  All  the  pashas  and  the  grand  vizir  were 
on  horseback,  dressed  in  white.  Behind  them  came 
Ibraim's  household  and  all  his  horses.  The  horse 
destined  for  the  bride  had  its  mane  and  tail  decked 
out  with  gold  and  jewels.  Then  came  the  commadre 
and  the  bride,  both  on  horseback,  riding  like  men. 
Over  the  bride's  head  was  a  baldacchino  of  gold 
brocade,  whose  sides  hung  down  so  as  to  cover 
completely  the  bride,  leaving  free  only  the  head  of 
her  horse.  Under  the  baldacchino  were  her  guard  of 
eunuchs  and  her  waiting-women.  Behind  the  bride 


144    THE  MARRIAGE  OF  IBRAIM   PASHA 

came  fifty  women  on  horseback,  riding  like  men. 
These  were  the  wives  of  the  pashas  and  the  chief 
ministers  of  the  Porte. 

In  this  way  the  bride  was  led  to  the  door  of  her 
husband's  house.  Ibraim  met  her  on  the  threshold.  It 
was  the  first  time  he  had  been  allowed  to  see  her.  Even 
then  the  bridegroom  saw  no  more  than  her  eyes,  for 
she  kept  her  veil  on.  It  was  not  till  after  supper  that 
she  finally  uncovered  her  face.  She  is  described  as 
short,  dark,  thin,  and  with  a  nose  long  and  excessively 
hooked. 

All  through  these  eight  days  of  the  wedding  festival 
the  Hippodrome  had  been  full  of  tumblers,  acrobats, 
rope-walkers,  by  day ;  and  at  night,  on  the  Bosphorus, 
in  front  of  the  new  seraglio,  fireworks  and  set  pieces 
had  delighted  and  diverted  the  sultan  Murad. 

But  although  Ibraim  had  received  his  bride  into  his 
own  house,  she  still  remained  the  sultan's  daughter. 
He  was  not  allowed  to  approach  her  until  her  father 
sent  him  formal  permission.  When  he  spoke  to  her, 
he  was  obliged  to  use  all  humility  of  manner — he 
called  himself  her  slave ;  nor  might  he  sit  down  unless 
she  invited  him  to  do  so.  He  was  kept  in  this  trying 
position  for  fifteen  or  twenty  days,  until  the  sultan 
chose  to  end  the  situation.  The  result  of  this  very 
painful  treatment  was,  perhaps,  not  surprising.  The 
day  after  the  sultan  gave  orders  to  place  the  newly 
married  couple  on  a  more  rational  footing,  and  to 
complete  the  ceremony,  the  Venetian  ambassador  sent 
to  congratulate  Ibraim,  and  to  offer  the  presents  of 
his  government.  He  found,  however,  that  the  sultan's 
orders  had  not  been  sufficient  for  their  purpose.  Con- 
gratulations and  presents  had  to  be  postponed. 

Ibraim's  position  was  now  a  very  dangerous  one. 
His  wife  and  her  father,  the  sultan,  considered  them- 
selves insulted.  Ibraim  was  in  disgrace,  and  instantly 
found  himself  deprived  of  the  one  compensation  for 
the  misfortune  of  having  to  marry  the  sultan's 
daughter— namely,  influence  at  court  and  the  money 


THE  MARRIAGE  CONSUMMATED       145 

that  it  brought  in.  He  had  spent  a  vast  sum  on  his 
marriage,  and  the  sudden  cessation  of  this  source  of 
revenue  left  him  almost  penniless.  He  asked  his  best 
man,  the  captain  of  the  sea,  to  lend  him  fifty  thousand 
ducats,  but  was  at  once  refused.  Ibraim  declared  that 
he  had  been  bewitched  by  the  sultan's  sister,  his  wife's 
aunt,  who  was  married  to  Mehemet  Pasha,  and  was 
afraid  and  jealous  of  Ibraim's  growing  influence.  He 
accordingly  put  himself  in  the  hands  of  certain  Turks 
who  were  skilled  in  treating  such  cases.  The  results 
were  satisfactory,  and  by  June  25  Ibraim's  marriage 
was  un  fait  accompli. 


VOL.  n  10 


An  International  Episode 

M.  RENAN,  in  his  charming  Feuilles  Defacfte'es,  has 
given  us  his  ideal  of  a  library.  It  is  not  a  public, 
it  is  a  private,  or  semi-private,  library.  Like  Carlyle, 
he  seems  to  shrink  from  the  commonalty  which 
peoples  the  great  public  collections,  and  to  desire  a 
study  dedicated  to  himself,  in  which  he  can  feel 
assured  of  that  pleine  possession  de  soi-meme  which  he 
very  justly  recognizes  as  indispensable  for  spiritual 
production.  True,  he  tells  us  of  his  discovery  in  the 
library  at  St.  Malo,  where,  under  layers  of  dust 
which  testified  to  the  virtual  privacy  of  the  place,  he 
came  upon  the  whole  apparatus  criticus  requisite  for 
his  disquisition  on  Averroes.  He  confesses  also  that 
the  College  de  France  satisfies  him ;  but  there  he 
enjoyed  a  suite  of  rooms  apart,  and  the  fact  remains 
that  his  ideal  is  a  private,  not  a  public,  home  of  study. 
He  complains  that  no  architect  of  modern  Paris  has 
even  so  much  as  imagined  to  himself  the  possibility 
of  a  locataire  lettre,  with  the  result  that  "  nos  biblio- 
theques  sont  des  cabinets  noirs,  des  greniers  oil  les 
livres  s'entassent  sans  produire  la  moindre  lumiere." 
Face  to  face  with  this  distressing  fact  here  is 
M.  Kenan's  delightful  dream  of  a  study  "  pour  ces 
austeres  travaux.  Une  jolie  maison  dans  les  faubourgs 
d'une  grande  ville ;  une  longue  salle  de  travail  garnie 
de  livres,  tapissee  extdrieurement  de  roses  de  Bengale ; 
un  jardin  aux  allees  droites,  oil  Ton  peut  se  distraire 
un  moment  avec  ses  fleurs  de  la  conversation  de  ses 
livres  " ;  or,  as  the  widest  concession  to  common  use 
which  he  could  accept,  this'  picture  of  some  convent 
library,  where  the  privacy  is  all  but  complete  :  "  Une 

146 


THE  IDEAL  LIBRARY  147 

abbaye  du  temps  de  Saint  Bernard,  perdue  au  fond 
des  bois,  avec  de  longues  avenues  de  peupliers,  des 
chenaies,  des  ruisseaux,  des  rochers,  un  cloitre  pour  se 
promener  en  temps  de  pluie,  des  files  de  pieces  inutiles 
ou  viendraient  se  d£poser  sur  de  longues  tables  les 
inscriptions  nouvelles,  les  moulages,  les  estampages 
nouveaux." 

Very  refined,  very  delightful,  but  for  some  tem- 
peraments trop  de  luxe.  The  Bengal  roses  would 
disturb  me  with  their  perfume,  and  by  one  of  those 
magic  transportations  which  scent  is  able  to  effect, 
I  should  be  rapt  away  to  the  watertanks  and  boscage 
of  the  Taj  Mahal  or  to  some  Gulistan  of  the  delicious 
East.  1  should  no  longer  be  present  in  the  Inquisition 
chamber,  nor  should  I  hear  poor  Baldo  Lupatino's 
answers  to  the  court.  I  should  cease  to  share  the 
wanderings  of  Dorotea,  the  heroine  of  this  little  story, 
nor  should  I  feel  with  her  for  the  loss  of  her  red 
pelisse.  The  roses  would  master  me,  creating  a 
world  of  their  own  in  which  I  should  be  forced  to 
live ;  they  would  hinder,  not  help,  the  work  in  hand. 

This  is  doubtless  a  matter  of  idiosyncrasy.  M.  Renan, 
and  I  suppose  all  students,  seek  solitude ;  "  car  la 
solitude,"  he  says,  "est  bonne  inspiratrice."  But  his 
solitude  is  the  solitude  of  a  paradise,  not  of  the  desert. 
He  would  hesitate  to  endorse  the  old  Greek  saying 
evprjriKoif  <j>a<nv  elvai  TTJV  eprjjuav ;  the  wilderness  for 
him  could  hardly  be  the  home  of  invention,  of  dis- 
covery. Yet  for  some  it  is  so ;  the  very  aridity  of  a 
public  library  is  stimulative. 

But  before  endeavouring  to  set  forth  the  advantages 
which  the  desert  of  a  public  library  may  offer  to 
counterbalance  the  roses,  the  cloisters,  the  colonnades, 
the  spacious  ambulatory  of  M.  Renan's  dream,  it  is 
worth  while  just  for  a  moment  to  point  out  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  home  of  the  printed  book — the 
library  in  its  narrower,  more  modern  sense — and  the 
home  of  original  documents,  the  Record  Office  or 
Archive.  For  some  reason  or  other  the  Archive 


148         AN   INTERNATIONAL  EPISODE 

will  invariably  be  found  more  severe,  more  arid, 
austerer  than  the  library.  No  one  who  has  frequented 
both  will  deny  this  inherent  difference  of  atmosphere. 
The  severity  of  the  Archive  passes  into  the  very 
furnishings  of  the  place :  plain  deal  tables,  square 
legs,  uncompromising  chairs,  as  against  the  com- 
parative luxury  of  a  library,  with  its  fittings  of 
walnut  or  mahogany.  By  way  of  illustration  compare 
for  a  moment  the  Search  Room  at  the  Public  Record 
Office  in  London  with  the  Reading  Room  of  the 
British  Museum ;  or  again,  the  stately  decorated 
chamber  in  the  library  of  St.  Mark  with  the  grim 
Sala  di  Studio  at  the  Frari. 

Granted  the  difference  betwen  public  and  private 
libraries,  the  public  library  will  be  found  to  offer 
many  peculiar  attractions  which  endear  it  to  all  who 
are  born  with  a  palate  for  such  flavours.  The 
company,  to  begin  with,  is  a  valuable  stimulus,  either 
of  attraction  or  repulsion.  There  is  something  ex- 
hilarating in  the  play  of  a  large  machine ;  something 
restful  in  feeling  that  one  is  a  part  only,  not  the  whole 
of  that  machine.  I  am  not  thinking  now  of  vast 
cauldrons  like  the  Reading-room  of  the  British 
Museum,  where  the  readers  not  merely  read,  but  eat, 
sleep,  and  make  their  toilette,  but  of  such  exquisite 
harmonious  havens  of  rest  as  Duke  Humphry's  library 
in  the  Bodleian,  the  Marciana  in  Venice,  the  library 
at  Weimar,  or  that  lovely  room  in  the  upper  town 
of  Bergamo.  The  play  of  humanity  about  one  is 
delightful,  and  in  moments  of  repose,  when  the  pen 
is  laid  down,  this  environment  is  more  restful  than 
the  roses,  for  it  is  less  aloof.  There  is  no  violent 
rupture  in  the  sequence  of  mood ;  all  the  action  is 
taking  place  in  a  region  of  which  we  ourselves  are  a 
part.  How  interesting  are  some  of  one's  neighbours  I 
How  charming  the  unspoken  friendship  born  of 
proximity  and  a  common  object!  What  revelations, 
too,  of  character  in  all  the  operations  of  a  library,  a 
very  measure  of  nervosity  which  may  be  gauged  by 


IN  A   LIBRARY  149 

the  rapidity  or  the  pauses  of  the  pen,  the  disposition 
of  the  books,  the  position  of  the  ink-pot,  the  impatience 
or  the  calm  of  the  procedure !  Can  I  ever  forget  my 
fascinating  companion  of  some  three  weeks,  who  was 
studying  the  Me'canique  Celeste,  of  which  he  was 
himself  such  a  splendid  specimen  ?  The  wilderness 
and  the  stony  place  have  their  roses ;  there  are  springs 
in  the  desert. 

Nor  are  humours  wanting  in  a  library.  There 
arrived  one  day  at  a  city  famous  for  its  classical 
codices  a  student  from  somewhere  in  the  Sarmatian 
plain.  Punctually  as  the  library  opened  he  pre- 
sented himself  at  its  door.  In  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  he  was  installed  at  his  table  with  a  rampart 
of  all  the  manuscripts  relating  to  his  author  piled 
in  front  of  him.  His  hurry  was  presently  explained 
by  the  arrival  of  another  eager  scholar,  who  de- 
manded the  very  volumes  now  heaped  before  his 
rival.  An  obvious  chuckle  rippled  down  the  bowed 
back  of  the  first  comer.  But  he  did  not  know  the 
ways  of  that  city.  At  twelve  o'clock  came  a  sudden 
and  deafening  explosion,  a  rattle  of  the  windows,  as  the 
midday  gun  was  fired.  The  victorious  student,  with 
his  mind  intent  to  save  his  codices  from  the  clutches 
of  his  competitor,  sprang  to  embrace  the  pile,  and  he 
and  they  were  laid  upon  the  floor.  This  brought  the 
sub-librarian  on  the  scene,  and  the  greedy  collator 
was  forced  to  abandon  a  portion  of  his  prey. 

Episodes  such  as  this  are  rarer  in  an  Archive, 
where  the  atmosphere  is  apt  to  be  sterner,  more 
concentrated  ;  though  here,  too,  there  are  very  genuine 
pleasures  in  the  midst  of  arid  surroundings.  At  the 
table  next  to  mine  there  used  to  sit  a  genial  old 
gentleman  with  spectacles  and  a  bald  head.  He  never 
spoke,  but  we  knew  each  other  quite  well.  One  day 
he  was  obviously  in  difficulties.  First  came  groans 
and  grunts ;  then  the  spectacles  were  thrust  up  on 
the  forehead — to  no  purpose;  next  he  rose  from  his 
chair  and  held  the  water-wasted  document  close  to  the 


150         AN   INTERNATIONAL  EPISODE 

window,  now  in  one  light,  now  in  another ;  sat  down 
again  and  took  snuff  loudly ;  presently  he  began  talking 
to  himself,  but  really  addressing  the  room.  "  Water," 
he  said,  "  nothing  but  water.  All  soaked  ;  all  ruined ; 
would  wear  out  five  pairs  of  eyes."  Of  a  sudden  he 
wheeled  round  almost  fiercely  upon  me,  snatched  up 
the  offending  document,  and  flung  it  across.  "  Look !  " 
he  cried.  I  rose,  looked,  commiserated,  smiled,  sat 
down. 

Dealing  as  one  does  in  the  Archives  with  un- 
published, uncatalogued,  and  very  often  unexamined 
matter,  relations  with  distant  and  unknown  students 
may,  and  very  likely  do,  become  wide.  For  example, 
there  are  at  least  three  people  who  are  anxious  to 
learn  what  became  of  Diasorinos,  the  scribe.  You 
can  never  tell  at  what  moment  he  may  swim  into 
view,  and  should  any  discovery  be  made,  with  what 
satisfaction  would  the  news  be  transmitted  to  Paris 
and  to  Oxford !  I  know  of  two,  at  least,  who  are 
eager  to  find  out  why  Giorgio  Valla  got  into  trouble 
with  the  Council  of  Ten ;  and  one  in  America  lives  in 
hope  that  Francis  Bacon  was  once  in  Venice.  And 
thus  there  is  created  a  sympathy  with  unknown  men 
and  lands,  a  secretum  meum  mihi  et  amicis,  a  "  bastle- 
house "  or  "  barmekin "  into  which  you  may  retire 
when  the  tide  of  common  life  runs  boisterous  or 
contrary. 

But,  further,  to  deal  with  original  documents,  to 
handle  the  very  paper,  to  read  the  ipsissima  verba 
which  convey  our  knowledge,  is  a  more  absorbing 
occupation  than  to  deal  with  books,  which  are  in  a 
sense  twice  removed  from  their  creator.  This  is,  I 
am  aware,  a  merely  material  consideration ;  but  Goethe 
urged  that  the  material  should  be  made  to  assist  the 
spiritual,  and  it  does  so  pre-eminently  in  an  Archive. 
We  are  there  as  near  to  the  life  of  the  past  as  it  is 
possible  for  us  to  get.  The  paper,  the  ink,  the  hand- 
writing, all  retain  some  aroma  of  reality  which  is 
missing  in  the  printed  page.  It  is  virgin  soil,  too, 


IN  A  RECORD  OFFICE  151 

that  we  are  ploughing,  and  no  one  knows  what  the 
ploughshare  may  turn  up  to  the  light.  The  most 
startling  clues  may  be  discovered  where  least  looked 
for,  and  then  how  fervent  is  the  chase  from  one  series 
of  documents  to  another,  how  keen  the  pleasure  of 
running  the  quarry  to  ground ! 

Reality,  convincingness,  vividness,  these  are  the 
characteristics  of  study  in  an  Archive  ;  and  our  material 
nearness  to  the  past  has  a  very  genuine  effect  upon 
the  imagination.  The  naked  truth,  detailed  as  it  is 
for  no  literary  purpose,  with  no  consideration  of  art 
in  its  composition — a  mere  piece  of  actual  life  with 
all  life's  inconsequences — produces  an  effect  superior 
to  any  that  could  be  obtained  by  the  most  skilful 
master  of  belles-lettres. 

But  this  fine  aroma  of  veracity  is  too  subtle  to  be 
confined ;  it  evaporates  in  transfusion.  Who  can 
preserve  the  cry  that  rings  from  the  depositions  before 
the  Holy  Office  ?  How  can  you  convey  the  thrill  of 
reality  evoked  by  the  sonnet  of  Lupatino,  written  in 
prison  with  a  piece  of  charcoal  taken  from  a  brazier, 
whose  fine  black  powder  blows  away  even  as  we 
transcribe  the  words,  or  how  present  the  lively 
emotions  with  which  we  find  beneath  our  eyes 
designs  for  the  meshes  of  the  net  in  which  the  Rizzos 
were  to  be  drowned  ?  Graffiti  and  judicial  archives 
are  the  storehouses  of  the  most  poignant  emotions 
which  we  can  gather  from  the  past.  But  their  flavour 
cannot  be  transmitted ;  their  quality  is  a  quality  quod 
demonstrare  nequeo,  sentio  tantum. 

And  yet  one  is  constantly  tempted  to  face  the 
impossible,  to  endeavour  to  preserve  the  naYve  flavour 
of  some  unvarnished  story,  met  by  chance  in  the 
course  of  other  searches.  And,  though  much  of  the 
actual  simplicity  must  inevitably  disappear  in  the  pro- 
cess of  translation,  still  some  idea  of  how  people  lived 
and  thought,  some  sidelights  upon  human  life,  may 
perhaps  be  gathered  from  the  little  romance  now  to 
be  related. 


152         AN   INTERNATIONAL  EPISODE 

The  story  begins  with  a  despatch  from  the  Venetian 
ambassador  in  Constantinople,  dated  January  29, 
1585 — that  is,  1586  of  our  style.  "Most  Serene 
Prince,"  writes  Bernardo  to  the  doge  and  Senate, 
"  some  days  ago  a  cavass,  obeying  orders  from  the 
pashas  assembled  in  divan,  came  to  my  house.  In 
his  company  were  a  young  man  from  Apulia  and  a 
boy.  The  cavass  was  charged  to  tell  me  that  this 
young  man,  whom  he  styled  a  Roman  cavaliere,  had 
complained  to  the  pashas  on  the  following  grounds. 
He  says  that  he  left  Rome  along  with  the  boy  and  the 
boy's  sister,  both  of  whom  were  Turks,  children  of 
another  cavass,  who  had  been  captured  by  the  galleys 
of  Florence  and  made  slaves.  He  had  bought  them 
both,  had  married  the  girl,  and  was  on  his  way  with 
them  to  Constantinople,  when  they  were  all  three 
arrested  by  order  of  the  Venetian  Governor  of  Budua. 
He  himself  and  the  boy  escaped,  but  the  girl,  who  was 
with  child,  remained  a  prisoner.  The  cavass  added 
that  the  magnificent  pashas  were  astounded  that  such 
a  thing  should  have  happened  in  the  territory  of 
the  Republic,  which  was  at  peace  with  the  grand 
signer.  The  young  man  here  broke  in  and  said  that 
he  not  only  complained  because  his  wife  had  been 
detained,  but  also  because  they  had  been  deprived  of 
one  thousand  sequins  which  they  carried  hid  in  a 
mattress,  and  had  been  subjected  to  many  cruelties 
besides. 

"I  replied  to  the  cavass  that  I  did  not  believe  a 
word  of  the  story,  for  I  knew  that  your  Serenity's 
ministers  were  gentlemen  who  were  incapable  of 
acting  unjustly.  I  said  that  I  had  no  knowledge  on 
the  subject  in  question,  but  that  I  would  write,  not 
only  to  your  Serenity,  but  also  to  the  Governor  of 
Budua  for  information ;  and  in  order  that  I  might  do 
so  effectively,  I  desired  further  details  of  the  event. 
Accordingly,  I  asked  the  young  Apulian  who  he  was ; 
and  out  of  a  long  rigmarole  I  extracted,  with  some 
difficulty,  the  confession  that  he  had  been  head  of  the 


SALEN  AND  DOROTEA  153 

papal  police,  that  his  name  was  Hector  Salen,  that  he 
had  fallen  in  love  with  this  Turkish  slave-girl,  whose 
name  in  her  native  tongue  was  Giulsien,  and  her 
baptismal  name  Dorotea ;  that  he  had  carried  her  off, 
along  with  her  brother,  whose  Turkish  name  was 
Hussein,  and  his  Christian  name  Augustino ;  that  for 
love  of  her  (but  more  likely  because  he  had  committed 
some  crime)  he  had  resolved  to  come  to  Constantinople 
and  to  make  himself  a  Turk ;  as,  indeed,  he  had  done 
that  very  morning  in  the  house  of  the  capadun  pasha, 
the  high  admiral.  He  gave  himself  out  as  a  gentle- 
man, and  took  the  title  of  papal  cavaliere.  I  further 
extracted  from  him  that  when  he  was  in  Ragusa 
the  people  of  the  place,  suspicious  of  his  intentions, 
refused  to  let  him  and  his  companions  depart  towards 
Turkey.  But  he,  pretending  to  set  out  on  his  return 
journey  to  Italy,  got  away  to  Castelnovo,  where  he 
hired  a  boat  to  take  them  all  to  Antivari.  They  were 
landed,  however,  at  Cattaro,  where  the  governor 
arrested  them,  but  discharged  them  after  a  few  days ; 
and  so  they  came  to  Budua.  There  they  were  again 
seized  by  the  governor.  Salen,  however,  and  the  boy 
escaped ;  but  his  wife,  owing  to  her  condition,  remained 
in  durance. 

"  It  is  an  obvious  lie  about  the  money  having  been 
taken  from  them,  for  the  boy  and  the  Hector  Salen 
contradicted  one  another  as  to  who  was  present 
at  the  alleged  seizure.  I  noticed  that  the  Apulian 
held  a  paper  in  his  hand.  This  was  the  petition  he 
had  presented  to  the  pashas.  I  took  it  from  him,  and 
had  it  translated  at  once,  and  found  that  in  it  he  said 
nothing  about  the  money.  This  pack  of  lies  let  me  see 
the  true  nature  of  the  man,  and  I  burst  out  on  him, 
telling  him  that  his  own  mouth  had  proved  him  to  be 
a  great  scoundrel,  that  I  was  perfectly  certain  that  he 
had  committed  some  crime,  and  that  that  was  the  true 
reason  why  he  wished  to  abandon  his  country  and 
his  religion.  I  begged  the  cavass  to  repeat  what  he 
had  just  heard  to  the  pashas,  pointing  out  that  it  was 


154         AN   INTERNATIONAL  EPISODE 

impossible  for  this  fellow,  a  mere  police  officer,  to  have 
had  all  that  money  with  him  unless  he  had  murdered 
some  one.  To  this  the  Apulian  made  no  answer,  but 
went  away  quite  upset  and  dumbfounded. 

"  The  cavass,  who  stayed  behind,  begged  me  to 
restore  the  girl.  As  for  the  money,  he  was  now  con- 
vinced that  it  was  all  a  lie.  I  answered  that,  although 
the  bad  character  of  this  fellow  was  quite  clear,  yet  as 
regards  the  girl  I  would  write  for  information.  And 
with  that  I  dismissed  the  cavass. 

"I  sent  at  once  to ;  tell  the  high  admiral,  for  I  saw 
that  the  Apulian  counted  much  on  his  support  as 
having  been  received  into  Islam  in  the  admiral's 
house. 

11  The  following  day  my  dragoman,  while  waiting  to 
be  admitted  to  divan,  was  attacked  by  all  the  cavasses, 
who  declared  that  this  girl  was  a  daughter  of  one  of 
their  order,  and  they  united  in  demanding  her  release. 
The  pashas  in  a  body  sent  to  inform  me  that  this 
arrest  was  contrary  to  treaty.  My  dragoman  replied 
in  the  sense  of  my  answer  to  the  cavass,  and  promised 
that  I  would  write  for  information ;  but  Ferrat  and 
Mehmet,  pashas,  insisted  that  I  should  not  send  for 
information,  but  should  order  the  immediate  restitution 
of  the  girl  to  Salen.  The  dragoman  assured  them  that 
I  had  no  authority  to  give  such  an  order,  nor  would  I 
be  obeyed  if  I  did. 

"  I  must  tell  you  that  the  boy,  though  he  confesses 
that  he  is  called  Augustino,  denies  that  either  he  or  his 
sister  has  ever  been  baptized.  I  do  not  believe  that. 
I  expect  considerable  trouble  from  this  affair,  as  the 
pashas  support  Salen  on  the  score  of  religion,  and 
the  cavasses  because  the  girl's  father  was  one  of  their 
profession.  I  will  take  no  steps  till  I  hear  from  your 
Serenity." 

We  find  the  result  of  this  despatch  in  the  order  of  the 
Senate  dated  March  14,  1586.  It  runs  thus  : 

"  To  the  Governor  of  Budua, — We  are  informed  by 
our  ambassador  in  Constantinople  that  a  certain 


DOROTEA   IN  VENICE  155 

Hector  Salen,  an  Apulian,  has  arrived  at  the  Porte. 
He  gives  himself  out  as  a  papal  cavaliere,  and  com- 
plains that  when  he  was  at  Budua  with  the  children  of 
a  Turkish  cavass,  a  boy  and  a  girl,  both  of  whom  he 
bought  out  of  slavery,  the  girl,  who  is  his  wife,  was 
detained  by  you.  The  pashas  have  addressed  a 
vigorous  remonstrance  to  our  ambassador  on  the 
subject,  and  you  will,  no  doubt,  have  heard  from  him. 
But  we  now  send  you  express  orders  that,  if  the  charge 
be  true,  and  the  girl  has  been  detained  by  you  or  by 
any  of  your  officers,  you  are  to  release  her  at  once, 
unless  you  have  weighty  reasons  to  the  contrary ;  and 
you  are  to  consign  her,  all  her  goods,  and  all  the 
Apulian's  goods,  to  the  Turkish  cadi  nearest  to  your 
jurisdiction.  You  will  draw  up,  in  duplicate,  a  notarial 
act  of  this  surrender ;  one  copy  you  will  send  to  our 
ambassador  in  Constantinople,  and  one  to  us.  And 
this  as  you  value  our  favour.  But  should  you  have 
grave  reasons  to  urge  against  this  step,  then  you  are 
to  continue  the  arrest  of  the  said  girl  and  all  her 
belongings,  and  to  refer  your  reasons  to  us,  that  we 
may  consider  what  you  are  to  do." 

But  before  these  instructions  .could  have  reached 
Budua,  the  subject  of  all  this  commotion,  Dorotea,  had 
already  left  for  Venice,  as  we  learn  from  the  following 
minute  of  March  20,  which  completes  the  tale  of 
Dorotea's  adventures,  from  her  own  lips  : 

"  This  afternoon  their  Excellencies  received  notice 
that  the  Turkish  girl,  whose  detention  in  Budua  was 
reported  by  the  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  had 
arrived  in  Venice,  and  was  on  board  a  ship  on  the 
point  of  sailing  for  Apulia.  Their  Lordships  ordered 
the  secretary  Bonrizzo  to  send  an  officer  on  board 
and  to  convey  the  girl  to  the  lodging  of  the  doge's 
majordomo,  in  order  that  her  deposition  might  be 
taken.  This  was  done.  She  was  asked  her  name, 
who  she  was,  what  she  was  doing  on  board  that  ship, 
and  where  she  was  going.  To  which  she  replied,  '  I 
am  the  daughter  of  a  Turk  called  Achmet,  the  cavass. 


156         AN   INTERNATIONAL   EPISODE 

My  name  in  Turkish  is  Giulsien  ;  in  Christian,  Dorotea. 
My  father  was  sent,  about  three  years  ago,  to  Alex- 
andria to  purchase  sugar.  He  fell  ill  there,  and  his 
wife,  my  mother,  poisoned  him  so  that  she  might  be  able 
to  return  to  Christendom.  My  mother  was  a  Venetian, 
daughter  of  the  late  Messer  Aloise  Memmo,  and  was 
married  to  the  late  Messer  Ottavio  Barbarigo,  who 
was  sent  as  governor  to  Sebenico.  There  he  was 
captured  and  killed  by  Achmet  the  cavass,  my  father, 
who  was  then  on  a  piratical  expedition.  This  my 
mother  told  me.  She  was  sent  back  from  Alexandria 
to  Venice  by  Messer  Paulo  Mariani,  a  merchant  in 
Alexandria,  and  I  and  a  younger  brother  came  with 
her ;  Mariani  had  already  placed  my  elder  brother  in 
France.  We  three  stayed  two  months  here  in  Venice, 
and  then  went  to  Rome  to  be  baptized.' 

"  Asked,  *  Could  you  not  be  baptized  here  without 
going  to  Rome  ?  '  she  answered  : 

"  '  My  mother  was  advised  to  go  to  Rome,  because 
she  was  told  she  could  not  be  absolved  from  the 
murder  of  her  husband  except  in  Rome.' 

"  '  And  what  did  you  do  in  Rome,  and  where  did  you 
lodge?' 

" '  We  went  to  the  Catechumens,  and  presented 
ourselves  to  the  superiors,  and  especially  to  Cardinal 
Sirleto.  There  I  stayed  about  four  months,  learning 
the  Christian  doctrine,  and  then  I  was  baptized. 
Monsignore  Bianchetti,  chamberlain  to  Pope  Gregory, 
was  my  sponsor  at  the  front.  My  younger  brother 
was  not  baptized  again,  for  he  had  already  been 
baptized  according  to  the  Greek  rite,  at  Corfu,  on 
our  way  back  from  Alexandria.  After  I  was  baptized, 
Hector  Salen,  an  Apulian  from  Molfetta,  nephew  of 
Signer  Giacomo  Salen,  military  engineer,  took  me  to 
Avife.  It  is  a  year  and  a  half  now  that  I  have  been  a 
Christian,  and  I  wish  to  remain  so.  The  pope  gave 
me  for  dower  the  interest  on  two  thousand  ducats, 
and  made  my  husband  a  cavaliere  in  the  papal  guards. 
While  I  was  at  the  Catechumens,  my  elder  brother 


DOROTEA'S  WANDERINGS  157 

came  from  France,  but  would  not  be  baptized.  At  last, 
however,  he  was  persuaded,  and  was  baptized  along 
with  me,  and  then  went  away  in  the  suite  of  a  count, 
whose  name  and  home  I  do  not  remember.  I  stayed 
in  Rome  with  my  husband  for  about  six  months, 
while  my  mother  and  younger  brother  went  to  Naples, 
and  entered  the  service  of  the  viceroy's  wife.  My 
husband  mortally  wounded  a  lieutenant  in  the  pope's 
horse  guards,  and  Cardinal  Sirleto  advised  him  to 
leave  Rome  for  a  few  days,  to  escape  the  hand  of 
justice,  and  so  we  went  to  Loretto.  From  Loretto 
we  pressed  on  to  Ancona,  and  from  Ancona  to  Ragusa, 
to  wait  for  a  passage  on  board  a  Venetian  ship  to 
Zante,  where  an  aunt  of  mine  lived.  At  Ragusa  we 
met  my  elder  brother,  and  there  we  stayed  eighteen 
days ;  but,  no  ships  passing  by,  we  were  advised  to 
go  to  Cattaro.  We  embarked  on  board  the  galley,  The 
Seven  Columns,  but  as  that  did  not  touch  at  Cattaro, 
we  landed  at  Ragusa  Vecchia,  and  took  a  small  boat 
to  Cattaro,  where  we  were  placed  in  quarantine  on 
account  of  the  plague.  When  we  secured  our  pratique, 
we  stayed  another  day  and  night,  and  then  set  out  for 
Budua.  There  my  husband  lodged  me  in  the  castle 
with  a  certain  Pietro  Greco,  and  he  and  my  brother 
went  off  to  buy  fish  and  to  do  a  little  trading.  But 
after  nine  days  I  heard  from  one  of  Budua  that  both  of 
them  had  gone  to  Alessio  and  had  become  Turks.' 

"She  was  asked  if,  when  they  left  her,  they  had 
shown  any  signs  of  such  an  intention.  To  which  she 
answered : 

1  My  husband  merely  told  me  that,  as  there  was  no 
passage  at  present  for  Zante,  he  must  go  and  make  a 
little  money,  so  as  not  to  consume  all  that  we  had. 
He  took  away  my  rings,  necklaces,  chains,  and  ducats, 
and  even  my  red  pelisse.  I  never  heard  anything 
more  of  them.  When  I  found  myself  deserted,  I 
begged  the  Governor  of  Budua  to  give  me  a  passage 
to  Venice,  where  1  hoped  to  find  my  husband's  father 
and  his  brother,  who  had  taken  their  passage  in  an 


158         AN   INTERNATIONAL  EPISODE 

orange-boat.  I  found  neither  one  nor  the  other  ;  but  I 
heard  that  in  the  choir  of  St.  Mark's  there  was  a  singer, 
a  certain  Messer  Bonifacio  of  Molfetta,  my  husband's 
cousin,  and  in  his  house  I  lived  along  with  a  woman 
who  keeps  house  for  him.  And,  finding  a  ship  bound 
for  Apulia,  on  the  advice  of  Messer  Bonifacio  I  took  a 
passage  on  board  her.' 

"  Asked  why  she  wanted  to  go  to  Molfetta  when  she 
knew  that  her  husband  was  in  Constantinople,  she  said: 

" '  I  have  no  other  home,  so  I  resolved  to  go  to  my 
father-in-law,  whom  I  know  for  a  man  of  honour.1 

"  Their  Excellencies,  having  heard  the  above  de- 
position, commanded  the  young  person  to  be  taken 
for  that  night  to  the  house  of  the  chief  officer,  and 
to  be  lodged  with  his  women,  but  under  strict  guard, 
and  with  orders,  that  she  was  to  speak  to  no  one  till 
further  instructions." 

The  next  day  the  Senate  made  the  following  decree  : 

"  That  the  said  Dorotea  be  placed  in  the  Convent  of 
the  Penitents  at  the  Giudecca,  and  that  she  shall  stay 
there  till  further  notice ;  and  that  she  be  not  allowed 
to  speak  to  any  one. 

"  That  the  most  prominent  Turks  residing  in  this 
city  be  invited  to  appear  before  the  Cabinet,  and  that, 
in  their  presence,  Dorotea  be  asked  to  declare  if  she 
desires  to  be  a  Turk  or  a  Christian.  When  she  has 
announced  her  resolve  to  be  a  Christian,  a  memorandum 
of  the  facts  be  drawn  up  in  Turkish,  and  signed  by  the 
Turks  present,  and  that  this  be  sent  to  our  ambassador 
in  Constantinople,  in  justification  of  our  procedure." 

And  here  the  luckless  Dorotea  disappears  from 
the  scene.  Whether  she  remained  immured  on  the 
Giudecca,  or  found  her  honourable  father-in-law  in 
Apulia,  or  was  restored  to  the  arms  of  her  ex-papal 
guardsman,  we  shall  never  know. 


Shakspeare  and  Venice 

THERE  is,  perhaps,  no  region  of  intuitive  knowledge 
which  we  may  safely  affirm  to  lie  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  poetic  imagination.  The  power  to  grasp  some 
trilling  indication,  some  fugitive  hint,  and  from  it  to 
reconstruct  a  whole  scheme  of  things  which  shall,  in 
all  essentials,  correspond  to  fact,  is  peculiarly  the 
poet's  gift ;  it  is  the  poetical  quality  in  a  great  man 
of  science — a  great  osteologist,  let  us  say — which 
enables  him  from  a  single  bone  to  divine  the  structure 
of  some  extinct  race  :  and  so  in  the  work  of  a  supreme 
poet,  the  justness  of  general  epithets  need  not  surprise 
us,  though  their  accuracy  must  always  be  a  source  of 
delight.  When  Shakspeare  tells  us,  for  example,  of 
thrilling  "  regions  of  thick-ribbed  ice,"  we  are  not  to 
suppose  that  he  ever  threaded  the  seracs  of  an  icefall, 
though  no  poet  ever  devised  a  juster  epithet  than 
"  thick-ribbed  "  to  describe  the  colossal  cleavage  of  a 
glacier. 

There  is,  however,  another  kind  of  knowledge — a 
knowledge  of  minute  facts  in  detail,  which  no  imagi- 
nation can  fairly  be  expected  to  compass ;  a  knowledge 
which  we  may  more  justly  call  information.  The 
object  of  this  paper  is  to  inquire  how  much  knowledge 
of  this  kind  Shakspeare  possessed  about  Venice  and 
the  Venetian  dominions ;  about  the  customs  of  the 
Republic,  her  laws,  her  state ;  about  the  habits  of  the 
Venetians,  their  mode  of  life  and  character. 

It  is  singular  that,  in  the  midst  of  so  active  a  study 
and  examination  of  Shakspeare's  work  from  every 
point  of  view,  scholars  have  seldom  touched  upon  the 
question  of  the  poet's  local  knowledge  of  Venice. 


160  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

Yet,  as  we  shall  see,  the  scattered  allusions  to  be 
collected  from  the  plays  prove  an  intimacy  with 
Venice  which  is  surprising  in  a  man  who  probably 
was  never  out  of  England.  For  the  inquiry  does 
not  lead  us  to  suppose  that  Shakspeare  ever  saw 
Venice.  We  must  conclude  that  all  he  had  heard 
about  Venice  made  him  love  the  city,  and  that  his 
burning  imagination  vivified  the  picture  of  it  created 
by  his  fancy.  We  know  how  deep  an  interest 
he  took  in  Italy  and  in  all  things  Italian,  and  we 
surmise  that  he  made  good  use  of  his  opportunities 
to  gather  a  considerable  store  of  information  about 
Italy  in  general,  and  about  Venice  in  particular. 
Shakspeare  displays  a  knowledge  of  Venice  and  the 
Venetian  dominions  deeper  than  that  which  he  appears 
to  have  possessed  about  any  other  Italian  state. 
Omitting  the  references  to  Rome,  which  are  just  under 
four  hundred  in  number,  we  find  that  the  chief  cities 
of  Italy  come  in  this  order :  Venice,  with  fifty-one 
references;  Naples,  thirty-four;  Milan,  twenty-five; 
Florence,  twenty-three ;  Padua,  twenty-three ;  and 
Verona,  twenty.  Two  main  sources  of  such  infor- 
mation were  open  to  the  poet :  first,  the  merchant 
class,  whose  relations  with  Venice  dated  from  times 
as  early  as  the  year  1325,  and  were  cemented  by  the 
yearly  passage  of  the  Venetian  merchantmen  known 
as  the  Flanders  galleys ;  and  secondly,  the  travelled 
members  of  the  aristocracy,  the  young  gentlemen  who 
returned  to  England  with  indelible  memories  of  Italy 
and  all  the  charm  of  that  pleasant  land,  who  filled  the 
town  with  talk  of  Italian  cities,  and  made  Venice,  in  a 
certain  way,  the  mode,  so  that  Sir  John,  for  example, 
assures  Mistress  Ford  that,  were  she  his  lady,  her 
arched  brow  would  become  "  the  ship  tire,  the  tire 
valiant,  or  any  tire  of  Venetian  admittance."  We 
know  that  Queen  Elizabeth  was  a  proficient  in  Italian, 
and  could  even  pun  in  that  language ;  speaking  to  an 
Italian  on  the  neglect  which  Venice  had  shown  to  her, 
she  remarked  that  she  was  almost  induced  to  believe 


HIS  KNOWLEDGE  OF  ITALIAN        161 

that  Venice  was  "non  fondata  ma  profondata  nel 
mare"  ("not  founded,  but  foundered  in  the  sea"). 

It  appears  that  in  some  way  or  other  Shakspeare  had 
learned  sufficient  Italian  to  understand  that  language. 
In  his  Italian  plays  he  introduces  enough  to  prove  his 
familiarity  with  its  use ;  Mercutio,  for  example,  cannot 
away  with  such  "  antic,  lisping,  affecting  fantasticoes,  ^ 
these  fashion-mongers,  these  perdonamis  .  .  .  with 
their  immortal  passado,  the  punto  reverse,  the  hai." 
Again,  the  greeting  between  Hortensio  and  Petruchio 
is  conducted,  for  a  couple  of  lines,  in  Italian,  "  Con 
tutto  il  cuore  ben  trovato.  Alia  casa  nostra  ben 
venuto,  molto  honorato  Signor  mio  Petruchio";  and 
Holofernes  quotes  the  old  familiar  proverb : 

Venetia,  Venetia 
Chi  non  ti  vede  non  ti  pretia. 

The  saying  is  an  ancient  one  ;  it  appeared  for  the  first 
time  in  the  famous  collection  of  Venetian  proverbs 
known  as  the  Ten  Tables.  The  Died  Tavole  were 
ten  large  broadsides,  each  containing  one  hundred  and 
fifty  proverbs.  They  were  first  printed  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  a  copy  may  have 
found  its  way  to  London  in  Shakspeare's  time.  In 
Much  A do  about  Nothing  (i.  i)  there  is  another  reference 
to  the  lagoon  city : 

If  Cupid  have  not  spent  all  his  quiver  in  Venice, 

which  also  sounds  proverbial.  The  abundant  use 
which  the  poet  made  of  Italian  novelle,  and  the  fidelity 
with  which  he  has  transferred  certain  proper  names 
and  phrases  directly  from  Italian  into  English,  are 
sufficient  proof  of  his  intimacy  with  the  language  of 
the  peninsula.  All  this  is  well  known.  But  how  far 
did  Shakspeare's  acquaintance  with  Venice  reach ; 
how  deep  was  his  knowledge  of  the  Venetians  and  of 
their  city  ? — that  city  which  has  exercised  such  a  pro- 
found fascination  upon  so  many  Englishmen  ;  a  city 
antique  in  its  history,  unique  in  its  beauty,  unique  in 

VOL.    II.  II 


162  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

its  situation,  a  veritable  sea-bird's  nest,  as  Theodoric's 
secretary  called  it  thirteen  hundred  years  ago. 

For  an  answer  to  our  question  we  naturally  turn 
first  to  the  two  great  Venetian  plays,  The  Merchant  of 
Venice  and  Othello.  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  Romeo 
and  Juliet,  and  the  doubtful  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona 
will  also  help  us  with  indications  on  the  same  subject. 

The  influence  of  such  Italian   romance-writers  as 
Cinthio,  Bandello,  and  their  peers  is  easily  discerned 
in  Shakspeare's  choice  and  manipulation  of  subjects. 
It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  motif  of  The  Merchant 
of  Venice  is  to  be  found  in  the  Pecorone,  the  collected 
works  of  that  old  Italian  novelist  who  is  known  as 
Master  John  of  Florence :  the  episode  of  the  caskets, 
however,  does  not  appear  in  the  Pecorone;  that  was 
imported  from  another  collection  of   romances,  the 
Gesta  Romanorum.      Ser  Giovanni's   novella,  though 
amusing,   is   marred   by  a  coarseness  of   touch  and 
sentiment ;   and  in  the  case  of  this  play  Shakspeare, 
in  his  portrayal  of  character,  has  departed  considerably 
from  his  original,  to  the  great  advantage  of  his  drama. 
There  can   be  no  sort  of  comparison   between   Ser 
Giovanni's  young  lady  of  Belmont,  with  her  unpleasant 
wager  that  none  of  her  lovers  will  be  able  to  master 
her,    and    charming,  faithful,    playful,    noble   Portia, 
idealized   portrait   of  one  type  of  Venetian   women, 
sprightly,  smilingly  mischievous,  not  averse  to  teasing 
on  occasion,  but  ready-witted,  serious  when  need  be, 
and  absolutely  true.     Nor,  again,  can  that  unattractive 
young  swaggerer,  Gianetto,  with  his  coxcombry  and 
selfishness,  stand  for  a  moment  against  Bassanio,  who, 
though  imprudent,  is  a  true  friend,  and  most  amiable. 
The  one  character  of  Ser  Giovanni's  creation  to  which 
Shakspeare   has  adhered  is  Ansaldo,  the  merchant, 
who  pledges   his  life  to  the  Jew  in  order  to  raise 
money  for  the  spendthrift  Gianetto.     Ansaldo  is  un- 
doubtedly the  most  attractive  character  in  the  novel, 
and  is  not  far  removed  from  good  and  grave  Antonio. 
Upon   some   small   points,   too,   the    playwright    has 


THE  LANDSCAPE  163 

varied  from  his  novelist  original.  In  the  Pecorone, 
Belmont,  for  instance,  is  a  seaport ;  the  Jew — who  is 
nameless — lives  at  Mestre  on  the  mainland,  driven 
there  probably  during  one  of  those  periods  of  expul- 
sion which  the  Venetian  government  imposed  on  all 
his  tribe  in  order  to  force  them  to  purchase  re- 
admission  into  Venice ;  the  famous  jurisconsult,  who 
turns  the  case  in  favour  of  the  merchant,  announces 
himself  from  Bologna,  not  from  Padua ;  but  for  the 
rest,  Shakspeare's  play  and  Ser  Giovanni's  novella 
are  very  closely  allied. 

In  his  mind's  eye  Shakspeare  had  formed  a  vivid 
conception  of  the  aspect  of  the  country  where  he  laid 
his  scenes.  For  him,  generally  speaking,  North  Italy 
is  "  fruitful  Lombardy,  the  pleasant  garden " ;  the 
pleasantness,  the  amenity  of  the  land  is  what  he  sees, 
11  and  there  at  Venice  gave  his  body  to  that  pleasant 
country's  earth  " — so  says  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  allud- 
ing to  the  death  of  Thomas  Mowbray,  Duke  of  Norfolk. 
Again,  Shakspeare  had  clearly  conceived  the  geography 
of  the  land,  and  accurately  maintained  his  conception, 
though  it  was,  for  the  most  part,  an  ideal  not  a  real 
geography.  For  instance,  Verona  is  a  port  upon  the 
sea,  with  tides  that  ebb  and  flow,  and  boats  may  sail 
from  thence  to  Milan ;  Valentine's  "  father  at  the  road 
expects  his  coming,  there  to  see  him  shipped  " ;  and 
Launce,  weeping  over  the  misdemeanours  of  his  dog 
Crab,  his  cruel-hearted  cur,  is  like  to  lose  the  tide. 
Verona  is  a  seaport  for  Shakspeare  in  the  Two  Gentlemen 
of  Verona,  and  it  is  still  a  seaport  for  him  in  Othello, 
where  Cassio's  ship,  the  first  to  reach  Cyprus  after 
the  storm,  is  a  Veronesa.  But  the  sheet  of  water 
nearest  to  Verona  is  the  Lake  of  Garda ;  and  though 
the  Venetians  kept  their  war-galleys  floating  upon  it, 
about  which  Shakspeare  may  have  heard,  yet  it  had 
not  a  tide  that  any  man  could  miss.  If  Verona  is  a 
seaport,  however,  in  Shakspearean  Italy,  there  is  no 
reason  why  Bergamo  should  not  have  sail-makers ; 
and  accordingly  we  find  that  Tranio's  father  exercised 


164  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

that  calling  in  the  high,  hill-perched  city.  Once  more, 
in  Shakspeare's  Lombardy,  though  not  in  the  real 
Lombardy,  there  is  mountainous  territory  between 
Milan  and  Mantua ;  the  duke,  in  pursuit  of  the  truants 
Silvia  and  Sir  Eglamour,  bids  Proteus  and  Sir  Thurio 
meet  him  "  upon  the  rising  of  the  mountain-foot  that 
leads  towards  Mantua" ;  perhaps  the  poet  was  thinking 
of  the  Euganean  Hills,  but  put  them  on  the  near, 
instead  of  on  the  farther,  side  of  Mantua. 

Yet  in  spite  of  this  ideal  geography  we  are  startled, 
every  now  and  then,  by  a  touch  of  topographical 
accuracy  so  just  as  almost  to  persuade  us  that  Shak- 
speare  must  have  seen  with  outward  eye  the  country 
which  his  fancy  pictures ;  must  have  travelled  there, 
and  carried  thence  a  recollection  of  its  bearings. 

For,  to  return  to  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  Portia 
says  to  Balthasar : 

"Take  this  same  letter, 
And  use  thou  all  th'  endeavour  of  a  man 
In  speed  to  Padua :  see  thou  render  this 
Into  my  cousin's  hand,  Doctor  Bellario ; 
And,  look,  what  notes  and  garments  he  doth  give  thee, 
Bring  them,  I  pray  thee,  with  imagin'd  speed 
Unto  the  tranect,  to  the  common  ferry 
Which  trades  to  Venice.    Waste  no  time  in  words, 
«    But  get  thee  gone  :  I  shall  be  there  before  thee." 

They  are  at  her  country  house  of  Belmont,  which 
we  may  conjecture  to  be  Montebello,  just  beyond 
Vicenza.  Portia  intends  to  reach  Venice  by  the  burchio 
delta  Brenta,  the  common  ferry-boat  which  started 
from  Padua  and  was  towed  leisurely  down  the  pleasant 
stream,  past  Dolo  and  La  Mira  and  Malcontenta,  and 
put  into  the  lagoon  at  Lizza  Fusina.  It  is  possible 
that  Shakspeare  had  heard  that  quaint  and  travelled 
gentleman,  Fiennes  Moryson,  describe  the  burchio  and 
its  motley  crew.  "  The  boat  is  covered  with  arched 
hatches,"  he  says,  "  and  there  is  very  pleasant  com- 
panye,  so  a  man  beware  to  give  no  offence ;  for  other- 
wise the  Lumbards  carry  shirts  of  male,  and  being 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  CITY  165 

armed  as  if  they  were  in  camp,  are  apt  to  revenge 
upon  shameful  advantages.  But  commonly  there  is 
pleasant  discourse,  and  the  proverb  saith  that  the  boat 
shall  be  drowned  when  it  carries  neither  monk,  nor 
student,  nor  curtisan." 

However  that  may  be,  the  poet  knew  that  there  was 
such  a  ferry  and  such  a  boat.  Balthasar  is  despatched 
before  to  meet  his  mistress  at  the  ferry,  with  docu- 
ments and  lawyers'  gowns,  which  he  shall  get  from 
Dr.  Bellario,  whose  namesakes  live  in  Padua  to  this 
day.  Portia,  with  Nerissa,  follows  in  her  coach ;  and 
how  far  is  it  that  they  have  to  drive  between  Belmont 
and  Padua  ? 

For  we  must  measure  twenty  miles  to-day — 

twenty  miles !  exactly  the  distance  between  Monte- 
bello  and  the  gate  of  Padua.  If  Montebello  and 
Belmont  be  identical,  this  is  surely  most  surprisingly 
accurate ;  yet  we  cannot  believe  that  this  accuracy 
is  due  to  more  than  a  striking  but  fortuitous  co- 
incidence. It  is  almost  impossible  to  believe  that 
Shakspeare  ever  was  in  Venetian  territory;  we  feel 
at  once,  when  we  pass  inside  the  city  of  Venice  with 
him,  that  he  has  never  "  swum  in  a  gondola,"  except  in 
fancy ;  there  are  too  many  evidences  that  he  did  not 
know  the  sea-girt  city,  its  water-ways,  its  little  calli, 
those  narrow  streets  whose  windings  form  such  a 
delightful  labyrinth,  in  which  the  traveller  may  lose 
himself.  For  example,  it  is  true  they  used  to  ride 
once  in  Venice,  before  the  streets  were  paved,  and 
when  the  bridges  were  made  of  sloping  wooden 
boards,  and  the  merchants  who  had  business  at  San 
Marco  used  to  picket  their  mules  at  the  Ponte  della 
Paglia  or  under  the  fig-tree  of  San  Salvador.  But 
long  before  the  days  of  Shylock  and  Antonio  the  law 
had  forbidden  the  use  of  horses  or  mules;  stone 
bridges  made  riding  impossible,  and  Dobbin,  old 
Gobbo's  fill-horse,  would  never  have  been  allowed 
to  jog  along  the  narrow  calli  of  the  town.  Again, 


166  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

Shylock's  house  is  more  Florentine  than  Venetian  in 
structure ;  his  orders  to  Jessica  are, 

Clamber  not  you  up  to  the  casements. 

In  Florence,  where  the  older  houses  were  often 
fortresses  as  well  as  dwelling-places,  the  casements 
may  have  to  be  clambered  up  to;  but  in  Venice  the 
graceful  Gothic  windows  are  low-silled,  no  higher 
than  a  man's  middle,  and  wide  and  open  to  admit 
the  breezes  from  the  sea:  so  Jessica  would  have  no 
need  to  clamber;  it  was  enough  for  her  to  lean  out 
of  the  casement  in  order  to  see  that  Christian 

passing  by,  who  was  worth  a  Jewess'  eye. 

Nor  do  we  think  that  Gratiano  and  Salarino  would 
have  found  a  pent-house  under  which  to  take  their 
stand,  in  any  Venetian  street ;  a  true  pent-house,  as 
distinguished  from  a  sotto-portico,  were  it  ever  so 
narrow,  would  have  filled  most  Venetian  alleys  from 
side  to  side. 

But  although  slight  indications  such  as  these  induce 
us  to  conclude  that  Shakspeare  never  saw  Venice,  it 
is  impossible  to  deny  the  truth  of  local  colour  which 
pervades  the  play.  It  is  that  salient  point  the  Rialto, 
its  mere  sound  and  name,  which  gives  to  the  setting 
of  the  drama  the  strong  Venetian  flavour  which  it 
undoubtedly  possesses.  The  fame  of  the  great  arch, 
which  had  been  thrown  across  the  Grand  Canal  soon 
after  Shakspeare's  birth,  had,  no  doubt,  reached 
England ;  and  it  is  round  Rialto  that  Shakspeare  has 
gathered  his  own  Venetian  knowledge ;  it  is  about 
the  Rialto  that  his  fancy  builds  up  the  Venice  he 
desires  his  audience  to  see.  We  are  made  to  feel 
the  crowd  upon  the  bridge  and  at  the  foot  of  its  long 
flight  of  stairs ;  we  picture  Antonio  sauntering  with 
his  friends,  waiting  for  news  of  his  galleys,  and  Shy- 
lock  creeping  by,  eyeing  and  eyed  askance,  and  now 
and  then  tormented  by  the  boys  as  they  recognize 
the  yellow  sign  of  his  Jewish  blood  upon  his  breast 


THE   MERCHANT  OF  VENICE          167 

or  his  cap.  In  the  characters  of  the  play,  too,  the 
Venetian  flavour  is  for  the  most  part  successfully 
maintained.  Portia  is  most  thoroughly  Venetian ;  so 
also  are  Shylock  and  Antonio ;  indeed  the  Jew  is 
not  more  distinctly  Jewish  than  Venetian  in  many 
respects ;  the  average  Venetian  merchant — not  An- 
tonio, of  course,  for  he  is  meant  to  be  an  exception 
— and  his  Jewish  rivals  were,  we  suspect,  at  no  time 
very  different  in  their  methods  of  conducting  business. 
There  is  only  one  point  where  the  Venetian  quality 
of  the  play  is  violated — that  is,  in  the  portrayal  of 
the  country  clowns,  Gobbo  the  Elder  and  Launcelot 
his  son.  They  are  both  peasant-bred,  but  their  note, 
the  tone  of  their  conversation  and  their  humour,  is 
English,  or  at  least  not  Italian.  It  is  in  Portia,  Shy- 
lock,  and  Rialto  that  we  catch  the  purest  aroma  of 
Venice  which  the  play  exhales. 

If  we  ask  how  far  do  stray  touches  and  phrases 
in  this  drama  show  on  the  part  of  the  playwright  a 
knowledge  of  Venetian  habits,  laws,  and  customs,  we 
shall  find  several  points  worthy  of  notice.  Whether 
the  poet  drew  his  character  of  Antonio  from  the 
merchant-prince  Fugger,  as  has  been  suggested ; 
whether  he  was  aware  of  the  great  German  exchange- 
house,  the  Fondaco  dei  Tedeschi,  which  existed  in 
Venice,  or  not,  he  is  certainly  fully  alive  to  the  fact 
that  commercial  relations  between  Venice  and  Ger- 
many were  of  the  closest  description.  With  no 
German  city  was  trade  more  active  than  with  Frank- 
fort ;  and  Shakspeare  shows  his  information  on  this 
point  when  he  makes  Shylock  in  his  misery  recall 
his  business  transactions  in  that  city,  and  the  diamond 
he  bought  there.  But  if  Shylock  really  exacted  the 
usury  for  which  Antonio  did  rate  him  many  a  time 
and  oft,  he  did  so  in  contravention  of  the  law  which 
established  the  legal  amount  of  interest;  and  he 
certainly  could  not  have  recovered  in  any  court  of 
Venice.  Shylock's  confidence  that  he  will  receive 
pure  justice  from  the  Venetian  tribunals  is  true  to 


i68  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

fact  and  honourable  to  the  Republic ;  Antonio  himself 
recognizes  this  when  he  says : 

"The  duke  cannot  deny  the  course  of  law  ; 
For  the  commodity  that  strangers  have 
With  us  in  Venice,  if  it  be  denied, 
Will  much  impeach  the  justice  of  his  state ; 
Since  that  the  trade  and  profit  of  the  city 
Consisteth  of  all  nations." 

That  states  the  truth  about  Venetian  commercial 
policy :  the  great  freedom  and  security  she  always 
allowed  to  strangers,  which  accounted  for  much  of 
her  prosperity,  and  for  the  rooted  affection  which 
her  dependencies  bore  towards  her — an  affection 
which  manifested  itself  after  the  wars  of  the  League 
of  Cambray,  when  the  liberated  cities  voluntarily 
returned  to  their  allegiance  towards  St.  Mark.  The 
most  the  doge  can  do  is  to  adjourn  the  case  while 
waiting  for  counsel  from  Padua ;  no  mention  is  made 
of  discharging  the  case  altogether,  even  though  it  be 
a  case  of  Jew  against  a  Christian.  Instances  wherein 
Jews  were  protected  against  robbery  and  violence 
on  the  part  of  private  Venetians  are  not  uncommon 
in  the  annals  of  Venetian  justice ;  though  the  state 
sometimes  plundered  the  Israelites  by  exacting  large 
sums  for  permission  to  remain  in  Venice,  a  permission 
which  had  to  be  renewed  every  five  years.  Shylock 
was  not  in  danger  as  long  as  he  remained  within  the 
law;  but  his  usury  would  have  put  him  outside  the 
pale.  With  Jessica  and  Lorenzo  the  case  was 
different.  They  were  playing  a  game  which  was 
infinitely  more  dangerous.  For  a  Christian  to  wed 
a  Jewess  would  have  brought  both  of  them  before 
the  Court  of  the  Esecutori  contro  la  Bestemmia,  and 
placed  them  in  peril  of  their  lives.  The  Inquisition 
trials  show  how  sharply  this  crime  was  attacked  and 
punished,  and  even  learned  Portia  would  have  found 
herself  put  to  it  to  set  the  culprits  free. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  while   Shakspeare  is  aware 
that  the  true  title  of  the  prince  is  Doge  or  Duke 


OTHELLO  169 

of  Venice,  he  does  not  know  the  doge's  proper  style 
and  address.  The  doge  is  duke,  and  therefore,  either 
as  sovereign  prince  or  as  duke,  for  the  Englishman 
Shakspeare,  he  is  styled  "your  Grace."  But  had 
the  poet  frequented  the  society  of  Venetians  in 
London  he  could  hardly  have  failed  to  learn  that 
the  doge  was  not  "  his  Grace "  in  Venice,  but  "  his 
Serenity."  Nor  again  is  it  probable  that  the  doge 
himself  would  have  sat  in  court  at  the  hearing  of 
Shylock's  suit;  he  seldom  sat  in  any  court  except 
that  of  the  Council  of  Ten,  and  chiefly  when  that 
court  was  trying  for  treason.  But  even  had  he  been 
present  at  the  trial,  there  would  have  been  no  need 
to  entreat  the  learned  lawyer,  Balthasar,  home  to 
dinner;  for  the  doge  was  already  at  home  in  the 
ducal  palace,  where  the  courts  and  the  doge's  dwelling 
alike  were  situated. 

To  turn  now  to  Shakspeare's  other  great  Venetian 
play,  Othello.  Here  the  poet  has  kept  very  close  to 
his  original  authority,  the  seventh  novel  of  the  Third 
Decade  in  Giovanni  Battista  Cinthio  Giraldi's  collection 
of  stories  called  the  Ecatomiti.  The  name  of  the  heroine 
is  the  same  in  the  play  and  in  the  novel ;  and  we  find 
certain  phrases  even  paraphrased  from  the  Italian 
with  great  fidelity ;  for  example,  Othello,  when  plead- 
ing that  Desdemona  may  be  allowed  to  go  with  him 
to  Cyprus,  says : 

"  I  therefore  beg  it  not 
To  please  the  palate  of  my  appetite, 
But  to  be  free  and  bounteous  to  her  mind." 

Cinthio  says  that  Desdemona  chose  Othello,  "tratta 
non  da  appetite  donnesco  ma  dalla  virtu  del  moro."  The 
points  where  Shakspeare  has  departed  most  widely 
from  his  original  are  both  curious  and  instructive. 
In  the  first  place,  the  means  by  which  lago  becomes 
possessed  of  the  famous  handkerchief  are  certainly 
more  telling  in  Cinthio's  novel  than  in  the  play ;  the 
action  adds  a  touch  of  blacker  villainy  and  hypocrisy 


170  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

to  the  Machiavellian  character  of  lago,  and  makes 
him  almost  that  perfettamente  tristot  that  ideal  scoun- 
drel, whose  impossibility  Machiavelli  regretted. 
Cinthio  describes  the  scene  thus :  Desdemona  is 
visiting  lago's  wife,  and  in  the  room  is  lago's  little 
child,  for  whom  Desdemona  has  an  affection.  lago, 
in  play,  takes  up  the  child  and  holds  her  to  Desde- 
mona to  kiss,  while  with  one  hand  he  steals  the 
handkerchief  she  is  wearing  in  her  girdle.  The 
innocent  child  used  as  the  instrument  for  blackest 
treachery  heightens  the  whole  situation,  and  gives  an 
opportunity  to  a  great  actor ;  and,  no  doubt,  Shak- 
speare  would  have  retained  this  fine  scene,  had  it  not 
been  necessary  to  make  Emilia  aware  of  the  loss  of 
the  handkerchief  that  she  may  bear  testimony  to 
Desdemona's  innocence  when  too  late.  Again,  the 
strongest  conviction  of  Desdemona's  guilt  is  borne 
in  upon  Othello's  mind  when  he  sees  Bianca  return 
the  fatal  handkerchief  to  Cassio.  If  Cassio  had  be- 
haved rightly  when  he  found  the  handkerchief  in 
his  room ;  had  he,  instead  of  using  it,  seen  that  it 
was  carefully  put  aside  to  be  restored  to  its  owner, 
all  the  pity  of  it  would  never  have  come  about, 
through  Cassio's  want  of  manners.  Now,  Cinthio 
does  make  Cassio  behave  rightly ;  for  when  he  finds 
the  handkerchief  by  his  bed  in  the  morning,  he  does 
fold  it  up  and  take  it  back  to  Desdemona ;  Othello 
sees  Cassio  leaving  Desdemona's  rooms,  and  thus, 
without  any  fault  of  either  Cassio  or  the  lady,  Othello's 
jealousy  is  fed,  the  plot  works  on,  and  the  tragedy 
receives  an  intensity  that  is  almost  Greek  in  its 
sense  of  inevitable  fate.  Finally,  Cinthio  makes  the 
Moor  and  his  lieutenant  lago  discuss  the  means  by 
which  Desdemona  shall  be  done  to  death :  the  Moor 
wishes  to  use  the  dagger  or  poison ;  but  his  hench- 
man urges  upon  him  another  method  which  shall 
leave  no  traces  of  the  bloody  deed ;  he  proposes  to 
fill  a  stocking — one  of  those  stockings  which  Bellini's 
and  Carpaccio's  young  nobles  wear — with  sand,  and 


OTHELLO  171 

to  strike  Desdemona  in  the  back,,. to  kill  her  so;  to 
place  her  on  a  bed,  and  to  break  down  a  beam  of  the 
rotten  old  roof  and  lay  it  across  her,  that  she  may 
seem  to  have  died  by  accident.  Shakspeare,  too, 
makes  Othello  and  lago  debate  the  mode  of  Desde- 
mona's  death: 

Othello.   Get  me  some  poison,  lago. 

lago.   Do  it  not  with  poison,  strangle  her  in  bed, 

The  bed  she  hath  contaminated. 
Othello.   Good,  good :  the  justice  of  it  pleases  me. 

But  for  reasons  of  his  own,  possibly  owing  to  a  con- 
sideration that  an  English  audience  would  resent 
the  intolerable  cowardice  and  cruelty  of  the  deed, 
Shakspeare  changed  the  nature  of  the  fatal  act ;  and 
Desdemona  dies  strangled  by  Othello,  not  broken  by 
lago  and  his  stocking  filled  with  sand. 

That  true  lover  and  student  of  Venice,  the  late 
Mr.  Rawdon  Brown,  in  his  work  on  Marino  Sanufo, 
propounds,  though  in  a  reserved  and  tentative  manner, 
his  peculiar  views  as  to  the  historical  origin  of  the 
play  and  Shakspeare's  means  of  coming  by  that  know- 
ledge. In  the  development  of  his  theory  it  will  be 
seen  that  Mr.  Brown  assigns  a  very  subordinate  place 
to  the  Ferrarese  novelist,  Cinthio.  Mr.  Brown  sur- 
mises that  the  historical  sources  of  the  drama  are  to 
be  found  in  the  story  of  a  certain  Christofalo  Moro,  a 
Venetian  nobleman,  employed  in  many  posts  of  trust 
and  of  honour,  and  among  these  in  the  defence  of 
Cyprus  against  the  Turks.  He  further  sees  in  the 
obscure  words  of  the  old  diarist,  Sanuto,  "  In  the 
morning  Sir  Christofalo  Moro  was  in  the  Cabinet,  in 
mourning  for  his  wife  who  died  on  her  way  from 
Cyprus,"1  a  dark  hint  at  some  tragedy  which  he  sug- 
gests was  the  tragedy  of  Desdemona.  Starting  from 

1  Sanuto,  Diarii,  vii.  p.  656,  Oct.  27,  1508:  "La  matina  fo  in 
colegio,  Sier  Christofalo  Moro,  venuto  luogotenente  di  Cypri,  et  electo 
capitanio  in  Candia,  con  barba,  per  essergli  morta  la  moglie  venendo 
di  Cypri." 


i;2  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

this  hypothesis,  Mr.  Brown  builds  up  a  whole  theory 
of  the  historical  bearings  of  the  play,  and  displays  the 
actual  counterparts  of  the  dramatis  personce  thus : 
the  Duke  of  Venice  is  Leonardo  Loredan;  Brabantio 
is  one  of  the  Barbarigo  family ;  Othello  is  Christofalo 
Moro;  and  Desdemona  is  a  daughter  of  Barbarigo, 
and  related  by  marriage  to  Cecilia  Priuli,  wife  of 
Sanuto.  But,  attractive  as  this  theory  is,  it  rests 
upon  evidence  hardly  sufficient  to  carry  conviction. 
The  key  to  Mr.  Brown's  theory  is  given  in  his  own 
words :  "  Brabantio  of  Shakspeare,"  he  says,  "  has 
always  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  member  of  the  Bar- 
barigo family."  Desdemona,  then,  according  to  Mr. 
Brown,  was  a  Barbarigo,  married  to  Christofalo  Moro. 
But  if  we  turn  to  the  manuscript  volume  of  marriages 
contracted  among  noble  Venetian  families,  the  work  of 
Marco  Barbaro,  we  find  the  following  matrimonial 
alliances  recorded  against  the  name  of  Christofalo 
Moro :  in  1472  he  married  a  lady  of  the  Priuli ;  in 
1476  a  lady  of  the  Capello,  widow  of  Piero  Soranzo; 
in  1481  a  Pasqualigo;  and  in  1516  a  lady  of  the  da 
Lezze,  widow  of  Girolamo  Contarini.  There  is  no 
trace,  therefore,  of  a  Barbarigo  marriage. 

But  Mr.  Brown  calls  attention  to  another  fact  which 
is  certainly  curious — a  fact  which  confirms  him  in  his 
view  that  the  Brabantio  family  of  the  play  are  the 
Barbarigo  of  Venice.  The  wife  of  Marino  Sanuto,  the 
diarist,  whose  entries  set  Mr.  Brown  upon  his  theory, 
was  a  lady  of  the  house  of  Priuli,  Cecilia  by  name, 
married  first  to  Girolamo  Barbarigo ;  upon  his  death 
she  married  Sanuto,  and  brought  with  her,  from  the 
Barbarigo  household,  a  maidservant  or  slave,  as  she 
is  called,  named  Barbara,  in  whom,  of  course,  Mr. 
Brown  recognizes  Barbara  of  the  Willow  song.  This 
is  an  ingenious  hypothesis.  But  we  can  hardly 
imagine  that  Shakspeare  had  such  extraordinarily 
intimate  knowledge  of  Venetian  private  family  history 
as  to  be  aware  that  Cecilia  Priuli,  about  the  year  1508, 
had  a  maidservant  of  the  name  of  Barbara.  If  he  had 


OTHELLO  173 

ever  heard  the  fact,  would  he  have  remembered  it, 
unless  his  informant  had  told  him  of  the  Willow  song? 
And  can  we  imagine  any  Italian  maid  singing  a  song 
so  English  in  its  quality  as  that  of  "  Willow,  willow  "  ? 
To  meet  this  difficulty  Mr.  Brown  proceeds  to  examine 
the  possible  source  of  this  intimate  knowledge  with 
which  he  credits  the  poet.  Holding  firm  by  his 
identification  of  Brabantio  with  Barbarigo,  he  points 
out  that  there  was  in  London,  as  secretary  to  Fran- 
cesco Contarini,  Ambassador  Extraordinary  from  the 
Republic  in  1609,  a  certain  Vettor  Barbarigo,  who  may 
have  had  access  to  the  Barbarigo  papers,  and  been 
aware  of  the  whole  story  of  Christofalo  Moro.  "  It  is 
possible,"  says  Mr.  Brown,  "that  the  tragedian  and 
the  secretary  met  at  the  theatre;  that  Shakspeare 
heard  the  story  and  was  struck  by  it ;  and  so  we  may 
attribute  the  source  of  the  play  to  a  Venetian  Barba- 
rigo and  not  to  a  Ferrarese  Cinthio  Giraldi."  But  all 
this  interesting  structure  rests  upon  insecure  founda- 
tions. Just  as  it  is  difficult  to  connect  the  Christofalo 
Moro  of  Sanuto's  diaries  with  the  Barbarigo  family 
for  the  want  of  a  marriage,  so  it  is  difficult  to  connect 
Shakspeare  with  a  Barbarigo  in  London,  or  at  least 
with  this  particular  Vettor  Barbarigo,  for  the  sufficient 
reason  that  Francesco  Contarini,  his  chief,  was  not 
ambassador  in  England  till  the  year  1609.  As  there 
is  strong  evidence,  both  internal  and  external,  that  the 
play  was  not  only  written  but  acted  in  or  before  the 
year  I6O4,1  it  is  clearly  not  easy  to  establish  any  con- 
nection between  Vettor  Barbarigo  and  Shakspeare's 
sources  for  the  drama.  Further,  were  it  possible  to 
make  these  two  connections,  we  have  no  sufficient 
ground  for  assuming  that  Sanuto's  words  about  the 
death  of  Christofalo  Moro's  wife  veil  a  tragedy — the 
diarist  merely  says  that  Christofalo  was  in  mourning 

1  Molmenti,  Vecchie  Storie  (Venezia,  Ongania :  1882),  p.  75.  He  is 
in  error  when  he  gives  the  date  of  1602  to  the  doubtful  Record  Office 
entry  in  The  Accompte  of  the  Office  of  the  Reuelles^  and  again  in  stating 
that  that  document  is  at  Stratford. 


1/4  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

for  his  wife,  who  died  on  her  way  from  Cyprus — or 
that  Brabantio  and  Barbarigo  are  synonyms ;  and  we 
are  thrown  back  again  upon  the  older  and  more 
probable  hypothesis,  that  the  novel  of  the  Ferrarese 
Cinthio  is  the  real  source  of  Shakspeare's  Othello. 

Mr.  Brown's  interesting  speculations  have  found 
considerable  favour  and  some  supporters  who  carry 
his  theory  still  further.  Developing  a  hint  dropped 
in  the  course  of  his  argument,  that  Othello's  swarthy 
colour,  his  Moorish  blood,  was  suggested  by  the  name 
of  Christofalo's  family,  Moro  a  Moor,  they  urge  that 
even  if  Cinthio's  novel  is  the  source  of  the  play,  the 
source  of  Cinthio's  story  is  still  to  be  found  in  the  life 
of  Christofalo  Moro  ;  that  Shakspeare  knew  his  Moor 
was  not  a  Moor,  but  a  member  of  the  noble  family 
Moro,  whose  family  badge,  the  mulberry  (moro\  pun- 
ning on  their  name,  may  be  seen  traced  in  exquisite 
low  relief  round  the  tomb  of  the  Doge  Cristoforo 
Moro,  who  lies  buried  at  San  Giobbe.  They  argue 
that  Shakspeare  intended  to  indicate  his  knowledge 
on  this  point  when  he  made  Othello's  gage  d  amour  to 
Desdemona  a  handkerchief  spotted  with  strawberries — 
that  is  to  say,  a  kerchief  worked  with  mulberries — the 
canting  cognizance  of  the  Moro  family. 

But  against  this  attractive  explanation  we  must  ob- 
serve that  the  phrase  "spotted  with  strawberries"  occurs 
in  the  play  only,  not  in  the  novel,  where  the  handker- 
chief is  described  as  worked  "  alia  moresca,"  in  Moorish 
or  arabesque  design.  To  make  this  theory  good,  then, 
we  must  argue  that  Shakspeare  had  knowledge  behind 
Cinthio ;  that  he  not  only  used  Cinthio's  story,  but 
also  knew  the  historical  facts  on  which  it  is  said  to  be 
based.  This  would  indicate  a  singularly  intimate 
acquaintance  with  obscure  Venetian  matters ;  too 
intimate,  we  should  say,  to  have  been  possessed  by  a 
London  playwright.  Again,  if  Shakspeare  knew  that 
his  hero  was  a  member  of  the  family  Moro,  why  did 
he,  an  Englishman,  shrink  from  saying  so  ?  why  did  he 
make  Othello  a  blackamoor,  thus  contradicting  his 


OTHELLO  175 

own  knowledge,  and  exposing  himself  to  the  necessity 
of  apologizing  for  Desdemona's  passion?  That  a 
Ferrarese  should  have  dreaded  to  wound  the  honour 
of  a  patrician  family  of  Venice  is  intelligible ;  that  an 
Englishman  should  have  felt  the  same  scruple,  hardly. 
And  further,  if  Shakspeare  introduced  the  phrase 
"spotted  with  strawberries,"  not  by  accident  but  on 
purpose,  to  show  that  he  knew  that  his  Moor  was  not 
a  Moor  but  a  Moro  of  Venice,  why  did  he  not  use 
mulberry-spotted  ?  and  could  he  with  dramatic  pro- 
priety have  made  Cassio  ignorant  of  his  general's 
cognizance?  Surely  Cassio  would  have  recognized 
Othello's  badge  and  returned  the  handkerchief  to 
Desdemona,  and  so  avoided  the  tragedy.  We  cannot 
help  thinking  that  Shakspeare  had  no  other  knowledge 
than  that  which  he  gathered  from  Cinthio's  novel ;  that 
he  introduced  the  phrase  "  spotted  with  strawberries  " 
by  pure  accident ;  and  that  he  thought  his  Moor  was  a 
real  Moor  and  not  a  Moro.  Whether  Cinthio  intended 
his  hero  to  be  a  Moor  or  one  of  the  family  Moro, 
whose  name  he  concealed  under  this  pun,  is  not  so 
clear.  It  is  of  course  unlikely  that  he,  a  Ferrarese, 
could  have  imagined  that  the  Republic  of  Venice 
would  put  a  coloured  man  in  command  of  its  troops ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  must  remember  that  the 
novelist,  as  well  as  the  playwright,  finds  it  necessary 
to  apologize  for  Desdemona's  liking  for  Othello  in 
terms  that  leave  little  doubt  but  that  he  meant  him  to 
be  a  Moor.  Under  any  circumstances  no  argument 
can  be  drawn  from  the  episode  of  the  handkerchief, 
as  told  by  Cinthio,  except  a  slight  one  in  favour  of  his 
hero  having  really  been  a  Moor  whose  handkerchief 
was  worked  in  Moorish  arabesque,  "  alia  moresca." 

Italian  critics  have  tried  to  find  an  historical  reason 
for  the  change  which  Shakespeare  makes  in  the  climax 
of  the  tragedy,  by  substituting  strangulation  for  a 
blow  from  a  sand-bag  as  the  means  by  which  Desde- 
mona was  done  to  death.  In  May  of  the  year  1602, 
in  Venice,  one  of  the  Sanuto  family  killed  his  wife 


i;6  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

for  infidelity.  Domenico  Bollani,  writing  to  Vincenzo 
Dandolo,  narrates  the  event  thus  :  "  The  other  day, 
one  of  the  Sanudo,  who  lives  on  the  Canal  della 
Croce  at  the  Giudecca,  compelled  his  wife  to  go  to 
confession,  and  then  the  following  night,  about  five 
o'clock,  he  stabbed  her  in  the  throat  and  killed  her ; 
he  says  because  she  was  unfaithful  to  him,  but  the 
quarter  holds  her  for  a  saint." 1  The  Italian  critics 
suppose  that  Shakspeare  heard  the  story  "  in  the 
circle  of  the  Venetian  ambassadors  in  London,  which 
he  sometimes  frequented  while  living  at  court  and  in 
aristocratic  society  before  he  retired  to  Stratford,"  and 
that  he  altered  the  finale  of  his  tragedy  in  imitation  of 
the  Sanuto  murder.  They  point  out  that  the  episode 
of  the  confession  previous  to  the  murder,  in  the 
Sanuto  tragedy,  is  paralleled  by  Othello's  demand  : 

"Have  you  prayed  to-night,  Desdemona? 
If  you  bethink  yourself  of  any  crime 
Unreconciled  as  yet  to  heaven  and  grace, 
Solicit  for  it  straight." 

Nothing  corresponding  to  this  dramatic  episode  of 
the  confession  is  to  be  found  in  Cinthio's  novella.  But 
we  cannot  believe  anything  of  the  kind.  The  idea 
that  Shakspeare  frequented  the  Venetian  ambassa- 
dor's, or  lived  in  court  circles  in  London,  is  a  pure 
fiction.  In  1602,  the  date  of  the  Sanuto  murder,  there 
was  no  ambassador  from  Venice  at  the  court  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  ;  and  if  there  had  been,  it  was  not 
probable  that  he  would  have  discussed  with  a  play- 
wright a  matter  so  closely  affecting  the  honour  of  a 
Venetian  nobleman.  Shakspeare  simply  took  the 
story  as  he  found  it  in  Cinthio's  novel ;  framed  his 
tragedy  upon  it,  altered  it  where  it  did  not  suit  the 

1  Molmenti,  op.  cit.  p.  78.  "  Un  Sanudo  che  sta  in  Rio  della 
Croce  alia  giudecca  fece  1'altro  hieri  confessare  sua  moglie  ch'era 
capello  et  la  notte  seguente,  su  le  cinque  hore,  li  diede  di  un  stiletto 
ne  la  gola  et  la  ammazz6 :  dicesi  perch&  non  gli  era  fidele,  ma  la 
contrada  la  predica  per  una  santa."  Sanudo  was  tried  by  the  Ten, 
who  recognized  the  wife's  innocence. 


OTHELLO  177 

purposes  of  his  play  or  of  his  audience,  and  thought 
very  little  indeed  about  either  Moro  or  Sanudo. 

In  Othello,  as  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  there  are 
several  indications  that  Shakspeare's  knowledge  of 
the  city  was  considerable.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  lago,  when  he  rouses  Brabantio  to  seek  for  his 
daughter,  tells  him  that  Othello  is  lodged  at  the  Sagit- 
tary.  It  is  said,  though  upon  what  authority  we 
know  not,  that  the  Sagittary  was  the  residence  of  the 
officers  commanding  the  navy  and  army  of  the  Re- 
public ;  that  it  was  close  to  the  Arsenal,  and  that  the 
figure  of  an  archer  over  the  gate  still  indicates  the 
place.  We  have  never  been  able  to  find  this  gateway 
with  the  archer  over  it ;  but,  if  the  statement  be  correct, 
it  would  prove  a  very  close  hearsay  acquaintance 
with  Venice.  It  is  more  probable,  however,  that  the 
Sagittary  was  an  inn  with  the  sign  of  the  Archer — 
like  the  Salvadego  or  Salvage-man— whither  Othello 
took  Desdemona  when  she  left  Brabantio's  house ;  for 
it  is  clear  that  the  doge,  when  he  sent  for  Othello,  did 
not  know  where  to  find  him,  which  would  hardly  have 
been  the  case  had  Othello  lain  that  night  at  his  proper 
lodging  in  the  Arsenal. 

The  whole  of  the  first  act  of  Othello  is  full  of  the 
spirit  of  Venice,  which  the  poet  has  known  how  to 
breathe  into  his  words.  The  dark  night,  the  narrow 
streets,  Brabantio's  house  with  close-barred  doors  and 
shutters,  the  low  voices  of  lago  and  Rodrigo,  the 
sudden  uproar  springing  up  out  of  the  quiet  night, 
the  torches  and  lacqueys,  the  "knave  of  common  hire," 
the  gondolier,  the  doge  and  senators  in  council, 
their  indignation  at  their  brother  patrician's  wrongs, 
Othello's  calm  and  noble  statement  of  his  wooing, 
how  he  sped  by  tales  of  moving  accidents,  and 
histories  so  strange  as  to  tempt  us  almost  to  believe 
that  Shakspeare  had  studied  Marco  Polo's  Voyages ; 
Brabantio's  bitter,  resentful,  unforgiving  warning : 

"  Look  to  her,  Moor,  if  thou  have  eyes  to  see  : 
She  has  deceived  her  father,  and  may  thee  " ; 
VOL.  II.  12 


i;8  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

— all  this  is  admirably  conceived  to  picture  forth  one 
full  night  in  Venice. 

As  in  the  comedy  Portia  is  the  type  of  the  brilliant, 
playful,  sprightly,  Venetian  lady,  so  in  the  tragedy 
Desdemona  personifies  the  gentle,  loving,  submissive, 
patient  type,  so  dear  to  the  Italians,  and  so  much 
honoured  in  the  tale  of  too  patient  Griselda : 

"Those  that  do  teach  young  babes 
Do  it  with  gentle  means  and  easy  tasks ; 
He  might  have  chid  me  so," 

says  Desdemona ;  she  is  incapable  of  resentment ; 
and  her  very  meekness  maddens  Othello  till  he  strikes 
her ;  but  the  Venetian,  Lodovico,  instantly  rebukes 
him : 

"My  lord,  this  would  not  be  believed  in  Venice, 
Though  I  should  swear  I  saw  it :  'tis  very  much ; 
Make  her  amends." 

On  the  whole,  however,  as  was  natural,  there  is  less 
of  local  colour  in  the  tragedy  than  in  the  comedy. 
When  the  action  of  the  plot  has  once  got  under  way, 
we  are  soon  carried  out  of  any  particular  locality ; 
the  movement  might  be  taking  place  in  Paris  as  well 
as  in  Cyprus;  we  are  face  to  face  with  elemental 
passions  true  to  all  places  and  to  all  times. 

We  would  draw  attention  to  a  few  other  points  and 
touches  which  help  to  throw  light  on  the  extent  of 
Shakspeare's  knowledge  of  Venice,  Venetian  terri- 
tory, and  Venetian  people.  When  Brabantio  unwil- 
lingly and  with  an  ill  grace  resigns  his  daughter  to  the 
Moor,  he  says  to  Desdemona : 

"  For  your  sake,  jewel, 
I  am  glad  at  soul  I  have  no  other  child ; 
For  thy  escape  would  teach  me  tyranny, 
To  hang  clogs  on  them." 

It  is  possible  that  in  this  passage  Shakspeare  is 
thinking  of  those  high  pattens  which  were  then  in 
favour  with  Venetian  ladies.  They  were  worn  so 


MINOR  POINTS  179 

enormously  high  that  a  lady  required  the  attendance 
of  two  lacqueys,  upon  whose  shoulders  she  leaned 
for  support  when  she  went  abroad.  The  story  in 
St.  Disdier's  La  Ville  et  la  Republique  de  Venise, 
already  quoted  (p.  258),  appears  to  throw  light  on 
Shakspeare's  intention  in  this  passage.  The  French 
traveller  relates  that  the  Ambassador  of  France,  in 
conversation  with  the  doge,  remarked  once  that  shoes 
would  be  much  more  convenient ;  whereupon  one  of 
the  ducal  councillors  broke  in  severely,  "  Yes,  far, 
far  too  convenient."  Again,  Brabantio,  when  he  learns 
his  daughter's  flight,  calls  for  some  "  special  officers 
of  night " ;  would  Shakspeare  have  thought  of  such 
a  strange  and  picturesque  description  of  the  night 
patrol,  had  he  not  known  that  in  Venice  those  officers 
bore  the  title  of  Signori  di  Notte,  lords  of  the  night  ? 
The  poet  is  aware  that  Padua  possessed  a  university, 
and  was  a  famous  nursery  of  arts',  this  is  not  sur- 
prising when  we  recollect  how  many  Englishmen 
went  to  study  in  that  city.  But  more  than  this,  he 
knew  that  Padua  belonged  to  Venice,  and  that  Mantua 
did  not.  Tranio  tells  the  pedant : 

"Tis  death  for  any  one  in  Mantua 
To  come  to  Padua.     Know  you  not  the  cause  ? 
Your  ships  are  stayed  at  Venice,  and  the  duke, 
For  private  quarrel  'twixt  your  duke  and  him, 
Hath  published  and  proclaimed  it  openly." 

It  was  surely  not  a  little  for  a  London  play-actor  to 
know  so  much  of  the  complicated  political  geography 
of  Italy.  In  the  passage  just  quoted  the  term 
"pedant"  is  used  in  a  peculiar  sense,  for  foot-goer, 
pedlar,  analagous  to  the  special  Venetian  use  of 
viandante,  for  hawker  or  small  retail  merchant;  and  this 
same  "  pedant "  declares  that  Tranio  shall  ever  be  the 
patron,  that  is,  padrone,  master  of  his  life  and  liberty. 
We  do  not  know  if  "  Sound  as  a  fish,"  an  expression 
which  passes  from  Launce  to  Speed  in  The  Two 
Gentlemen  of  Verona,  was  an  English  proverb  in  use  at 


180  SHAKSPEARE  AND  VENICE 

Shakspeare's  date,  but  "  Sano  come  un  pesce"  certainly 
was,  and  is  a  good  Italian  proverb  to  this  day.  The 
Prince  of  Verona,  who  was  ruling  when  Romeo  and 
Juliet  loved  and  died,  was  Escalus,  no  distant  relation 
to  Can  Grande  or  Can  Signorio  della  Scala,  we  may 
guess ;  although  his  reign  will  not  accord  chronologi- 
cally with  the  plague  which  Shakspeare  quite  rightly 
represents  as  raging  in  the  Venetian  provinces 
(1579-80),  thus  bringing  about  the  catastrophe  of  his 
drama  by  preventing  Friar  John  from  delivering  Friar 
Lawrence's  letter  to  Romeo  in  Mantua.  Shakspeare 
is  aware  too  of  the  right  use  of  Italian  gentile  names. 
Lucentio,  in  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  describes  his 
father  as  'Vincentio  come  of  the  Bentivolii,'  that  is, 
Vincenzo  de'  Bentivoglii. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Shakspeare  gave  any 
special  thought  or  study  to  Venice  or  to  the  Vene- 
tians ;  the  knowledge  which  he  possessed  was  picked 
up  in  the  course  of  daily  life  by  his  attentive  ear,  and 
stored  in  his  memory ;  it  was  quickened  and  made 
living  by  his  poet's  imagination  until  it  grew  sufficient 
to  allow  him  to  picture  correctly  the  pomp  and 
splendour  of  the  Venetian  state ;  the  sprightliness  and 
tenderness  of  Venetian  women ;  the  gaiety  of  the 
young  Venetian  noble;  the  deep,  persistent  hatred 
of  the  Venetian  Jew ;  the  devilish  cunning  of  Venetian 
lago,  with  enough  of  local  colour  in  the  Rialto,  the 
gondola,  the  ferry-boat  from  Padua,  the  doge  in 
court,  the  Senate  in  council,  to  make  us  feel  that 
though  he  "was  never  out  of  England,  it's  as  if  he 
saw  it  all." 


Marcantonio  Bragadin,  a  SixteentlvCcntury 
Cagliostro 


ONE  of  the  most  curious  and  permanent  features  in 
the  history  of  the  human  spirit  is  the  perennial  ex- 
pectation that  the  impossible  may  be  realized.  The 
human  spirit,  like  a  child  with  its  toys,  seems  to  grow 
weary  of  that  which  it  possesses,  and  to  reach  out  its 
hands  to  that  which  it  has  not.  The  very  impro- 
bability of  attaining  an  object  throws  a  fascination 
around  it,  and  renders  it  more  attractive  than  that 
which  lies  in  our  grasp.  Mankind  never  ceases  to 
hope — often  in  secret — that  the  picture  of  his  imagina- 
tion may  become  actual  for  him  in  some  way  or  other. 
The  form  which  this  expectation  assumes  continually 
varies.  Now  its  result  is  a  credence  in  oracles ;  now 
a  conviction  that  the  millennium  is  imminent ;  now 
the  philosopher's  stone  or  El  Dorado  attracts  desire ; 
now  it  is  the  prospect  of  classifying  ghosts  or  of 
reading  the  secret  behind  the  veil.  But,  however 
various  the  manifestations  of  this  reaching  towards 
the  unrealized  may  be,  each  age,  and  especially  each 
age  of  any  remarkable  vitality,  has  shown  itself 
aoristic,  undefined,  and  formless  in  some  direction. 
It  is  to  this  dubious  point  that  the  curiosity,  dissatis- 
faction, and  outgoings  of  mankind  have  always  rushed. 
Here,  at  this  flaw  in  the  solidity  of  the  human  intellect, 
at  this  breach  in  the  fortress  of  fact,  this  breach  that  lets 
infinity  flow  in  upon  mankind,  and  sometimes  permits  of 
acquisition,  expansion,  true  growth  we  find  assembled 
the  strange  and  restless  spirits  of  their  time — the 
magician,  the  prophet,  the  philosopher.  The  qualities 

181 


182  MARCANTONIO   BRAGADIN 

of  these  men  differ  widely  from  one  generation  to 
another  as  the  object  of  their  hopes  differed.  Some- 
times it  was  a  noble  expectation  which  drew  them 
to  the  gates  of  the  infinite  ;  a  hope  of  Christ's  second 
coming,  or  a  belief  in  universal  equality  and  brother- 
hood. Sometimes  the  expectation  was  mean  and 
tainted ;  such  as  the  belief  in  the  power  of  alchemy 
to  create  gold,  or  a  hope  of  inexhaustible  pleasure  to 
be  purchased  by  a  compact  with  the  devil.  But,  noble 
or  mean  in  its  extravagant  aspirations,  each  age  shows 
us  the  human  spirit  occupied,  in  part  at  least,  with  a 
hope  that  the  impossible  may  become  possible,  that 
the  limitless  may  be  grasped.  Each  epoch,  then,  will 
have  its  genuine  pioneers  in  the  spiritual  or  the  material 
world,  and  side  by  side  with  them  its  Cagliostros, 
trading,  with  more  or  less  of  conscious  duplicity  and 
villainy,  upon  the  governing  appetites  and  expectations 
of  the  men  about  them.  These  charlatans,  in  spite 
of  their  iniquity  and  their  certain  failure,  are  seldom 
utterly  uninteresting — the  possibility  and  the  peril  of 
self-deception  touch  mankind  too  nearly.  And,  more- 
over, they  often  possess  the  power  of  bringing  to  the 
surface  the  salient  qualities  of  the  men  with  whom 
they  are  implicated,  and  their  career  throws  into  high 
relief  the  leading  characteristics  of  their  age. 

The  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  a  period  of 
extreme  ferment  and  corruption  throughout  Europe. 
The  air  was  charged  with  expectation.  Men's  minds 
were  on  the  alert  for  something  startling  and  new; 
old  landmarks  had  been  swept  away,  old  faiths  called 
in  question.  Machiavelli  and  the  Reformation  had 
riven  Europe  and  shaken  thrones.  Court  and  camp 
were  in  a  condition  of  morbid  activity.  Princes  and 
sovereigns  moved  restlessly,  impelled  by  an  insatiable 
desire  for  change.  Their  palaces  swarmed  in  adven- 
turers, ready  to  propose  and  attempt  impossible 
schemes  of  political  aggrandizement.  In  the  world 
of  politics  the  bounds  of  sanity  were  overstepped,  and 
in  the  social  world  the  same  process  was  at  work.  It 


HIS  BIRTH  183 

was  one  of  those  periods  when  the  moral  conscience 
seems  to  have  fallen  asleep  and  to  have  relaxed  its 
bracing  and  binding  power.  In  every  department 
of  life  charlatans  were  abroad,  preying  upon  the 
cupidity,  the  folly,  or  the  appetites  of  society.  Our 
sixteenth-century  Cagliostro,  Marcantonio  Bragadin, 
was  only  one  among  a  hundred  others  of  similar 
temper  ;  but  we  have  selected  him  for  several  reasons. 
In  the  first  place,  his  career  led  him  to  cross  the  paths 
of  many  people  of  importance1:  of  Henry  III.  and 
Henry  IV.  of  France  and  the  Dukes  of  Bavaria  and 
Mantua ;  of  Popes  Sixtus  V.  and  Gregory  XIV. ; 
and,  finally  and  principally,  he  came  in  contact  with 
the  Republic  of  Venice.  He  occupies  two  volumes  of 
official  letters,  reports  and  resolutions,  which  exist 
now  in  the  archives  of  the  Frari.8  In  these  manuscripts 
we  are  able  to  follow  the  Venetian  period  of  his  career 
with  a  minuteness  that  accounts  for  almost  every  day, 
and  in  the  process  a  vivid  picture  of  a  charlatan's 
adventures,  his  successes,  and  his  failure,  is  unfolded 
before  us ;  while  at  the  same  time  we  receive  a  singular 
demonstration  of  the  patient  accuracy  and  the  thorough 
method  which  distinguished  the  Venetian  government, 
even  when  dealing  with  a  subject  apparently  so  un- 
important as  the  movements  of  a  reputed  alchemist. 

II.   IN  NUBIBUS 

Marco  Bragadin  of  Cyprus,  as  he  called  himself, 
would  seem  to  have  really  belonged  to  the  noble 
Venetian  house  whose  name  he  bore.  How  that  may 
be  we  cannot  say  for  certain.  His  birth,  his  boyhood, 
and  early  youth  are  lost  in  obscurity ;  and  Cyprus  is 
the  only  fact  upon  which  we  can  rely.  In  Cyprus  he 
was  born,  somewhere  about  1540,  of  a  father  who 
practised  alchemy  and  medicine  with  considerable 

1  Doglioni,  Hist.  Ventt.  lib.  xviii.  ;  Dam,  Hist,  de  Veniset  lib.  xxviii. 
1  Arch,  di  Stato^  Codici  ex  Brera,  serie  i.  and  ii.  No.  80.    See  also 
Museo  Civico,  Cicogna  Codice,  No.  80. 


i84  MARCANTONIO   BRAGADIN 

success.  Between  Cyprus  in  1540  and  Venice  in 
1574  we  catch  only  one  fleeting  and  doubtful  glimpse 
of  Marco  as  court  fool  and  disreputable  attendant 
in  the  train  of  Bianca  Capello,  Grand  Duchess  of 
Tuscany.1  The  next  we  hear  of  him  is  in  Venice, 
with  his  brother  Hector,  staying  in  the  house  of  a 
friend — he  had  already  begun  to  make  friends  and 
followers — a  certain  Caldogno,  of  Vicenza.  There  is 
nothing  as  yet  about  alchemy  or  mystery  of  any  sort, 
only  friendship,  and  that  pura  fascinationc,  the  sheer 
fascination  which  one  of  his  victims  subsequently 
recognized  as  a  characteristic  of  the  man.  At  this 
time  Venice  was  in  a  ferment  of  revelry  for  the 
advent  of  Henry  III.  of  France.  The  lavish  expen- 
diture, the  riot,  and  the  licence  of  these  few  days' 
pageantry  turned  most  heads ;  and  it  occurred  to 
the  two  Bragadins  that  they  would  like  to  go  to 
France  in  Henry's  train,  seeing  the  number  of  adven- 
turers who  swarmed  about  the  king,  and  scenting  the 
right  man  for  their  prey,  if  they  could  come  at  him. 
Money  for  the  journey  was  not  easily  to  be  had  ;  but, 
thanks  to  Marco's  "  sheer  fascination,"  the  Caldogno 
family  advanced  fifty  ducats  and  a  bill  of  exchange  for 
four  hundred  more ;  and,  thus  provided,  the  Bragadins 
set  out.  At  this  point  they  disappear  once  more 
behind  their  cloud,  and  what  happened  in  France  is 
obscure  to  us.  But  it  would  seem  that  Marco  began 
his  practice  of  alchemy  or  "  philosophy,"  as  it  was 
called  by  its  professors,  in  that  country,  where  the 
famous  Nostradamus  was  little  more  than  dead,  and 
that  he  left  something  of  a  reputation  behind  him, 
enough  at  least  to  secure  for  him  repeated  invitations 
to  return.  Whatever  reputation  Marco  may  have 
gained,  this  visit  to  France  did  not  prove  financially 
successful ;  and  we  find  him  back  again  in  Venice,  all 
the  four  hundred  and  fifty  ducats  gone,  himself  in  great 
straits,  overwhelmed  with  debts,  pursued  by  creditors, 
and  with  no  ostensible  means  of  livelihood.  In  this 
1  See  Celio  Malespini,  Novelle,  torn.  ii.  nov.  xc. 


JOINS  THE  CAPUCHINS  185 

pass  he  took  a  step  which  hampered  him  all  his  life, 
and  from  the  consequences  of  this  act  he  never 
struggled  free.  He  resolved  to  enter  a  monastery 
of  the  Capuchins.  Before  he  assumed  the  cowl,  the 
father  superior  obtained  for  his  novice  an  accom- 
modation with  his  creditors,  and  Marco  joined  the 
Order  of  St.  Francis  a  free  man,  as  he  believed,  but, 
in  reality,  he  had  fastened  such  a  halter  round  his  neck 
as  was  not  to  be  loosed  except  by  his  death.  Bragadin 
had  taken  this  step  merely  as  a  temporary  measure  and 
under  the  great  pressure  of  his  debts.  A  cloister  life 
had  few  attractions  and  offered  no  scope  to  a  man  of 
his  temper.  He  was  not  long  in  making  his  escape 
and  finding  his  way  back  to  France.  And  it  was  after 
this  second  visit  to  France  that  he  emerged  into  clear 
light,  and  began  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  Venetian 
government. 

III.   BRAGADIN  EMERGES 

Hitherto  Bragadin's  course  has  lain  chiefly  in  nubibus; 
there  have  been  few  indications  of  the  man's  nature  or 
powers ;  we  have  heard  little  as  yet  of  transmutation 
of  metals,  and  nothing  of  the  anima  cT  oro.1  Only  in 
Cyprus,  Florence,  Venice,  and  France  has  the  veil 
lifted  a  moment  to  show  us  Marco  in  no  very  reputable 
or  hopeful  circumstances.  Now,  however,  he  emerges 
into  lucidity,  and  the  vigilant  eye  of  Venice  is  turned 
upon  his  career.'  In  September,  1588,  Bragadin  was 
established  in  a  small  village  of  the  Bresciano,  at  the 
foot  of  the  Alps,  not  far  from  Bergamo.  He  had  just 
returned  from  France,  where  his  second  visit  had 
proved  no  more  lucrative  than  the  first.  For  he  was 
living  in  a  very  poor  way,  "  in  miserable  rags,"  with 
one  companion,  a  Flemish  gunsmith  skilled  at  mending 
arquebuses.  Here,  at  Torbiato,  he  might  have  re- 
mained undisturbed  and  unnoticed,  but  that  the 

1  The  phrase  anima  <Toro  is  remarkable  in  the  light  of  the  modern 
scientific  theory  that  nature  is  one,  and  shows  that  the  alchemists  in 
a  blind  way  were  on  the  legitimate  line  of  search. 

»  Arch,  di  Stato,  Cod.  ex  Brera,  No.  80. 


186  MARCANTONIO   BRAGADIN 

officers  of  the  Inquisition  got  wind  of  his  where- 
abouts, and  were  in  search  of  him  as  a  runaway  monk. 
So  Bragadin  was  forced  to  change  his  quarters  ;  and 
the  next  we  hear  of  him  is  from  Lovere,  on  the  Lago 
d'  Iseo,  with  the  police  close  at  his  heels.  One  night 
he  was  roused  by  a  hammering  at  the  door,  and  looking 
out  to  see  who  knocked,  he  found  the  house  surrounded, 
and  the  Chief  Constable  of  Bergamo  come  to  arrest  him. 
"  Alone  and  undressed,  he  flung  himself  out  of  a  high 
window,  and  so  escaped,"  but  not  without  a  deep 
wound  under  his  chin,  the  scar  of  which  he  bore  long 
afterwards.  Considering  the  height  of  the  window, 
and  his  narrow  escape  from  capture,  he  decided  that 
a  miracle  had  been  performed  on  his  behalf,  and 
asserted  it  with  such  confidence  that  he  persuaded 
some  of  his  friends  to  believe  the  same. 

A  miracle  alone,  however,  is  not  a  source  of  income ; 
and,  as  yet,  Bragadin's  prospects  did  not  seem  very 
bright.  But  presently  he  is  back  again  at  Lovere, 
and  an  extraordinary  change  has  come  over  his  manner 
of  life.  At  Torbiato  he  was  poor,  alone,  and  pursued  ; 
at  Lovere  he  is  rich  and  surrounded  by  servants. 
The  Governors  of  Brescia  report  thus  of  him  in 
October,  1589:  "He  entertains  in  his  house,  now 
twenty,  now  thirty  nobles  and  other  citizens  of 
Brescia.  His  expenses  are  so  great  that  no  private 
individual  could  support  them.  Rumour  says  that 
during  these  last  four  or  five  months  he  has  disbursed 
twenty  thousand  scudi ;  and  just  now  he  has  one 
hundred  mouths  to  feed,  and  one  hundred  horses  in 
his  stables."  Truly  a  surprising  change  from  the 
"  miserable  rags  "  of  Torbiato  just  a  year  ago  !  And 
the  way  in  which  Bragadin  had  wrought  this  trans- 
formation gives  him  rank  as  a  charlatan.  His  method 
was  that  of  the  professional  impostor  and  scamp. 
He  began  by  whispering  to  his  neighbours  of  Torbiato 
that  God  had  committed  to  his  keeping  a  secret  whose 
value  was  inestimable,  but  not  for  worlds  must  they 
divulge  this  to  another ;  he  told  it  them  solely  because 


ANIMA  UORO  187 

they  had  taken  pity  upon  his  rags  and  poverty.     And 
what  was  the  secret?     Then  Bragadin   produced  a 
fine  powder,  wrapped  in  a  paper,  and  said  that  here 
was   the  anima  cT  oro,  the   spirit  of  gold,  by  whose 
potency  he  could  convert  quicksilver  into  the  precious 
metal,  and   reap  a   profit  of  five   hundred   per  cent. 
Unlimited  prospect  of  gold  !    It  was  more  than  human 
imagination  could  resist,  and  all  to  be  had  by  simple 
belief  in  this  precious  man  ;  no  other  price  asked  ;  for 
Bragadin  began  by  refusing  presents  from  these  lesser 
folk,   meaning   to   fly   at    far    higher  game.      Events 
followed  the  course  he  expected.    Such  a  light  could 
not  long    lie  hidden  under  a  bushel.    The  rumour 
spread   that   at  Lovere  lived  a  man  who  owned  the 
spirit  of  gold  ;  and  presently  there  arrived  a  certain 
Alfonso   Piccolomini,   gentleman    and   soldier  in  the 
service  of  the  Duke  of  Mantua,  and  shortly  after  the 
duke  himself,  to  see  whether  the  anima  a"  oro  might 
not   be  carried  off  to  Mantua,  locked  away,  and  so 
make  his  Highness  rich   for  ever.     Money  was  not 
wanting  now,  for  Bragadin  had  doubtless  represented 
to  Piccolomini  that  the  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire 
even   before    he    has    laboured.     And    so    the   duke 
"  stayed  to  dine  and  sup,  and  treated  Bragadin  with 
more  respect  than  he  shows  to  our  government " — so 
report  the  Governors  of  Brescia.     "  He   made  great 
offers  to  Bragadin  if  he  would  go  to  Mantua.     With 
these,  however,  Bragadin  merely  played,  and  gave  no 
promise."    A  few  days  later  the  duke  is  back  again 
to  supper;   "a  great  feast,   with   fish,   flesh,  confetti 
from   Genoa    and   Spain ;    all    at    the  cost  of   seven 
hundred    scudi,   not    including    an    arquebus    which 
Bragadin  presented  to  the  duke,  and  which  was  worth 
six  hundred  more " ;   and  after  supper  Bragadin  did 
himself  the  honour  to  refuse  a  diamond  ring  "  worth 
some  million" — a  singular  moderation,  considering  that 
it  was  the  duke's  pocket  which  had  furnished  the  feast. 
In  this  distinguished  company  the  humbler  friends 
of  Torbiato  are  forgotten  and  thrust  aside.     But  they 


i88  MARCANTONIO   BRAGADIN 

do  not  forget  their  quickened  hopes,  their  visions  of 
perennial  gold ;  and,  resenting  Bragadin's  conduct, 
they  report  ill  of  him  to  the  authorities  in  Brescia. 
These  visits  of  the  Duke  of  Mantua  required  con- 
sideration. The  governors  referred  for  orders  to 
Venice,  and  received  instructions  to  furnish  "  the 
fullest  information  regarding  the  life,  habits,  expenses, 
servants,  friends,  and  intentions  of  Bragadin."  In 
this  way  the  alchemist  came  under  the  notice  of  the 
Venetian  government,  and  the  series  of  daily  reports 
begins. 

IV.  ANIMA  D'  ORO 

Hitherto  Bragadin's  illustrious  friends  had  heard 
only  promises  and  glowing  accounts  of  the  inex- 
haustible resources  of  anima  d'  oro.  Tangible  proof 
as  yet  there  was  none.  And  they  became  impatient. 
But  Bragadin  was  now  aware  that  Venice  had  begun 
to  show  some  interest  in  his  movements.  This  was 
just  what  he  desired.  The  more  bidders  for  him  and 
for  his  precious  "  medicine," 1  as  he  called  it,  the  better 
terms  he  would  be  able  to  make ;  so  at  least  he 
thought.  He  was  ready  to  give  proof,  but  was 
resolved  to  do  so  only  in  the  presence  of  some 
Venetian  of  authority  whose  report  would  impress 
his  government.  He  chose  his  man  well.  Count 
Marcantonio  Martinengo,  of  Villa  Chiara,  was  a  noble 
of  the  Republic,  a  distinguished  general  who  had 
represented  Venice  at  the  courts  of  Rome  and  France, 
a  man  valued  for  his  straightforward  honesty  and 
simplicity.  At  that  time  he  was  recovering  from 
illness  at  a  country  house  near  Brescia.  Bragadin 
begged  Piccolomini,  as  a  friend  of  Martinengo,  to 
invite  the  count  to  be  present  at  the  operation  of 
making  gold  from  quicksilver  which  he  now  intended 
to  perform.  Martinengo  gladly  accepted  the  invitation, 
for  he  had  heard  the  rumours  about  Bragadin  and 

1  See  Ben  Jonson's  Alchemist.  Subtle  might  almost  have  been 
studied  from  Bragadin. 


THE  FIRST  EXPERIMENT  189 

was  curious.  But  first  he  consulted  the  authorities  of 
Brescia,  and  obtained  their  consent  to  his  action  on 
the  understanding  that  he  should  send  them  a  detailed 
report  of  all  that  occurred.1  This  is  Martinengo's 
report :  "  Sig.  Marco  Bragadin,  as  a  most  faithful  and 
loving  subject  of  this  serene  Republic,  wishing  to 
demonstrate  the  reality  of  the  gift  committed  to  him 
by  the  Divine  Majesty,  chose  and  summoned  me  as  a 
tried  friend  and  servant  and  vassal  of  his  Serenity, 
that  I  might  bear  true  testimony  to  the  facts.  He 
made  me  take  a  pound  of  quicksilver,  which  I  had 
ordered  my  servant  to  buy,  and  put  it  in  a  crucible 
upon  a  fire  of  live  coals.  He  left  it  there  as  long 
as  one  might  take  to  say  a  Pater  noster  and  an  Ave 
Maria.  Then  he  made  me  take  some  orange-coloured 
powder  which  he  values  very  highly,  about  as  much 
as  a  grain  of  millet  ground  into  meal ;  and  this  he 
made  me  mix  with  a  red  wax,  that  the  powder,  which 
is  very  fine,  might  not  fly  away.  Then  he  made  me 
take  another  small  grain  of  some  material  between 
green  and  black.  This  he  declared  was  of  no  value 
at  all,  and  in  proof  he  flung  some  of  it  out  of  the 
window ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  said  that  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  for  the  operation,  which  could 
not  be  performed  without  it.  This  stuff  with  my  own 
hand  I  mixed  in  wax,  and  then  threw  both  the  pellets 
into  the  crucible  where  the  quicksilver  was  already 
boiling.  Then  we  heaped  on  more  coals,  so  that  the 
fire  was  blazing  all  round,  and  left  it  about  a  quarter 
of  an  hour ;  at  the  end  of  which,  I,  by  his  order,  took 
the  crucible,  glowing  hot,  and  put  it  in  a  vase  of  liquid, 
like  water  in  consistency  but  of  a  pale  blue  colour. 
And  when  the  crucible  was  cooled,  we  turned  out  of 
it  a  lump,  weighing  a  pound,  which  I  have  forwarded 
to  you,  that  it  may  be  sent  to  Venice,  and  tested  with 
the  usual  tests  for  gold  of  twenty-four  carats."  The 
lump  was  sent  to  Venice  and  tested.  We  shall  hear 
more  of  it  later  on. 

Rivista  Vienesc>*\\.  (1840). 


190  MARCANTONIO  BRAGADIN 

This  was  a  good  day's  work  for  Bragadin.  He  had 
roused  all  the  curiosity  and  cupidity  of  the  Venetian 
officials  by  his  lump  of  seeming  gold,  which  reached 
them  through  the  Governors  of  Brescia.1  But  more 
than  that,  he  had  attached  to  himself  Count  Martinengo 
by  a  faith  that  no  subsequent  exposure  was  able  to 
shake.  Martinengo  was  a  plain,  honest  man.  He  had 
seen  the  gold  made  ;  that  was  enough  for  him.  From 
that  day  forward  he  believed  in  the  God-gifted  Marco 
Bragadin,  and  was  completely  subdued  by  the  "  sheer 
fascination"  of  the  man  and  his  work.  In  all  future 
proceedings  he  acts  for  Bragadin ;  defends  him ;  watches 
his  interest ;  counts  it  his  greatest  honour  to  know  this 
"  sage  favoured  of  heaven,"  this  man  "  with  a  singular 
devotion  to  goodness."  Nothing  could  have  been  more 
fortunate  for  Sig.  Marco.  For,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  Venetian  government — who  cared  little  about  the 
source  of  his  gift,  be  it  from  heaven  or  hell,  who  were 
not  at  all  impressed  by  his  "singular  devotion  to 
goodness,"  and  indifferent  as  to  his  character  "more 
than  middling  " — had  been  touched  in  a  place  where 
they  were  highly  susceptible.  This  Brescian  nugget 
wakened  in  them  the  vision  of  an  inexhaustible 
treasury.  Their  one  anxiety  now  was  that  Bragadin 
should  be  brought  to  Venice  as  soon  as  possible ;  their 
greatest  fear  lest  the  Duke  of  Mantua  or  some  other 
prince  should  carry  off  this  golden  prize.  In  their 
negotiations  with  the  alchemist  they  found  no  fitter 
intermediary  than  the  Count  Martinengo,  the  man  of 
Bragadin's  own  choice  ;  and  so,  as  plenipotentiary  be- 
tween himself  and  the  Venetian  government,  Bragadin 
secured  a  man  wholly  devoted  to  himself,  the  humble 
slave  of  his  "  sheer  fascination." 

V.   "  His  NATURAL  PRINCE  " 

The  negotiations  for  bringing  Bragadin  to  Venice 
required  some  delicacy  in  handling.  France,  Rome, 

1  See  Archivio  Veneto,  t.  i.  pp.  170-2. 


OFFERS  TO  BRAGADIN  191 

Mantua,  and  Venice  were  all  bidding  for  the  honour  of 
his  presence.  Venice  was  unwilling  to  arrest  him  and 
carry  him  off  by  force,  though  at  the  same  time  she  was 
fully  resolved  that  he  should  not  escape.  Bragadin 
was  aware  of  this  resolve;  and  the  knowledge  that 
he  was  virtually  caught  irritated  him  into  making  a 
show  of  freedom  by  playing  with  other  princes,  and 
4y  loudly  declaring  that  he  would  take  no  other  road 
than  that  which  "  God  should  inspire  him  to  choose." 
Though  he  had  desired  to  number  Venice  among  the 
claimants  for  his  person,  he  was  now  more  than  half 
afraid  of  his  own  action,  dreading  the  results  of  the 
notoriety  he  had  created  and  feeling  that  he  had 
touched  a  power  he  was  unable  to  control.  The 
Venetian  government  did  not  wish  to  alarm  him,  and 
preferred  that  he  should  come  to  Venice  seemingly  of 
his  own  accord.  At  the  request  of  Martinengo  they 
sent  a  safe-conduct  for  Bragadin,  his  powders,  jars, 
and  retorts,  and  ordered  the  Governors  of  Brescia  to 
invite  him  to  dine  and  to  show  him  every  attention.  On 
the  other  hand,  Piccolomini,  as  a  soldier  of  adventure 
in  command  of  his  own  troop,  was  plying  Bragadin 
with  wild  offers — to  seize  Orvieto  and  make  it  over  to 
Bragadin,  if  he  would  consent  to  manufacture  gold  in 
that  city.  The  Duke  of  Mantua,  too,  was  at  work  in 
person.  Late  one  evening  he  arrived  incognito  at 
Brescia,  in  a  hired  carriage  with  three  attendants. 
He  at  once  called  on  Bragadin,  and  was  admitted,  by 
a  secret  stair,  to  the  room  where  the  alchemist  was; 
he  threw  his  arms  round  Bragadin's  neck,  implored 
him  to  be  his  friend,  made  him  shake  hands  on  it, 
assured  him  of  his  immutable  regard.  Bragadin 
replied  in  the  same  strain,  and  ended  by  saying, 
14  When  I  am  at  Venice,  I  shall  be  with  a  prince 
who  is  so  entirely  my  friend  that  I  can  promise  you 
all  good  offices  through  my  mediation."  Then  the 
two  passed  the  evening  over  a  splendid  supper,  and 
next  day  the  duke  sent  to  his  host  a  collar,  a  jewelled 
watch,  and  robes  with  golden  buttons. 


192  MARCANTONIO   BRAGADIN 

But  the  pressure  from  outside,  from  the  Governors 
of  Brescia,  from  Martinengo,  from  Contarini  and 
Dolfin,  two  commissioners  sent  on  purpose  to  hasten 
Bragadin's  departure,  was  rapidly  becoming  more 
than  he  could  resist.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  one  course 
only  was  open  to  him ;  and  on  November  8  he  an- 
nounced that,  "  inspired  by  God  to  refuse  all  other 
offers,  he  was  now  resolved  to  serve  his  natural 
prince,"  the  doge.  The  conditions  which  he  asked 
were  modest  enough ;  for  his  game  now  was  to 
establish  himself  well  at  Venice,  and  secure  the 
confidence  of  the  government  and  the  great  nobles. 
"  I  do  not  seek,"  he  says,  "  nay,  I  do  not  desire  either 
dignity  or  honour.  1  am  content  with  the  pleasure 
I  feel  in  serving  others.  I  bring  to  Venice  my  treasure, 
and  in  Venice  will  my  heart  also  be.  I  only  entreat 
your  Serenity  to  leave  me  perfectly  free  to  act  as  God 
shall  inspire.  This  operation  of  making  gold  requires 
much  time,  and  ninety  months  of  undisturbed  labour 
will  be  needed  to  perfect  and  to  multiply  the  anima 
d'oro  which  I  now  possess,  so  that  I  may  be  able  to 
make  a  suitable  gift  to  your  Serenity.  The  medicine 
I  have  with  me  is  capable  of  producing  one  hundred 
thousand  ducats ;  but  in  order  to  create  five  millions, 
as  I  desire  to  do,  I  require  thirty  months  for  boiling  a 
certain  water  in  dung  under  ground.  One  only  favour 
I  have  to  ask ;  that  is,  that  your  Serenity  should  use 
your  influence  to  secure  my  absolution  at  Rome  and 
release  from  my  monastic  vows." 

But,  though  everything  had  been  arranged,  Bragadin 
still  delayed  his  departure.  The  Duke  of  Mantua 
still  continued  to  ply  him  with  presents  and  letters 
beginning,  "  The  lover  to  the  beloved " ;  and  the 
Governors  of  Brescia  had  such  grave  suspicions  that 
the  duke  intended  to  waylay  and  carry  off  Bragadin, 
that  they  deemed  it  necessary  to  have  the  whole 
country  scoured,  and  to  double  the  guards  at  the 
gates.  At  length,  on  November  20,  Bragadin,  Mar- 
tinengo, and  a  large  escort  set  out  for  Peschiera, 


IN  VENICE  193 

Verona,  Padua,  and  Venice.  The  journey  was 
arranged  to  look  as  like  a  triumph  as  possible.  The 
authorities  in  each  of  the  towns  received  Bragadin 
at  the  public  palace,  feasted  and  entertained  him, 
consulted  his  wishes  as  to  the  details  of  his  route, 
and  supplied  him  with  an  escort  suitable  to  a  prince — 
"  for  the  greater  honour  of  his  person,"  they  always 
said.  But  in  reality  Bragadin  was  a  prisoner,  and  he 
knew  it.  At  Padua  he  made  one  effort  to  shake  off 
his  guards.1  He  announced  that  he  would  go  to 
Venice  down  the  Brenta  by  water,  and  one  boat 
could  not  accommodate  all  his  retinue.  He  chose  this 
route  because  he  knew  that  Piccolomini  was  lying 
in  wait  near  Dolo,  to  carry  him  off  to  Mantua  or 
elsewhere.  But  the  scheme  failed ;  for  the  governor 
assured  him  that  a  personage  so  dear  to  the  Republic 
could  not  be  allowed  to  reach  the  lagoons  unattended. 
Upon  November  26  Bragadin  entered  Venice,  and 
found  himself  safe  under  the  protection  of  "his  natural 
prince." 

VI.  THE  JAR  IN  THE  TEN 

Venice  was  in  a  state  of  expectation  at  the  arrival 
of  the  famous  Marco  Bragadin  Mamugna — "  Mam- 
mon Bragadin,"  as  the  people  immediately  nicknamed 
him.  The  Venetian  government  was  always  remark- 
able for  the  rapidity  of  its  action,  when  it  had  once 
adopted  a  course ;  and  in  this  case  they  did  not  belie 
their  reputation.  Bragadin  arrived  on  the  26th,  and 
was  lodged  in  Ca'  Dandolo,  on  the  Giudecca.1  On 
the  28th,  by  the  advice  of  Contarini  and  Dolfin,  two 
of  his  well-wishers  and  high  officers  of  State,  he 
sent  Martinengo  to  the  Council  of  Ten,  to  convey  a 
letter  addressed  by  himself  to  the  doge,  and  to  offer 
two  jars  of  anima  <T  oro,  as  an  earnest  of  his  good 

1  Archivio  Veneto,  he.  cit.  He  had  a  hundred  foot  soldiers,  fifty 
horse,  and  some  gunners  as  his  escort. 

t*  See  Dr.  Antonio  Pilot,  "  L'alchimista  Marco  Bragadin  a  Venezia," 
b.  in  Pagine  Istriaru,  fasc.  ix.-x.  (Capodistria  :  1905),  p.  218,  note  2. 
VOL.  II.  13 


194  MARCANTONIO   BRAGADIN 

faith,  upon  the  condition  that  these  jars  should  be 
placed  in  a  cupboard  in  the  Mint,  and  the  keys  of 
the  cupboard  handed  over  to  Bragadin,  so  that  he 
might  take  from  the  jars  the  "medicine"  as  he 
required  it  for  his  work.  Martinengo  was  introduced 
to  the  Council,  and  the  two  jars  placed  beside  him 
on  the  floor.  He  reported  at  length  on  his  relations 
with  Bragadin,  and  then  demanded  the  answer  of 
the  Ten  as  regarded  the  offer  of  his  friend.  The  gift 
of  the  anima  tf  oro  was  accepted,  and  likewise 
Bragadin's  conditions.  The  two  jars  were  ordered  to 
the  Mint,  and  were  carried  out  in  solemn  procession 
by  Pietro  Marcello,  Governor  of  the  Mint,  accom- 
panied by  the  heads  of  the  Ten  and  Martinengo,  who 
saw  the  precious  powders  stowed  away,  and  himself 
carried  the  keys  of  the  cupboard  to  the  alchemist.1 

The  government  suspended  judgment,  but  pursued 
their  usual  method  of  swiftly  and  silently  securing 
everything  in  their  own  hands  before  proceeding  to 
decisive  action.  They  held  Bragadin  safe  in  Venice, 
and  now  they  had  his  anima  a"  oro,  his  piece  justificative, 
under  lock  and  key.  Bragadin  had  the  keys,  it  is  true, 
but  he  could  not  touch  his  medicine  without  their  know- 
ledge and  consent.  From  Bragadin's  point  of  view, 
this  present  of  the  anima  (foro  was  intended  to  inspire 
confidence,  and  to  justify  any  delays  for  which  he 
might  apply ;  and  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure  on 
this  head,  he  took  a  further  step.  On  December  23, 
Marcello,  Master  of  the  Mint,  reports  to  the  Ten  : 
"  This  morning  I  went  to  the  Mint.  Bragadin  came, 
accompanied  by  Martinengo,  Contarini,  and  Dolfin. 
They  were  brought  into  the  Mint  by  the  Riva.  We 
all  went  to  the  cupboard  where  the  jars  were  placed  a 
few  days  ago,  and,  having  opened  the  cupboard  with 
the  keys  Bragadin  had  brought  with  him,  we  placed 
therein  a  packet,  sealed  with  four  seals  of  Spanish 
wax  on  the  strings,  three  on  one  side  and  one  on  the 
other.  These  seals,  Bragadin  tells  me,  are  his  own 

1  See  Dr.  Antonio  Pilot,  fasc.  ix-x.,  op.  cit.  p.  220. 


THE  NUGGET  TESTED  195 

and  one  of  Count  Martinengo's.  He  further  adds  that 
this  packet  contains  his  secret  and  his  Will.  After 
that  we  all  separated  and  went  our  ways."  The 
government  could  hardly  look  for  any  greater  marks 
of  honesty.  They  now  possessed  Bragadin's  "  spirit 
of  gold,"  and  the  receipt  for  making  it,  sealed  with  his 
own  intaglio  showing  the  figures  of  Philosophy  and 
Truth. 

But  in  the  meantime,  the  good  effects  of  this 
apparent  candour  ran  a  serious  danger  of  being  de- 
stroyed. The  Brescian  nugget  had  been  tested,  and 
found  to  be  silver,  coloured  with  bronze.  This  dis- 
covery might  have  put  an  end  for  ever  to  Bragadin 
and  his  secret,  but  that  rumours  of  it  reached  his 
ears,  and  he  made  a  countermove  to  efface  its  in- 
jurious results.  A  few  days  after  hearing  the  report 
of  the  assayers  in  the  Mint,  the  Council  of  Ten  received 
from  several  of  its  own  members  an  account  of  certain 
events  which  had  taken  place  in  the  house  of  Conta- 
rini,  where  Bragadin  had  volunteered  a  demonstration 
of  his  powers.  He  had  gone  through  his  usual 
performance  with  his  crucible,  his  orange  and  black 
powders,  his  wax  and  coloured  water,  and  at  the 
close  he  had  made  this  speech,  holding  the  contents 
of  the  crucible  in  his  hand :  "  Gentlemen,"  he  said, 
"  take  the  gold ;  bear  true  witness  to  what  you  have 
seen ;  test  it  at  your  leisure.  I  hear  that  the  piece 
which  1  made  in  the  presence  of  Count  Martinengo 
has  been  tested  in  your  Mint,  and  is  said  not  to  be 
pure  gold.  I  affirm  that  they  mistake;  it  is  pure 
gold.  I  will  take  a  bit  of  this  to  test  it  "  (and  with  that 
he  cut  off  a  piece  with  his  knife),  "  and  then  we  shall 
see  who  is  wrong.  I  have  come  here  of  my  own  free 
will,  to  serve  my  natural  prince.  I  rely  upon  his  safe- 
conduct,  and  1  assure  you  that  I  make  no  pretensions, 
nor  desire  aught  but  to  live  and  die  Marco  Bragadin 
the  Cypriote."  Twice  during  his  career  in  Venetian 
territory  Bragadin  had  performed  his  operation  of 
projection  ;  both  times  reluctantly  and  at  a  pinch.  On 


196  MARCANTONIO  BRAGADIN 

both  occasions  it  had  served  his  purpose  for  a  time, 
and  allayed  a  growing  suspicion.  But  this  was  a  bank 
upon  which  he  could  not  draw  for  ever.  One  more 
draft  and  his  account  will  be  run  out,  his  cheque  dis- 
honoured and  himself  undone. 

After  hearing  the  report  of  their  members,  the 
council  hesitated  again;  they  thought  the  matter  worth 
further  consideration  ;  and  on  December  13  the  Senate 
appointed  a  committee  of  the  Governors  of  the  Mint, 
"to  deal  with  this  affair  as  quickly,  dexterously,  and 
prudently  as  possible,  that  we  may  find  out  the  very 
truth  upon  the  matter  ;  persuading  Bragadin  with 
friendly  exhortations  to  give  us  satisfaction  on  the 
point."  So  Bragadin  was  on  his  last  trial — was  face 
to  face  with  the  moment  crucial  for  his  prospects 
in  Venice. 

VII.    ON  THE   GlUDECCA 

Hitherto  we  have  followed  Bragadin's  career  from 
the  inside  only.  To  the  outer  world,  however,  his 
position  appeared  very  different.  There  were  no  signs 
of  immediate  collapse,  no  appearance  of  a  rotten  core, 
no  indication  of  doubtful  foothold.  To  Venice  he  had 
come  as  the  great  Marco  Bragadin,  philosopher  and 
alchemist,  creator  and  dispenser  of  gold,  world-famous 
and  holy  man,  to  whom  the  government  showed  all 
honour  and  regard.  The  great  nobles,  greedy  for 
wealth,  gave  him  a  ready  welcome,  and  supplied  him 
with  funds  on  which  they  hoped  to  gain  an  honest 
cent,  per  cent.  The  people,  ready  to  adopt  the  fashion 
of  the  moment,  believed  in  the  Divine  origin  of  his 
gift,  and  were  prepared  to  stone  those  who  should  utter 
a  doubt.  Even  before  his  arrival  Bragadin  had  secured 
many  wealthy  and  powerful  connections ;  the  families 
of  Contarini,  Dolfin,  Dandolo,  and  Cornaro  claimed 
friendship  with  him,  and  so  his  arrival  in  Venice  was, 
in  appearance,  a  triumphant  success.1  He  hired  the 

1  "  Quivi  comminici6  a  far  spese  regali,"  Cod.  Gradenigo,  quoted  by 
Pilot,  op.  tit.  p.  218. 


LIFE  ON  THE  GIUDECCA  197 

beautiful  palace  of  the  Dandolo  on  the  Giudecca,1  with 
its  gardens,  cortili,  fountains,  and  loggie  looking  over 
the  lagoon,  and  there  he  established  himself  with  an 
immense  retinue  of  servants,  actors,  and  musicians, 
and  entertained  his  noble  friends  at  masques  and  balls 
and  banquets  of  regal  magnificence.  In  fact,  the  pura 
fascinatione  of  Signer  Marco  and  his  golden  reputation 
reigned  supreme  in  Venice  for  a  while.  He  possessed 
many  gifts  which  attracted  people,  talking  well  and 
playing  several  instruments ;  while,  to  support  his 
character  as  alchemist  and  intimate  of  the  secret  world, 
he  was  followed  wherever  he  went  by  two  enormous 
black  dogs  with  gold  collars  round  their  necks ;  and 
it  did  not  take  the  people  long  to  determine  that  these 
two  hounds  were  his  familiar  spirits.  Gold  there 
evidently  was  in  the  house  on  the  Giudecca,  but  as 
yet  it  had  come  chiefly  from  the  pockets  of  others,  and 
not  from  Marco's  laboratory.  But,  for  all  that,  the 
eclat  was  brilliant,  and  the  fame  of  Bragadin  and  his 
golden  secret  spread  far  beyond  Venice.  This  is  the 
account  which  a  learned  contemporary  sends  to  a 
friend.  "  It  is  true,"  he  writes,  "  that  I  have  been 
to  Venice  to  gain  some  information  about  this  famous 
Mamugna.  They  say  that  he  really  is  able  to  trans- 
mute metals,  and  therefore  many  nobles  run  after  him 
in  the  hope  of  having  their  debts  paid.  They  court 
and  almost  adore  him,  and  the  least  title  they  give  him 
is  that  of  '  most  illustrious.'  Presents  pour  in  from 
all  sides,  even  from  princes.  The  price  of  coal,  philo- 
sophers' cloaks,  and  crucibles  has  gone  up.  Every 
one  professes  mammonry.  If  you  want  my  opinion, 
I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it.  Species  rerum  transmutari 
non  possunt."* 

Bragadin's  success  was  certainly  great.  But  under- 
neath this  blaze  of  notoriety  there  lay  the  ominous 
order  of  the  Senate,  calling  his  case  for  immediate 

1  Sansovino,    "Venezia,   Cittk    nobilissima   e   Singolare,"   in  vita 
Cicogna. 
*  Giovanni  Bonifacio,  Letterc,  No.  78  (Rovigo  :  1627). 


ip8  MARCANTONIO   BRAGADIN 

judgment,  with  its  rigid  and  uncompromising  demand 
to  know  "  the  truth  of  these  matters."  And  his 
admirers,  his  noble  and  needy  friends,  were  growing 
impatient,  and  reiterated  their  desire  di  subito  veder  oro 
— to  see  gold  straightway.  This  caused  much  uneasi- 
ness to  Bragadin ;  for,  as  he  carefully  explained,  gold 
could  not  be  seen  in  this  sudden  and  summary  way ; 
a  philosopher  requires,  above  all  things,  time  and  a 
"  serene  mind."  But  explanations  were  hardly  accept- 
able while  debts  remained  to  be  paid  and  promises  to 
be  fulfilled.  In  fact,  the  gale  of  public  fame  and  private 
impatience  was  driving  the  alchemist's  bark  farther 
and  faster  than  he  desired,  and  in  the  background 
hung  the  order  of  the  Senate,  waiting  to  be  discharged. 


VIII.   "  TILL  GOD  INSPIRES  " 

The  resolution  of  the  Senate  was  communicated 
to  Bragadin  two  days  after  Christmas.  He  had  cal- 
culated on  rousing  cupidity,  securing  confidence,  and 
then  delaying  all  action  from  month  to  month  upon 
the  plea  of  requiring  leisure,  while  he  lived  upon  the 
credulity  and  the  gold  of  others.  But  the  rapidity 
of  the  government  upset  his  scheme.  Reluctantly, 
"  renitente  volonta,"  with  shrinking  will,  he  turned  to 
give  battle  to  a  power  he  could  not  hope  to  control. 
In  answer  to  the  request  of  the  committee,  he  for- 
warded a  letter  to  the  doge l — an  interminable  windy 
letter,  whose  core  and  meaning  is  reached  only  after 
much  difficulty  and  wading  through  pages  of  bitter 
complaint  that  the  proofs  of  his  power  which  he  has 
already  given  have  not  secured  him  credence.  He 
assures  the  doge  "  that  it  is  his  nature  to  act  spon- 
taneously, and  not  when  he  is  forced.  For  this  power 
is  a  great  gift  from  God,  and  he  would  leave  God 
to  make  use  of  him  as  He  pleases."  He  concludes— 
some  instinct  that  excuses  would  not  avail  compelling 

1  Revista  Vienese,  ut  sup. 


THE  POWDER  "BREEDING"  199 

him — by  an  appeal  to  the  cupidity  of  the  government : 
"  I  do  not  desire  to  deceive  you  in  aught,  and  if  com- 
pelled I  can,  in  a  very  short  time,  convert  my  powder 
into  purest  gold.  But  I  warn  you  that  if  I  act  thus 
we  shall  lose  the  notable  advantage  to  be  derived  from 
allowing  the  powder  to  multiply,  which  I  can  cause  it 
to  do  at  the  rate  of  three  hundred  per  cent.  This 
would  take  a  long  time,  but  at  the  end  I  could,  with 
part  of  this  multiplied  powder,  produce  a  sum  sufficient 
to  allow  you  to  taste  the  benefit  of  my  skill,  while  the 
rest  I  would  put  to  breed  again.  Your  serenity,  then, 
must  choose  whether  you  will  at  once  see  that  gold 
which  my  powder  can  now  make — it  will  be  a  com- 
paratively insignificant  amount — or  will  you  let  me 
put  it  to  multiply?  Finally,  I  beg  that  in  any  case 
I  may  not  be  disturbed  during  these  holy  days  of 
Christmas ;  that  I  may  have  leisure  to  attend  to  my 
soul's  health,  the  repose  of  my  body,  the  soothing 
of  my  tormented  spirit,  and,  in  short,  that  I  may 
prepare  myself  for  the  service  of  your  serenity." 

Bragadin's  friends  were  for  taking  him  at  his  own 
time  and  waiting  till  the  inspiration  came  upon  him. 
But  the  committee,  under  the  imperative  order  of 
the  Senate,  refused  to  delay.  They  continued  to 
urge  Bragadin,  while  he  floundered  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  mire,  from  which  he  knew  that  there 
was  no  escape  compatible  with  success.  On  Decem- 
ber 29  he  sent  a  formal  communication  to  the  com- 
mittee. He  "  begged  to  be  left  alone  that  week,  as 
he  was  attending  to  his  soul ;  he  had  confessed,  and 
hoped  to  take  the  sacrament,  and  so  receive  a  holy 
joy.  But  next  week  he  would  comply  with  their 
demands."  The  answer  came  back  that  his  request 
was  reasonable,  that  he  might  take  his  own  time,  but 
must  appoint  a  day  in  the  following  week.  The  day 
agreed  on  was  January  6,  Epiphany. 


200  MARCANTONIO   BRAGADIN 

IX.    AT  THE   PALACE1 

"On  January  6,"  so   runs   the  report,   "Bragadin 

and  Martinengo  came  to  visit  the  doge.     They  asked 

if  he  would  like  to  see  the  operation  performed,  and  a 

proof  made  of  Bragadin's  power.     The  doge  replied 

in  the  affirmative,  and  a  servant  was  despatched  to 

buy  a  pound  of  quicksilver  and  a  crucible  ;  while  the 

privy  councillors,  the  heads  of  the  law  court,  and  the 

Masters  of  the  Mint  were  summoned  to  attend.     A 

fire    of   coal    was    prepared    in    the    doge's    private 

chamber ;  and  when  the  servant   returned   with   the 

quicksilver  and  the  crucible,  Signor  Marco  took  the 

crucible  in  his  hand  and  said  that  it  was  too  large  for 

the  quantity  of  silver,  and  that  he  would  have  required 

a  fire  twice  as  large.     Then  he  explained  to  all  that 

by  reason  of  its  high  edges  the  crucible  was  of  no 

use,   and   took  another  smaller  one  which    he    had 

with  him.     This  he  handed  round   to  the  company, 

that  they  might  see  whether  there  was  anything  in  it 

or  no;  and  all  saw  that  it  was  clean  and  free  from 

suspicion.     Then  he  took  the  quicksilver  and  folded 

it  in  the  handkerchief  of  Pasquale  Cicogna,  the  doge's 

nephew,   and   pressed   it   out   into   a  plate  of  white 

metal ;   and   because  it  had  not  all  come  out  of  the 

handkerchief,  he  squeezed  it  again,  and  made  the  rest 

pass  through,  and  flung  away  some  dirt  that  remained 

in  the   handkerchief.     Then   he   took  the  plate  and 

handed  it  to  Galeazzo  Secco,  the  doge's  chamberlain, 

and  wished  him  to  pour  the  silver  into  the  crucible ; 

Secco  was   afraid  of  spilling  it,  so  Signor  Bragadin 

himself  poured  it  out.     Then  he  took  a  small  folded 

paper,  which    he    opened,   and    inside    was    seen    a 

very   fine   orange-coloured    powder.     Then,    turning 

to   the  illustrious  Alexander    Zorzi,   Bragadin    said, 

1  Do  you  recognize  it  ?    Look  at  it  well ;  is  it  some 

of  my  medicine  from   the  Mint  ? '    Then   he  took  a 

little  on  the  point  of  a  knife  and  threw  it  on  the 

1  Cod,  Cicogna,  ut  sup, 


THE  LAST  EXPERIMENT  201 

quicksilver  in  the  crucible.  After  this  he  opened 
another  paper  containing  some  black  stuff  in  small 
pieces,  and  threw  one  of  the  pieces  into  the  crucible, 
saying  that  it  was  of  no  value  ;  and  to  prove  it  threw 
the  rest,  paper  and  all,  into  the  fire.  Then  he  took  a 
piece  of  red  wax  and  placed  it  in  the  crucible  on  the 
top  of  the  silver.  One  of  the  Council  said,  '  If  that 
stuff  is  of  no  importance,  why  do  you  put  it  into  the 
crucible?'  and  Marco  replied,  '  I  don't  intend  you  to 
know  why  I  put  it  there ;  I  mean  to  keep  that  secret 
to  myself.'  Then,  when  he  was  about  to  take  up  the 
crucible,  he  said,  '  I  must  shake  the  sleeves  of  my 
cloak  well,  so  that  no  one  may  say  that  I  have  slipped 
gold  into  the  crucible.'  So  he  shook  them  well,  twice 
over.  Then,  taking  the  crucible,  he  said,  '  If  you  do 
not  all  of  you  presently  acknowledge  that  this  stuff  is 
gold,  I  am  ready  to  be  branded  a  scoundrel.'  Then  he 
called  Quirini  and  Zorzi  to  see  him  put  the  crucible  on 
the  fire,  and  to  witness  the  operation  ;  and,  turning  to 
the  doge,  he  said,  '  Serene  prince,  will  it  please  your 
serenity  to  come  nearer,  for  this  operation  is  per- 
formed on  your  behalf.'  So  his  serenity  rose  and 
came  to  look  on,  while  Quirini  sat  down  on  a  bench 
near  the  fire.  Then  Signer  Marco  put  the  crucible  on 
the  coals,  and  began  to  blow,  and  made  the  others 
help  him.  And  presently  one  heard  the  stuff  begin- 
ning to  boil,  and  making  a  noise  as  though  one  had 
thrown  salt  on  the  fire ;  and  this  went  on  some  little 
while.  Then  Priuli,  the  councillor,  rising  to  see  what 
was  going  forward,  said,  '  One  would  think  they  were 
frizzling  pitch  by  the  noise  it  makes.'  After  a  bit 
Signer  Marco,  raising  the  lid  so  that  we  could  see  the 
quicksilver  boiling,  cried,  '  You  see  how  it  boils.  All 
this  will  soon  be  gold ' ;  and  he  put  the  lid  on  again, 
and  covered  it  over  with  live  coal,  and  set  to  blowing 
once  more.  And  when  the  boiling  and  frizzling  had 
ceased  somewhat,  he  called  for  a  pitcher  of  water,  and 
taking  the  crucible  off  the  fire,  he  put  it  in  the  pitcher, 
plunging  it  well  in.  Then  he  drew  it  out  immediately, 


202  MARCANTONIO   BRAGADIN 

and,  placing  the  crucible  on  the  window-sill,  he  turned 
out  a  lump  of  gold  of  the  shape  of  the  crucible,  and 
handed  it  round  for  all  to  see  and  examine.  The 
Councillor  Donado  alone  kept  always  in  the  distance, 
without  caring  to  see  anything." 

So  for  the  third  time  Bragadin  had  made  his  famous 
operation  in  the  hope  of  delaying  exposure.  But  this 
was  his  last  attempt  to  draw  upon  an  exhausted 
account.  Two  days  after  the  scene  at  the  palace,  the 
assayers  of  the  Mint  handed  in  their  report :  "  Glory 
to  God.  Test  made  of  a  lump  of  metal  committed 
to  us  by  the  Masters  of  the  Mint,  which  is  found  by 
us,  testers  in  the  Mint,  to  contain  four  carats  of  silver 
and  four  carats  of  bronze."  With  this  brief  and  final 
document  Bragadin's  career  and  prospects  in  Venice 
are  closed  for  ever.  Some  few  of  his  acquaintances 
still  clung  to  him,  inspired  by  cupidity  that  could  not 
believe  itself  baulked,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  Martinengo, 
by  a  real  belief  in  Bragadin  that  rose  superior  to  all 
failure.  But  the  tide  of  popularity  ebbed  more  rapidly 
than  it  had  flowed ;  and  for  the  Carnival  of  1590  Paolo 
Sarpi  invented  the  masquerade  of  Bragadin,  the 
Mammon  God.1  The  people  hooted  him  openly  in  the 
streets  ;  and,  after  enduring  the  contumely  for  a  month 
or  more,  he  escaped  to  Padua,  where  the  Cornaro 
family  offered  him  a  house  and  protection. 

X.   FLIGHT 

Little  more  remains  to  be  told ;  but  that  little  lies 
outside  Venice.  It  was  not  the  Venetians  who  were 
to  score  off  and  close  for  ever  Bragadin's  reckoning 
with  the  world.  The  pressure  of  his  debts,  the  pur- 
suit of  his  creditors,  who  had  already  secured  the 

1  Bianchi-Giovani,  Biog.  di  Fret  Paolo  Sarpi>  i.  no,  118.  See 
Cicogna,  MisceL  1919,  where  a  popular  song  on  Bragadin  may  be 
found.  See,  too,  Pilot's  work,  where  we  find  a  street  song  ending 
with  the  refrain 

O  che  sorte  ha  sta  citta. 


FLIGHT  203 

sequestration   of   his    goods,    and    his    proximity   to 
Venice,  made  Padua  by  no  means  a  safe  or  pleasant 
home  for  Bragadin.    Moreover,  the  Senate  had  con- 
sidered a  proposal  to  arrest  and  punish  the  man  who 
had  fooled  it.     The  motion  was  rejected  solely  on  the 
ground  that  such  action  would  compromise  the  dignity 
of  the  state,  and  publish  the  fact  that  the  Venetians 
had  been  gulled.1     Worse  than  all,  Bragadin  could  not 
trust  his  host  Cornaro,  who  still  pretended  to  believe 
in  his  gift,  and  continued  to  clamour  for  gold.    These 
circumstances    alarmed    Bragadin    so    much   that   he 
resolved  to  quit  Venetia.     But  where  should  he  go? 
He  had  already  received  a  letter  from  the  Duke  of 
Bavaria,  couched  in  the  most  flattering  terms,  addressed 
to  "The  Most  Illustrious  Marco  Bragadin,  my  dearest 
friend,"  *  assuring  him  that  the  fame  of  his  secret  had 
spread  throughout   all    Germany,   and   asking  to   be 
numbered  among  his  admirers.     Bavaria,  then,  was 
open  to  him.     The  other  alternative  was  France.     He 
had  written  to  Henry  IV.,  having  reason  to  believe 
that  at  the  French  court  he  would  find  a  ready  wel- 
come and   honourable  terms.     Henry  replied   to   his 
ambassador  at  Venice,  enclosing  a  letter  for  Bragadin, 
and  ordering  de  Maisse  to  open  negotiations  with  the 
alchemist.1    The  letter  is  a  curious  specimen  of  the 
attitude  upon  which  Bragadin  and  his  fellows  could 
always  count — a   mixture  of   curiosity   and    hope,   a 
desire  to  see  the  new  thing,  and  a  lurking  expectation 
that  there  was  some  truth  in  the  man's  pretensions ; 
enough,  at  least,  to  justify  a  trial.     But  Bragadin  never 
received  Henry's  letter;  for  the  French  ambassador 
replied  to  his  master  that  the  alchemist  was  a  miserable 
charlatan,  already  exposed,  and  therefore  he  would  not 
deliver  the  king's  enclosure.    So  Bragadin  resolved 
to  seek  refuge  in  Bavaria.    On  August  6  he  set  out 

1  See  Pilot,  op.  tit.  pp.  220,  221,  where  we  have  the  arguments 
against  this  step. 
*  Cod.  Cicogna,  ut  sup. 
1  Daru,  op.  cit.  xxviii. 


204  MARCANTONIO   BRAGADIN 

for  a  ride  in  the  country,  as  he  said.  He  galloped 
to  Bassano,  passed  the  Alps  without  stopping,  and 
reached  Landshut,  near  Munich,  where  the  duke  was 
residing. 

XI.   "VELUT  VOLATILIS  FUGIT  UMBRA" 

Then  follows  a  most  singular  series  of  letters l  from 
Bragadin  to  his  friends,  announcing  his  honourable 
reception  at  the  Bavarian  court,  the  growing  import- 
ance of  his  position,  his  intimate  relations  with  the 
duke.  By  his  own  account,  which  the  duke's  letters 
in  a  measure  confirm,  Bragadin  was  once  more  on  the 
full  flood  of  success,  enjoying  a  St.  Martin's  summer 
of  renown,  blossoming  again  in  the  warmth  of  princely 
favours.  The  duke,  he  says,  is  "  a  very  saint,  worthy 
to  be  adored  for  his  innate  goodness  and  his  angelic 
temper."  He  has  taken  a  wonderful  fancy  to  Bragadin ; 
has  promised  to  obtain  his  absolution  at  Rome :  "  My 
dear  and  sweet  lord  is  only  waiting  the  election  of  the 
new  pope.  I  cannot  express  myself  better  than  by 
saying  that  I  seem  to  be  dealing  with  an  angel  from 
Paradise.  I  only  wish  those  rich  old  gluttons  at 
Venice,  puffed  up  with  ignorance,  could  see  the  way 
my  dear  and  only  prince  treats  me.  He  often  says, 
4 1  am  all-content  if  only  Signer  Bragadin  be  with 
me.' "  And  the  duke  writes  to  the  Cornaro  in  terms 
almost  as  warm.  A  very  pretty  duet ;  Bragadin's 
pura  fascinatione  is  clearly  at  work  once  more.  Then 
follow  invitations,  in  Bragadin's  name,  to  the  whole 
Cornaro  family,  and  a  present  of  four  magnificent 
carriage  horses,  from  the  duke,  to  bring  them  to 
Munich.  The  postal  service  between  the  capital  and 
Innsbruck  is  placed  at  Marco's  disposal.  He  receives 
a  monopoly  of  all  the  corn  in  Bavaria,  and  offers  to 
make  a  present  of  some  to  the  doge ;  for  Venice  is  in 
need  of  grain,  and  Bragadin  wishes  to  bear  no  ill- 
will  to  "  his  natural  prince."  But  the  affair  did  not  go 

1  Revista  Vienese^  ut  sitp. 


HOSTILITY  OF  ROME  205 

smoothly,  and  only  a  miserable  little  driblet  found  its 
way  into  the  granaries  of  Venice.  Meantime  Marco 
is  not  neglecting  his  "  philosophy," l  and  writes  con- 
tinually for  glass  retorts,  mortars,  vials,  jars,  from  the 
furnaces  of  Murano;  for  minerals,  drugs,  "Cyprian 
balsam  of  terebinth";  all  things,  in  short,  that  are 
"  necessary  for  a  great  and  skilled  philosopher  at 
work  upon  distillation  " ;  for  the  duke  is  waiting  till 
anima  a"  oro  shall  generate,  multiply,  and  finally  pro- 
duce gold. 

But,  as  was  inevitable  with  a  charlatan,  this  apparent 
success  rested  upon  a  rotten  foundation.  This  time 
the  weak  point  was  Bragadin's  relations  with  Rome — 
a  point  where  the  ground  had  already  trembled 
beneath  his  feet.  His  absolution  and  release  from  his 
monastic  vows  were  not  yet  secured.  All  had  been 
put  in  order  through  the  kind  offices  of  a  Spanish 
priest,  an  intimate  of  the  pope,  and  Sixtus  was  ready 
to  sign  the  necessary  dispensations  whenever  Braga- 
din  should  pay  the  sum  of  twelve  thousand  ducats 
into  the  papal  treasury;  the  owner  of  anima  d' oro 
could  afford  that  amount.  But  Bragadin's  collapse  at 
Venice  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  to  come  by 
the  ducats  at  once,  and  the  whole  matter  hung  fire. 
Meantime,  Sixtus  died,  and  Pope  Gregory,  with  whom 
the  alchemist  had  now  to  deal,  was  a  man  of  singular 
purity  and  austerity  of  manners.  When  the  Duke  of 
Bavaria's  representative,  Minutio,  mentioned  the  case, 
his  Holiness  would  not  hear  of  any  indulgence,  and 
seems  to  have  expressed  an  opinion  that  the  duke 
should  rather  make  an  end  of  a  scamp,  an  apostate 
friar,  more  than  suspected  of  dealings  with  the  powers 
of  darkness.  With  this  angry  message  Minutio  left 
Rome  for  Munich. 

While  this  storm  was  gathering  in  the  south,  the 
sky  was  still  serene  in  Bavaria.  The  duet  between 
the  duke  and  Bragadin  goes  on.  There  is  a  crescendo 

1  "Filosofia"  is  frequently  used  to  express  both  witchcraft  and 
alchemy.  Cf.  La  Signora  di  Afonta, 


206  MARCANTONIO  BRAGADIN 

of  satisfaction  in  Marco's  letters  about  himself.  Sud- 
denly these  cease,  and  we  hear  that  he  is  in  prison ; 
that  he  is  secretly  tried,  confesses,  and  is  condemned 
to  lose  his  head,  and  to  be  burned  as  a  sorcerer,  his 
two  black  dogs  along  with  him.1  Minutio  had  arrived 
from  Rome;  the  duke  found  himself  baulked  of  his 
desire  to  see  gold.  The  combination  was  fatal  to 
Bragadin.  On  April  26,  1591,  after  three-quarters  of 
a  year  of  magnificence  in  Munich,  he  was  beheaded 
in  the  public  square  by  the  executioner  of  Landshut. 
In  mockery  of  his  golden  fame  he  was  bound  in  golden 
cords,  and  had  a  golden  halter  round  his  neck.* 

So  sank  his  castles  in  the  air,  and  vanished  into  thin 
smoke.  Marco  Bragadin,  his  dogs,  his  jars,  his  anima 
cT  oro,  fall  back  into  the  obscurity  whence  they  had 
emerged  for  a  while ;  the  dark  gulf  closes  over  them — 
velut  volatiles  fugiunt  umbras.  From  the  very  first  there 
was  never  any  hope  of  permanent  success.  Bragadin 
is  a  type  peculiar  to  his  age.  There  were  hundreds 
of  adventurers  like  him  roaming  over  Europe.  The 
interest  of  their  problem  lies  in  this :  What  end  did 
these  men  really  propose  to  themselves?  How  did 
they  forecast  their  career  so  as  to  secure  anything  like 

1  See  Doglioni,  Historia  Veneta  (Venezia  :  MDXCVIH.),  p.  976. 

8  See  Revista  Vienese.  Also  Beytrdge  xur  vaterlandischen  His- 
forie,  Geographic,  Statistik  und  Landwirthschaft  herausgegeben  von 
Lorenx  Westenrieder,  i.  (Miinchen,  1788);  Aus  dem  Tagbuch  des 
Abraham  Kern  von  Wasserburg,  p.  154:  "Den  April  26,  1591,  hat 
Marx  Bragadin,  sonst  Manulguatro  genannt,  welchen  Ir  Drhl.  herzog 
Wilhelmb  in  Baiern  als  ain  beriemten  Alchimisten  und  Goldmacher 
mit  grossen  Unkosten  heraus  aus  Italia  bringen  lassen,  auch  sich  bey 
3  viertl  Jahren  herauss  zu  Miinchen  wie  ein  graf  Stattlich  und  in 
36  Persohnen  gehalten,  aber  in  erfahrung  gebracht  worden,  dass  er 
nicht  allein  hochst  ernant  Grtl.  Urhl.  in  Bayern,  sondern  den  herzog 
von  Mantua  und  die  herrschaft  Venedig  selb  umb  vil  roog  \sic\  fl. 
betrogen,  seyn  Urtl  uberstanden.  Dann  er  durch  den  scharfrichter 
von  landtshut  zu  Miinchen  auf  ainer  Bin  mit  dem  Schwerth  vom 
Leben  zum  todt,  gleichwol  iibel  getrofen,  hingericht,  benebens  daselbs 
auf  dem  Plaz  ain  Roth  angestrichener  galgen,  daran  ein  giildener 
Strickh  gehangen,  aufgericht,  auch  er  Bragadin  mit  vergolden  Strick- 
hen  gebunden  worden."  Supplied  me  by  Prof.  N.Jorga 


THE  END  207 

a  permanent  success?  It  is  probable  that  they  did 
not  look  for  permanence;  it  did  not  enter  into  their 
scheme.  They  traded  on  curiosity,  greed,  credulity, 
on  the  weaknesses  of  their  contemporaries.  They 
intended  to  make  for  each  day  sufficient  for  each  day's 
needs.  Their  skill  consisted  in  playing  with  circum- 
stances, in  combining  or  counterpoising  the  people 
with  whom  they  came  in  contact.  The  excitement  of 
the  game  was  its  own  sufficient  reward.  It  did  not 
matter  that  it  was  a  game  which  could  have  one  issue 
only — failure  in  the  end. 


Paolo  Sarpi,  the  Man 

THERE  is  a  Scotch  proverb  which  says,  "  It's  ill  work 
chapping  at  a  dead  man's  yett."  Whatever  may  have 
been  the  intention  of  the  man  who  framed  that 
aphorism,  its  truth  will  come  home  to  all  who,  out  of 
the  fragmentary  records  bequeathed  by  contemporaries 
and  the  voiceless  pages  of  epistolary  correspondence, 
have  endeavoured  first  to  recover  and  then  to  display 
the  living  portrait  of  a  man  long  dead  and  gone.  The 
proverb  is  peculiarly  true  in  the  case  of  Fra  Paolo 
Sarpi,  for  not  only  is  he  dead  and  buried  nigh  upon 
three  hundred  years,  but  during  his  very  lifetime  he 
suffered  a  species  of  burial.  He  entered  a  monastery 
at  the  age  of  thirteen,  and  made  open  profession  of 
his  vows  before  he  was  twenty.  Under  the  rigid  rule 
of  monastic  life  one  day  resembles  another,  and  we 
are  deprived  of  all  those  little  touches  of  humour, 
of  temper,  of  sentiment  which,  in  the  early  lives  of 
distinguished  persons,  so  clearly  indicate  the  manner 
of  men  they  will  come  to  be. 

Nevertheless  with  the  help  of  his  own  writings,  his 
official  opinions  presented  to  the  Government  in  his 
capacity  of  Councillor  to  the  State,  his  informal  letters 
to  friends,  in  which,  as  he  himself  declares,  "  I  write  as 
I  would  speak,"1  in  the  current  opinions  about  him 
expressed  by  contemporaries,  above  all,  thanks  to  that 
labour  of  loving  hands,  Fra  Fulgenzio's  Life  of  his 

1  "  Scrivo  .  .  .  il  mio  concetto  come  lo  parlerei  a  bocca,"  Lettere 
di  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi,  i.  112  (Firenze :  1863).  There  is  a  further 
collection  of  Lettere  inedite^  edited  by  Castellani  (Venice,  Visentini ; 

1892). 

208 


BOYHOOD  209 

friend  and  master,  we  may  reconstruct  for  ourselves 
some  likeness  of  the  great  Servite  friar. 

Sarpi  was  born  on  August  14,  1552.  His  father 
was  Francesco  Sarpi,  of  San  Vito,  in  Friuli,  who  had 
'  migrated  to  Venice ;  his  mother,  Elizabeth  Morelli, 
a  lady  of  good,  though  not  of  noble,  Venetian  family. 
Sarpi  took  after  his  mother ;  was  a  delicate  child, 
thoughtful,  silent,  studious.  His  father  died  when  he 
was  young,  and  his  mother  entrusted  the  boy's 
education  to  her  brother,  Don  Ambrogio,  a  priest  who 
kept  a  school.  Here  the  boy  was  worked  too  hard 
for  his  slender  constitution,  and  suffered  in  conse- 
quence. He  grew  shy,  retiring,  melancholy.  His 
companions  called  him  "  La  Sposa,"  and  paid  him  the 
compliment  of  avoiding  loose  conversation  when  he 
appeared,  but  he  was  not  popular.  At  the  age  of 
twelve  Don  Ambrogio  could  teach  him  no  more,  and 
he  was  passed  on  to  Gian  Maria  Capella,  a  Servite 
friar,  master  in  theology,  mathematics,  and  philosophy. 
Under  Gian  Maria's  teaching  young  Sarpi  discovered 
the  real  bent  of  his  intellect,  towards  mathematics  and 
the  exact  sciences,  and  doubtless  acquired  that  liking 
for  the  Servite  order  which  led  him,  in  spite  of  his 
mother  and  his  uncle,  to  take  the  habit  in  November, 
i5<56.1 

A  period  of  close  application  to  his  studies  was 
followed  by  a  journey  to  Mantua,  where  Sarpi  won  the 
favour  of  Duke  William,  who  was  never  tired  of  putting 
difficult  and  sometimes  ridiculous  questions  to  the 
young  student  (though  Sarpi  soon  wearied  of  the  game). 
Under  this  powerful  patronage,  however,  he  became 
theologian  to  the  duke,  and  the  Bishop  of  Mantua 
gave  him  the  chair  of  Theology  with  a  readership  in 
Casuistry  and  Canon  Law.  And  here,  in  the  process 
of  teaching,  Sarpi  learned  the  use  of  those  weapons 


1  It  is  a  curious  and  significant  coincidence  that  the  young  Pietro 
Sarpi  changed  his  name  to  Paolo  when  he  entered  the  Order  of  the 
Servites,  as  he  has  always  been  accused  of  abandoning  the  Petrine 
for  Pauline  side  of  the  Church. 

VOL.  II.  14 


210  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE  MAN 

with   which   he    subsequently    made    such    sprightly 
play. 

His  studies  continued  at  a  high  pressure.  Eight 
hours  a  day  of  Greek,  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Mathematics, 
Medicine,  Anatomy,  Botany.  The  pile  of  his  note- 
books grew  in  height.  He  never  allowed  a  difficulty 
to  escape  him  ;  he  would  follow  it  up  till  he  was 
able  to  say,  "  I've  beaten  it,  now  I'll  think  no  more 
on  it."1 

His  sojourn  at  Mantua  was  not  spent  entirely 
among  books,  however.  The  bishop,  Boldrino,  was 
his  personal  friend ;  so  was  Fra  Girolamo  Bernerio, 
the  Dominican  inquisitor ;  so  was  Camillo  Oliva, 
secretary  to  Cardinal  Gonzaga.  But  the  death  of 
Boldrino,  the  perpetual  questions  of  the  duke,  and 
the  buffoonery  of  his  attendants,  rendered  life  at  the 
court  of  Mantua  distasteful;  and  in  1574  Sarpi  left 
that  city  for  Milan,  where  he  found  the  great  Carlo 
Borromeo  engaged  in  reforming  his  diocese. 

Sarpi  was  soon  in  high  favour  with  the  cardinal 
archbishop ;  but  that  did  not  shield  him  from  the 
first  of  the  many  attacks  which  he  was  destined  to 
experience  in  the  course  of  his  life.  He  was  accused 
of  heresy  because  he  confessed  that  he  could  not  find 
the  complete  Trinity  in  the  first  verse  of  Genesis. 
His  defence  is  characteristic  and  noteworthy,  showing 
a  legal  rather  than  a  theological  turn  of  mind.  He 
alleged  that  there  was  connivance  between  his  accuser 
— a  jealous  friar — and  his  judge,  the  Inquisitor  of 
Milan  ;  he  asserted,  and  proved,  that  the  judge  was 
incompetent,  through  his  ignorance  of  Hebrew.  On 
these  grounds  he  refused  to  answer  in  Milan,  and 
appealed  to  Rome,  where  the  case  was  quashed. 

In  the  following  year  Sarpi  received  a  call  to  teach 
philosophy  in  the  Servite  monastery  in  Venice.  He 
set  out.  It  was  summer  ;  on  the  way,  between  Vicenza 
and  Padua,  along  those  hot  and  dusty  roads,  he  was 

1  "  L'ho  pur  vinta,  or  piu  non  ci  voglio  pensare,"  Vita  del  Padre 
Paolo  Sapri,  Oflere,  vi.  6  (Helmstat :  1765). 


PROVINCIAL  OF  HIS  ORDER          211 

seized  with  heat  apoplexy.  He  sent  for  a  barber  to 
bleed  him  :  the  man  refused  without  the  presence  of 
a  doctor.  Sarpi  said,  "  Go  and  fetch  one  ;  but  just  let 
me  see  if  your  lancet  is  sharp."  When  the  man 
returned,  the  operation  was  over. 

For  the  next  four  years  Sarpi  continued  to  lecture 
and  study  in  his  monastery  at  Santa  Fosca,  where  he 
steadily  won  for  himself  a  foremost  place  in  the  ranks 
of  his  Order.  In  1579  he  was  elected  provincial,  and 
named  to  serve  on  the  committee  appointed  to  bring 
the  rules  of  the  Order  into  unison  with  the  Tridentine 
decrees.  This  necessitated  a  journey  to  Rome  to 
consult  with  the  cardinal  protector  of  the  Order  and 
with  the  pope.  Sarpi  drew  up  the  chapter  on 
Judgments.  The  work  was  considered  a  masterpiece, 
and  one  dictum  in  it  has  attracted  the  attention  and 
admiration  of  jurists.  Sarpi  declares,  and  perhaps  for 
the  first  time,  that  the  prison  ought  to  be  reformative, 
not  merely  punitive. 

The  new  constitutions  were  approved,  and  Sarpi 
returned  to  his  duties  as  provincial  of  his  Order. 
His  rule  was  severe,  incorruptible,  sound.  No 
judgment  of  his  was  ever  reversed  on  appeal,  and 
the  cardinal  protector,  Santa  Severina,  declared  to  an 
appellant  that  "  the  findings  of  your  provincial  admit 
of  no  reply." 

During  these  Roman  visits  Fra  Paolo  made  the 
acquaintance  of  many  distinguished  persons,  of 
Farnese,  of  Santa  Severina,  head  of  the  Inquisition, 
of  Castagna,  afterwards  Pope  Urban  VII.,  of  Dr. 
Navarro,  who  had  known  Loyola,  above  all,  of 
Cardinal  Bellarmine,  with  whom  he  was  subse- 
quently brought  into  violent  controversial  relations. 
But  the  two  men  personally  liked  each  other,  and 
Bellarmine  did  not  fail  in  the  offices  of  friendship 
when,  much  later  on,  he  warned  the  Venetian  ambas- 
sador that  plots  were  being  laid  against  Fra  Paolo's 
life.  It  is  a  pleasure,  moreover,  to  record  that  on 
the  appearance  of  a  scurrilous  biography  of  Sarpi, 


212  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE  MAN 

Bellarmine  expressed  to  the  pope  the  following 
opinion  :  "  Holy  Father,  this  book  is  a  tissue  of  lies. 
I  know  Fra  Paolo ;  I  know  him  for  a  man  of  irre- 
proachable habits.  I  assure  you  if  we  allow  such 
calumnies  to  be  published,  all  the  dishonour  will 
be  ours."  l 

Indeed  Sarpi  made  for  himself  a  very  strong  position 
in  Rome.  It  was  even  thought  that  he  might  reach 
the  purple.  Bellarmine,  at  all  events,  believed  that 
his  services  might  have  been  retained  for  the  Curia 
by  the  gift  of  un  fiore  secco — a  dried  flower,  as  he 
called  it — by  which  he  meant  a  see  without  emolu- 
ments. But  Sarpi  was  not  ambitious,  he  took  little 
pains  to  conciliate,  and  the  jealousy  of  more  persistent 
aspirants  easily  blocked  his  path.  He  was  in  Rome 
for  the  last  time  in  1597.  From  this,  his  fifth  journey, 
he  returned  to  Venice,  which  he  seldom  quitted  again 
till  his  death. 

And  now  that  we  have  our  frate  safely  in  his  cell, 
now  that  he  is  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  larger  field 
of  European  ecclesiastical  politics,  let  us  see  how  much 
of  his  daily  life,  his  habit  of  mind  and  of  body,  we  can 
recover  from  the  testimony  of  his  contemporaries.  He 
was  a  man  of  medium  height,  with  a  large  forehead, 
arched  eyebrows,  a  long  nose,  a  broad  nasal  bone — 
remarked  by  Lavater — a  strong,  large  hand  and  thick- 
set body,  eyes  very  black  and  piercing.  He  was  ex- 
cessively thin,  and  his  health  was  seldom  good.  He 
had  his  own  peculiar  way  of  doctoring  himself;  he 
believed  in  violent  changes  of  food,  of  hours,  of  habits. 
When  out  of  sorts  he  would  turn  day  into  night,  night 
into  day.  His  medicines  were  cassia,  manna,  tamarind 
— the  same  that  the  Venetian  popolo  still  consumes. 
His  ailments,  which  he  called  his  "  notices  to  quit,"  he 
treated  lightly,  and  fought  them  chiefly  by  the  vigour 

1  "  Beatissimo  Padre,  questo  libello  e  un  tessuto  di  menzogne.  lo 
conosco  Fra  Paolo,  e  lo  conosco  uomo  da  bene  e  d'intemerati  costumi ; 
e  se  calunnie  cosi  fatte  si  lasciassero  publicare  da  noi,  tutto  nostro 
sarebbe  il  disonore,"  Bianchi  Giovini,  Biografia^  etc.,  ii.  174. 


PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS        213 

of  his  spirits.    His  high  courage  was  his  best  medicine. 
Courage  and  coolness  he  possessed  in  a  singular  degree, 
and  he  had  abundant  need  of  both.     He  was  a  fidgety 
patient,   asking  his   physicians   many  questions,  and 
frequently  declaring  that   he   knew  more   about   his 
illness  than  his  doctors  did — which   I  dare  say  was 
true.     The  frailness  of  his  body,  and  the  austerity  of 
his  habits,  preserved  to  his  senses  an  extraordinary 
delicacy  of  perception.     He  always  declared  that  his 
enemies  would  never  succeed  in  poisoning  him  through 
his  food  ;  and  he  refused  the  government's  proposal  to 
appoint  an  official  taster.     His  memory  had  been  well 
trained  in  his  youth,  and  was  prodigiously  retentive. 
It  seems  to  have  been  largely  what  is  called  a  visual 
memory— he  recalled  the  look  of  a  page,  then  what  was 
on  the  page.    ToSarpi  it  seemed  a  mechanical  quality, 
and  he  always  spoke  of  it  as  that  "  excellent  weakness." 
He  suffered  much  from  cold,  and  tried  to  combat  it  by 
holding  warm  iron  in  his  hands  ;  but  I  suspect  that 
chilblains  had  the  better  of  him.    His  friend  Sir  Henry 
Wotton,   the   English  ambassador,  describes   him  as 
sitting  in  his  cell  "  fenced  with  a  castle  of  paper  about 
his  chair  and  over  his  head  when  he  was  either  reading 
or  writing  alone,  for  he  was  of  our  Lord  of  St.  Albans' 
opinion  that  all  air  is  predatory,  and  especially  hurtful 
when  the  spirits  are  most  employed."    This  cell  was 
extremely  bare— a  table,  a  box  for  his  books,  a  bench, 
a  crucifix  above  a  human  skull,  a  picture  of  Christ  in 
the  garden,  a  little  bed,  to  which  he  preferred  a  shake- 
down on  his  book-box — that  was  all.     His  diet  was 
spare  as  his  lodging — vegetables,  hardly  any  meat,  a 
little  white  wine,  toast — his  fine   palate  appreciating 
the  great  varieties  of  flavour  obtained  by  that  excel- 
lent method  of  cooking.     His  old  friend,  Frate  Giulio, 
attended  to  him,  saw  that  he  was  washed,  dressed, 
brushed,  etc.     From  the  convent  registers  we  learn 
that  two  pairs  of  sheets  lasted  him  twenty  years — 
thanks,  no   doubt,  to  the  shake-down.      He  was  a 
devourer  of  books,  and  he  had  them  bound  before 


214  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE   MAN 

he  read  them.  I  suppose  most  of  them  were  like 
modern  German  editions.  Mathematics  were  his 
pastime,  and  these  he  kept  for  the  afternoons.  Sir 
Henry  Wotton  adds  some  further  touches :  "  He  was 
one  of  the  humblest  things  that  could  be  seen  within 
the  bounds  of  humanity,  the  very  pattern  of  that  pre- 
cept, 'Quanto  doctior,  tanto  submissior/ and  is  enough 
alone  to  demonstrate  that  knowledge,  well  digested, 
non  inflat.  Excellent  in  positive,  excellent  in  scholas- 
tical  and  polemical  divinity;  a  rare  mathematician  even 
in  the  most  abstruse  parts  thereof,  and  yet  withal,  so 
expert  in  the  history  of  plants  as  if  he  had  never 
perused  any  book  but  Nature.  Lastly  a  great 
canonist,  which  was  the  title  of.  his  ordinary  service 
with  the  state,  and  certainly  in  the  time  of  the  pope's 
interdict  they  had  their  principal  light  from  him." 
Sarpi's  manner  was  excessively  ceremonious  and 
urbane.  Times  were  dangerous,  and  politeness  is  an 
excellent  weapon  of  defence.  He  talked  little,  but 
possessed  the  gift  of  making  others  talk.  When  he 
did  join  in  the  conversation  his  tone  was  persuasive, 
not  dogmatic.  He  cared  most,  as  Era  Fulgentio  says, 
to  know  the  truth — "Una  gran  curiosita  d'intendere 
come  realmente  le  cose  fossero  passate."  And  this  gave 
to  his  attitude  a  certain  air  of  aloofness,  indifference, 
disdain,  irritating  to  those  who  were  defending  a  parti 
pris,  and  led  Sarpi  to  say  that  nothing  so  much  as  the 
truth  rendered  superstitious  men  obstinate  ("  Osservo 
questa  esser  la  proprieta  della  verita  che  fa  piu  ostinati 
gli  animi  supersitiziosi  ").1  It  also  induced  him  to  lay 
down  a  rule  for  his  own  guidance :  "  I  never,"  he 
says,  "  tell  a  lie,  but  the  truth  not  to  everybody " 
("  Non  dico  mai  buggie,  ma  la  verita  non  a  tutti  "),J 
1  Lett.  ii.  1 60. 

'  See  Encyc.  Brit.  s.v.  "  Sarpi " ;  and  again,  Le  falsith  non  dico 
mai  mai,  ma  la  veritd,  non  a  ogniuno,  Dohna  to  the  Palatine,  July  23, 
1608  ;  Ritter,  Die  Union  und  Heinrich  IV.  1607-1609"  (Miinchen : 
1874),  p.  79.  Von  Dohna's  despatches  are  of  the  highest  value  as 
throwing  light  on  Sarpi's  attitude  towards  Protestantism  and  the 
spread  of  the  Lutheran  doctrine  in  Venice.  On  that  point  see  also 


HIS  SCIENTIFIC   BENT  215 

not  because  it  is  not  well  to  tell  it  always, 
but,  as  he  remarks,  because  not  everybody  can 
bear  it. 

The  temper  of  his  mind  was  scientific — mathematics 
were  his  favourite  study — and  the  scientific  method  is 
apparent  throughout  all  his  work.  "  I  never,"  he  writes, 
"  venture  to  deny  anything  on  the  ground  of  impossi- 
bility, for  I  am  well  aware  of  the  infinite  variety  in  the 
operations  of  God  and  Nature"  ("  lo  mai  non  ardisco 
negare  cosa  alcuna  riferta  sotto  titolo  d'  impossibility, 
sapendo  molto  bene  1'infinita  varieta  delle  opere  della 
natura  e  di  Dio").1  In  respect  of  this  scientific  quality 
Sarpi  is  a  very  modern  man.  He  is  talking  about  the 
merits  of  the  various  writers  of  his  day,  and  whom 
does  he  select  for  praise  as  the  only  "  original 
writers"?  Vieta  and  Gilbert,  two  men  of  science*— 
just  as  we  might  say  that  Darwin  and  the  scientific 
writers  were,  in  a  sense,  the  only  original  authors 
of  our  day. 

Linked  with  this  genuine  love  of  discovery  for  dis- 
covery's sake — this  curiosity  as  to  how  things  really 
were,  which  is  perhaps  the  essence  of  the  scientific 
spirit — Sarpi  also  possessed  an  exquisite  modesty. 
He  never  displays  one  iota  of  jealousy,  and  is  abso- 
lutely without  desire  for  notoriety.  Yet  Galileo 
acknowledges  assistance  in  the  construction  of  the 
telescope  from  mio  padre  e  maestro  Sarpi.  The  famous 
physician  Fabrizio  of  Acquapendente  exclaims,  "  Oh  ! 
how  many  things  has  Father  Paul  taught  me  in 
anatomy."  The  valves  in  the  veins  were  discovered 
by  Sarpi.  Gilbert  of  Colchester  ranks  him  above 
della  Porta  as  an  authority  on  magnetism.  In  his 
treatise  on  L  arte  di  ben  pensare,  the  Method  of 

Alvise  Cornaro,  La  Vita  Sobria,  p.  i  :  "  Introdotti  in  Italia  da  non 
molto  in  qua,  anzi  alia  mia  etade,  tre  mail  costumi  il  primo  e  1' 
adulazione  e  la  cerimonia,  1'  altro  il  viver  secondo  1'  opinione  Luterana, 
il  terzo  la  crapula." 

1  Lett.  i.  229. 

•  See  Quart.  Rev.  No.  352,  p.  379. 


216  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE  MAN 

thinking  correctly,  he  certainly  anticipates  the  sen- 
sationalism of  Locke.1 

Many  of  his  curious  inventions,  and  more  of  his 
ideas,  were  freely  placed  at  the  disposal  of  his 
friends,  and  no  acknowledgment  in  public  ever  sought. 
Indeed  Sarpi,  in  this  respect,  lived  to  the  height  of 
his  own  generous  maxim,  "  Let  us  imitate  God  and 
Nature;  they  give,  they  do  not  lend."  Twice  only  does 
he  assert  his  priority.  It  is  important  to  note  the 
occasion,  for  it  affords  some  clue  as  to  Sarpi's  per- 
sonal estimate  of  the  relative  value  of  his  works. 
Writing  to  a  friend  in  France  on  two  different  occa- 
sions, he  exclaims,  "  I  was  the  first  to  affirm  that  no 
sovereign  had  ever  freed  the  clergy  from  allegiance 
to  himself"  ("  lo  prima  del  Barclay  scrissi  che  sebbene 
quasi  tutti  i  principi  avessero  concesso  esenzioni  ai 
cherici,  mai  per6  non  si  potrebbe  trovare  che  essi 
fossero  per  alcuno  liberati");  and  again:  "  lo,  pel 
primo  in  Italia,  fui  oso  bandire  che  niuno  imperante 
sciolse  i  cherici  dal  suo  potere."8  Sarpi  is  right  to 
guard  his  reputation  here,  for  it  is  precisely  on  the 
point  of  ecclesiastical  politics,  and  not  in  the  region 
of  science,  however  brilliant  his  accomplishments  may 
there  have  been,  that  his  real  distinction  rests. 

Thus  far  I  have  endeavoured  to  represent  some  of 
the  qualities  which  characterized  the  mind  of  Paolo 
Sarpi.  But  let  us  press  a  little  deeper,  and  discover, 
if  possible,  his  fundamental  views  of  life,  his  inner 
religion,  the  faith  by  which  he  lived.  He  was  a  strict 

1  Arte  di  ben  pensare^  MS.  Marciana,  cl.  ii.  Ital.  cod.  129.  Sarpi 
says  that  there  are  four  methods  of  philosophizing — that  is,  of  acquiring 
knowledge  :  (a)  by  the  reason  alone  ;  (£)  by  the  senses  alone  ;  (c)  by 
the  reason  first,  and  then  by  the  senses  ;  (d)  by  the  senses  first,  and 
then  by  the  reason.  The  first  method  is  the  worst,  for  by  it  we  get 
to  know  what  we  want  things  to  be,  not  what  they  are ;  the  third 
method  is  bad,  for  we  are  tempted  to  force  what  is  to  assume  the 
form  we  desire  ;  the  second  method  is  sound  but  rough,  and  leads 
us  only  a  little  way,  giving  us  facts  rather  than  causes  ;  the  fourth  is 
the  best  method  permitted  to  us  in  this  wretched  life. 

1  Lett.  i.  313,  ii.  414. 


HIS  RELIGION  217 

observer  of  outward  forms  and  ceremonies ;  so  strict, 
indeed,  that  his  enemies  were  unable  to  fasten  upon 
him  any  charge  which  they  could  sustain.  The  cut 
of  his  shoes  was  once  impugned  by  a  foolish  but 
troublesome  brother;  Sarpi,  however,  triumphantly 
demonstrated  their  orthodoxy,  and  it  became  a 
proverb  in  the  Order  that  even  Fra  Paolo's  slippers 
were  above  suspicion. 

But  beneath  the  surface  of  these  formalities,  I  think 
that  Sarpi  was  essentially  sceptical  as  to  all  human 
presentations  of  the  truth,  outside  the  exact  sciences. 
And,  as  so  often  happens,  this  scepticism  was  accom- 
panied by  a  stoical  resignation  to  fate,  and  a  profound 
belief  in  the  Divine  governance  of  the  universe.  It 
was  this  scepticism  which  kept  him  inside  the  Church 
of  Rome,  in  spite  of  his  dislike  to  its  excessive 
temporal  claims  and  worldly  tendencies.  He  never 
showed  the  smallest  inclination  to  change  his  native 
creed  for  any  of  the  various  creeds  which  the  chaos 
of  Reformation  bestowed  upon  Europe.  The  temper 
of  his  mind — eminently  scientific — prevented  him  from 
enjoying  that  strong  externalizing  faith  which  allowed 
Luther  to  believe  that  he  had  engaged  in  a  personal 
conflict  with  the  devil.  Sarpi  was  Italian,  not 
German ;  he  was  not  superstitious,  and  an  Italian 
who  is  not  superstitious  is  very  frequently  sceptical. 
This  scepticism,  however,  did  not  leave  him  without  a 
religion,  its  corrosive  power  could  not  reach  further 
than  the  human  formulas  in  which  men  endeavoured 
to  confine  the  truth.  Below  all  these  lay  the  core 
of  his  faith.  In  his  letters  no  phrases  occur  more 
frequently  than  those  which  declare  his  conviction 
that  all  is  in  the  hands  of  God.  While  in  constant 
danger  of  his  life  he  refused  to  adopt  the  precautions 
recommended  by  his  friends,  being  convinced  that 
he  would  not  be  killed  before  the  appointed  time. 
When  he  sees  the  course  of  events  taking  a  turn 
destructive  of  his  hopes,  again  he  affirms  his  confi- 
dence that  the  issue  will  be  for  good.  "  What  human 


218  PAOLO   SARPI,  THE   MAN 

folly  is  this  to  desire  to  know  the  future !  To  what 
purpose?  To  avoid  it?  Is  not  that  a  patent  impos- 
sibility ?  If  you  avoid  it,  then  it  was  not  the  future." * 
"  Fate  guides  the  willing,"  he  said,  "  but  compels  the 
reluctant,"  *  an  aphorism  which  we  may  parallel  with 
Dante's  noble  line,  "  In  la  sua  volontade  e  nostra 
pace,"  or  with  that  simpler  and  diviner  formula  of 
submission,  "  Thy  will  be  done." 

But  there  was  a  further  principle  in  the  religion 
of  Fra  Paolo,  a  principle  which  saved  him  from  the 
dangers  of  fatalism.  He  was  perfectly  convinced  that 
men  were  the  agents  of  the  Divine  will,  and  that  it 
was  man's  first  duty  to  act,  to  take  advantage  of  the 
fitting  occasion  which  presented  itself  almost  as  a 
Divine  injunction  to  use  it.  This  doctrine  of  the 
/catpo?,  of  the  fitting  opportunity,  is  repeated  again 
and  again  throughout  the  letters.3  "  In  all  human 
action,"  he  writes,  "opportunity  is  everything.  It  is 
well  to  do  God's  service  without  regard  of  conse- 
quences, but  only  if  all  the  circumstances  are  propitious. 
Without  that,  such  action  cannot  merit  the  name  of 
good,  and  may  even  be  a  hindrance  to  successful  action 
in  the  future,  when  the  season  is  ripe."  Again  :  "As 
for  myself,  being  well  aware  that  to  use  an  unpropitious 
occasion  is  little  pleasing  to  the  Divine  Majesty,  I 
never  cease  to  make  myself  more  able  and  more  ready 
to  act  when  the  right  moment  arrives ;  and,  like  the 
artificer,  I  gather  material  when  not  at  work.  If  the 
time  should  never  come  for  me,  what  I  have  gathered 
may  be  of  service  to  another." 

It  is  a  cold  religion,  perhaps,  but  a  very  strong  one  ; 
with  a  deep  taproot  of  faith,  and  an  abundant  field  for 

1  Lett.  \.  270:  "Che  miseria  e  questa  umana  di  voler  sapere  il 
future  1  A  che  fine  ?  per  schifarlo  ?  Non  e  questa  la  piu  espressa 
contraddizione  che  possi  esser  al  mondo  ?  Se  si  schifera  non  era 
future  ! " 

'  Lett.  ii.  126,  429  :  "  I  fati  conducono  chi  vuole,  e  chi  non  vuole 
strascinano." 

1  Lett.  i.  269. 


HIS  ECCLESIASTICO-POLITICAL  VIEWS    219 

tin  play  of  human  practical  judgment,  for  the  develop- 
ment of  human  action.  And  this  is  a  proof  of  its 
goodness,  that  in  spite  of  all  Fra  Paolo  suffered — in 
body,  from  ill-health  and  the  assassin's  dagger ;  in 
mind,  from  calumny,  from  apparent  failure,  from  isola- 
tion— his  religion  was  strong  enough  to  sustain  and 
strengthen  his  whole  life,  and  a  contemporary  observer, 
Diodati,  was  forced  to  admit  that  "  Every  blow  falls 
paralyzed  and  blunted  on  that  sweetness  and  maturity 
of  affections  and  spirit,  which  raise  him  to  a  height  far 
above  all  human  passions."1 

And  now,  before  proceeding  to  an  account  of  Sarpi's 
life-work — to  a  narrative  of  what  he  found  to  do  in 
the  field  of  ecclesiastical  politics,  it  will  be  as  well 
to  see  what  his  views  upon  this  subject  were,  and 
what  weapons  of  offence  and  defence  were  at  his 
disposal. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  that  throughout  the  contro- 
versy upon  which  Sarpi  was  about  to  engage,  it  is 
not  the  Church  which  he  is  attacking  but  the  Roman 
Curia,  and  the  new  tendencies  which  it  represented — 
new,  that  is,  in  so  far  as  they  gave  a  new  form  to 
the  mediaeval  claims  of  the  Papacy.  Sarpi  observes 
that  the  Curia  would  like  to  give  to  the  Pope  not  the 
primatus  but  the  totatus 3  in  the  world  of  ecclesiastical 
politics.  He  has  a  distinct  name  for  the  policy  which 
was  represented  by  Spain,  the  Jesuits,  and  the  Inqui- 
sition— he  calls  it  the  Dia-catholicon.  For  the  Jesuits, 
whom  he  conceived  to  be  the  life  and  spirit  of  the 
Dia-catholicon,  are  reserved  his  most  pungent  irony, 
his  most  crushing  attacks.  He  hated  them  because 
he  thought  they  were  not  only  a  serious  and  unwar- 
ranted danger  to  temporal  princes,  and  destructive 
of  good  citizenship,  but  even  more,  because  he  was 
convinced  that  they  were  leading  the  Church  upon 

1  Mor.  Ritter,  op.  cit.  p.  131  :  "Tutti  i  colpi  vengono  al  ammorzarsi 
e  rintuzzarsi  in  quella  sua  dolcezza  e  maturita  d'  afietto  e  di  spirito  che 
lo  tiene  quasi  fuori  di  ogni  commovitnenti." 

1  Lett.  i.  275. 


220  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE   MAN 

a  false  track;  confounding  the  things  of  earth  with 
the  things  of  heaven,  and  introducing  disorder  into 
a  divinely  ordered  world.1 

The  political  situation  stood  thus :  the  Curia  could 
always  rely  on  the  dread  of  Spain  to  enforce  its 
supremacy  upon  an  unwilling  Italy ;  France  was  the 
only  counterpoise  to  Spain ;  England  and  the  Pro- 
testant princes  of  Germany  were  too  far  off,  and  as 
Sarpi  said,  they  were  quite  unknown  in  Venice ;  and 
this  combination  of  Spain  and  the  Curia  was  deve- 
loped by  the  Jesuits  for  the  furtherance  of  their 
special  ends.  Sarpi  was  convinced,  as  he  says,  that 
"if  the  Jesuits  were  defeated,  religion  would  be  re- 
formed of  itself."'  And  what  his  aspirations  were 
in  the  direction  of  reform  can  be  gathered  from  his 
letters,  from  such  explicit  passages  as  this:  "  I  imagine," 
he  writes,  "that  the  State  and  the  Church  are  two 
separate  empires — composed,  however,  each  of  them, 
by  the  same  human  beings.  The  one  is  entirely 
celestial,  the  other  terrestrial ;  each  has  its  proper 
limits  of  jurisdiction,  its  proper  arms,  its  proper  bul- 
warks. No  region  is  common  to  both.  .  .  .  How, 
then,  can  those  who  walk  by  different  roads  clash 
together?  Christ  has  said  that  He  and  His  disciples 
were  not  of  this  world,  and  St.  Paul  has  declared 
that  our  citizenship  is  in  heaven." 3  Again,  Sarpi 
argues  that  the  Church,  being  a  divine  institution, 
cannot  ever  be  really  injured  by  the  State,  which 
is  a  human  institution.4  He  wishes  to  mark  the  two 

1  Lett.  ii.  6 :  "  Mescolare  il  cielo  colla  terra." 

*  Lett.  ii.  217. 

'  Lett.  i.  312:  "lo  immagino  che  il  regno  e  la  chiesa  siano  due 
stati,  composti  per6  degli  stessi  uomini  ;  al  tutto  celeste  uno,  e 
terreno  1'  altro  ;  aventi  propria  sovranita,  difesi  da  proprie  armi  et 
fortificazioni  ;  di  nulla  posseditori  in  commune  ;  impediti  di  muoversi, 
comecchessia,  scambievolmente  la  guerra.  Come  s'avrebbero  a 
cozzare  se  procedono  per  si  diversa  via?  Cristo  ebbe  detto  che 
Esso  e  i  discepoli  non  erano  di  questo  mondo  ;  e  Paolo  santo  dichiara 
che  il  nostro  conversare  e  nei  cieli." 

4  Lett.  i.  275. 


HIS  ECCLESIASTICO-POLITICAL  VIEWS   221 

as  entirely  distinct  from  one  another,  moving  on 
different  planes.  If  asked,  what  then  is  the  field  of 
action  left  to  the  Church,  if  she  is  to  interfere  in  no 
matters  secular  and  temporal,  Sarpi  replies  that  to 
the  Church  he  leaves  the  wide  field  of  influence, 
through  precept,  through  example,  through  convic- 
tion. Philosophy  is  the  food,  religion  the  medicine, 
of  the  mind.  As  the  doctor  to  the  body,  so  the  cleric 
to  the  soul.1  Let  the  Church  make  men  good,  volun- 
tarily, freely,  of  their  own  accord,  through  conviction, 
and  they  will  not  govern  wrongly,  nor  will  they  ever 
run  counter  to  their  nursing  mother.  The  phrases 
are  such  as  we  might  expect  in  the  mouth  of  a  re- 
former, and  yet  I  think  it  certain  that  Sarpi  was  no 
Protestant,  in  spirit  or  in  form.  Diodati,  the  trans- 
lator of  the  Bible,  who  had  come  to  Venice  with  high 
hopes  of  winning  Fra  Paolo  and  his  followers  to  an 
open  secession  from  Rome,  reluctantly  admits  that 
"  Sarpi  is  rooted  in  that  most  dangerous  maxim  that 
God  cares  nothing  for  externals,  provided  the  mind  and 
the  heart  are  in  pure  and  direct  relation  with  Himself. 
And  so  fortified  is  he  in  this  opinion  by  reason  and 
examples,  ancient  and  modern,  that  it  is  vain  to  combat 
with  him."*  That  is  the  true  word  about  Sarpi.  The 
outward  forms  were  so  indifferent  to  him  that  he  would 
never  have  abandoned  those  into  which  he  was  born. 
But  that  did  not  prevent  him  from  lending  his  aid  to 
the  party  who  wished  to  establish  a  reformed  Church  in 
Venice.  It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  he  did  so  after 
reading  von  Dohna's*  most  explicit  reports.  Sarpi 

1  Arte  di  ben  pensare . 

*  Ritter,  ut sup.  131  :  "Sarpi  &  fisso  in  una  periculosissima  massima 
che  Iddio  non  curi  Pesterno,  pur  che  1'animo  e  '1  cuore  habbia 
quella  pura  e  diritta  intenzione  e  relazione  a  lui.  .  .  .  Et  in  quella 
£  in  maniera  fortificato  per  ragioni  e  per  esempli  antichi  e  modern! 
che  poco  s'avanza  combatterglielo." 

'  Ritter,  ut  sup.  75-89.  He  counselled  caution,  moderation,  in  the 
propaganda,  "operar  destramente " ;  to  leave  reformation  to  per- 
suasion, conviction,  "a  reformazion  della  chiesa  oggidl  non  si  pu6 
far  meglio  che  imitando  Christo."  He  is  not  encouraging  to  von 


222  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE  MAN 

would  gladly  have  seen  perfect  freedom  for  all  forms 
of  worship,  provided  that  the  worshippers  remained 
good  citizens.  No  wonder  that,  with  these  principles 
at  heart,  he  dreaded  every  success  of  the  Jesuits ;  no 
wonder  that  the  Jesuits  hated  and  pursued  him  alive 
and  dead.  And,  indeed,  his  incessant  slashing  at  the 
Society  becomes  a  little  wearisome  and  seems,  per- 
haps, exaggerated  to  us  who  know  the  course  events 
have  taken,  though  Sarpi  had  it  firmly  in  his  mind 
that  his  duty  to  Church  and  State  called  on  him  to 
thwart  the  Society  and  defeat  its  policy. 

Whether  Sarpi  can  be  considered  a  good  Churchman 
or  not  depends  upon  the  view  we  take  of  what  the 
Church  is  and  what  its  functions,  the  answer  we  give 
as  to  the  headship  of  the  Church.  Certainly  he  was 
no  Churchman  at  all  in  the  sense  intended  by  the 
Curia  and  the  Jesuits,  certainly  not  one  of  those  qui 
filii  sunt  legitimi.  And  yet  Bossuet's  assertion  that 
under  the  frock  of  a  friar  he  hid  the  heart  of  a  Cal- 
vinist  is  quite  untenable.  And  the  opinion  here 
expressed  is  confirmed  by  a  letter  to  Cardinal  Borghese 
from  the  Nuncio  Bentivoglio,  no  friend  to  Fra  Paolo, 
in  which  he  says  that,  "  though  Sarpi  displays  a  great 
alienation  from  the  court  of  Rome,  and  holds  views 
diametrically  opposed  to  the  authority  of  the  Holy  See, 
yet  he  shows  no  inclination  to  embrace  the  new  heresy."1 
And  there  we  must  leave  it ;  he  had  his  own  ideal  of 
a  Church,  and  expressed  it  in  the  passages  just  quoted. 
I  think  that,  if  he  had  given  himself  any  name  at  all, 
he  would  have  called  himself  an  Old  Catholic. 

As  to  the  weapon  at  Sarpi's  disposal,  his  inimitable 
and  individual  style,  something  must  be  said  before 
we  come  to  the  actual  struggle  with  the  Curia.  We 

Dohna  in  his  report  of  the  number  of  genuine  Protestants  ;  out  of 
1,500  nobles  only  30  are  "della  religione";  among  the  160,000  citizens 
4,000  to  10,000,  and  among  these  a  great  many  foreigners.  "  Molti 
atheist!  qui."  "  Ma  ora  bisogna  caminare  per  altre  vie  di  pace 
c'e  un  gran  ateismo." 

1  Balan,  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi,  39. 


HIS  LITERARY  STYLE  223 

have  seen  that  the  bent  of  Sarpi's  mind  was  pre- 
eminently scientific,  and  scientific  is  the  chief  quality 
of  his  style.  It  is  a  masculine,  athletic  style ;  a  style 
of  bronze,  polished  and  spare.  Only  one  decorative 
variation  breaks  the  rigid  outline  of  its  simplicity— 
Sarpi  possessed  a  dry,  ironical  humour  with  which 
he  made  great  play.  This  very  simplicity  was 
reckoned  against  him  by  the  Jesuits,  and  Zaccaria 
wrote  of  him,  "  Altri  affettano  una  superba  semplicita 
di  stile,  come  Fra  Paolo."  A  haughty  simplicity  he 
did  indeed  possess.  His  manner  was  precise,  parsi- 
monious, hard,  positive,  pungent.  Never  was  there  a 
more  complete  lack  of  adornment,  a  more  thorough 
contempt  for  rhetoric,  in  a  writer  of  so  powerful  a  pen. 
And  yet  the  whole  is  vivified  by  a  living  logic,  and 
the  reader  is  caught,  and  held  delighted,  by  the  com- 
pulsion of  a  method  which  is  never  explained  but 
always  felt.1  That  is  why  Sarpi  may  be  called  the 
historian's  historian ;  that  is  why  Gibbon,  Macaulay, 
Hallam,  Johnson,  agree  in  placing  him  in  the  fore- 
most rank.  Sarpi  is  chiefly  concerned  in  saying  his 
say  so  directly  and  simply,  that  the  comments,  the 
deductions,  the  lessons  become  obvious,  are  implicit 
in  the  very  narration.  Let  me  take  an  example.  Fra 
Manfredi  (one  of  his  colleagues  in  the  struggle  with 
the  Curia)  was  enticed  to  Rome  upon  a  safe-conduct, 
which  guaranteed  the  inviolability  of  his  person  and 
his  honour.  This  notwithstanding,  he  was  tried, 
forced  to  an  ignominious  public  recantation,  hanged, 
and  burned.  How  does  Sarpi  narrate  this  event  ? 
"  I  know  not  what  judgment  to  make,"  he  writes ; 
"  the  beginning  and  the  end  are  clear — a  safe-conduct 
and  a  pyre."*  This  is  what  Sarpi  meant  by  t arte  del 

1  Edward  Brown,  in  the  Preface  to  his  translation  of  Sarpi's  iMters 
(London,  Richard  Chiswell  :  1693),  speaks  of  "  that  convincing 
strength  of  reason,  that  curious  way  of  arguing,  and  all  the  other 
virtues  and  ornaments  which  have  so  mightily  endeared  this  wise 
and  good  Venetian  to  all  considering  and  impartial  minds." 

*  Lett.  ii.  102  :  "  lo  non  so  che  giudicio  fare  ;  benche  il  principio  e  il 
fine  siano  manifest!,  cioe  un  salvo  condotto  e  un  incendio." 


224  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE  MAN 

colpire,  the  art  of  striking.  The  effect  is  obtained  by 
simplest  juxtaposition  of  the  facts,  and  no  rhetoric 
could  have  more  eloquently  expressed  the  writer's 
intention. 

Such  was  the  man  who  was  called  upon  to  defend 
what  may  be  considered  a  test  case  in  the  interests  of 
temporal  sovereigns  against  the  persistent  claims  of 
the  papacy.  The  question  at  issue  has  never  really 
been  absent  from  the  field  of  European  ecclesiastical 
politics.  It  is  a  vital  question  to  this  day. 

Doubtless  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  is  best  known  to  general 
fame  as  an  author,  as  the  historian  of  the  Council  of 
Trent — not,  I  imagine,  because  that  work  is  often  read, 
but  because  its  writer  has  received  such  high  com- 
mendation from  competent  judges  (Gibbon,  Johnson, 
Hallam)  that  his  name  has  become  a  name  which 
people  ought  to  know.  But  it  certainly  is  not  his  fame 
as  an  historian  which  won  for  the  obscure  Servite 
friar  the  devotion  of  his  contemporaries,  of  Wotton, 
of  Bedell,  of  Sanderson  among  Englishmen,  of  Philip 
du  Plessis-Mornay,  Leschassier,  Casaubon,  Galileo,  in 
France  and  Italy;  and  has  made  his  name  a  living 
watchword  to  the  present  day. 

Sarpi  has  suffered,  I  think,  from  being  considered 
as  an  isolated  phenomenon,  as  a  figure  which  appears 
upon  the  stage  of  history,  acts  vigorously,  even  pictur- 
esquely, and  disappears  again,  without  any  obvious 
connections  in  the  past,  with  no  very  definite  effect 
upon  the  future.  His  biographers  tell  us  who  he  was 
and  what  he  did,  but  they  say  little  to  explain  his 
attitude,  they  make  no  effort  to  place  him  in  his  true 
historical  perspective.  The  consequence  is  that  his 
figure  loses  some  of  its  significance  for  us ;  we  are  at 
a  loss  to  understand  the  weight  of  his  name,  the 
importance  of  his  career. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Sarpi  represents  one  very 
definite  line  in  ecclesiastico-political  history,  in  that 
struggle  for  national  independence  out  of  which 
modern  Europe  has  been  evolved.  An  analysis  of 


CHURCH  AND  STATE  225 

his  intellectual  parentage,  a  statement  of  his  political 
descent,  will  help  us  to  realize  his  place  in  the  pro- 
cession of  thought ;  and  the  course  of  this  inquiry 
will  explain  the  devotion  of  some  contemporaries, 
the  animosity  of  others,  the  reverence  and  the  hatred 
with  which  posterity  has  surrounded  his  name. 

To  understand  Sarpi's  politico-ecclesiastical  position 
we  must  go  back  for  a  moment  to  the  origin  and 
development  of  the  temporal  power  in  the  Church. 
During  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  the 
idea  of  imperial  Rome  as  the  unit  of  society  had  been 
growing  weaker,  while  silently,  and  almost  unknown 
to  the  temporal  rulers  of  the  world,  the  idea  of 
Christian  brotherhood  was  gaining  in  strength.  The 
removal  of  the  capital  from  Rome  to  Constantinople, 
the  conversion  of  the  imperial  family  to  Christianity, 
the  failure  of  the  emperors  and  the  success  of  the 
popes  in  withstanding  the  barbarian  attacks,  the 
separation  of  the  Church  from  the  empire,  brought 
about  by  the  iconoclasm  of  Leo  the  Isaurian — all 
these  events  contributed  to  establish  in  men's  minds 
the  idea  of  the  Church  as  an  earthly  power  at  least 
concurrent  with  the  empire.  Then  came  the  union 
of  the  pope  and  the  Franks ;  the  coronation  of  Pepin 
as  king ;  the  protection  he  afforded  to  Pope  Stephen  ; 
the  donation  of  lands  won  from  the  Lombards ;  the 
crowning  of  Charles  the  Great  as  emperor  in  Rome ; 
and  there  we  have  mediaeval  Europe  established  with 
its  twofold  basis  of  society,  the  pope  and  the  emperor 
—a  scheme  which  satisfied  the  aspirations  of  mankind 
by  preserving,  in  an  outward  and  visible  form,  the 
ancient  grandeur  of  the  Roman  name,  while  including 
the  new  factor  of  Christian  brotherhood. 

Hut  this  beautiful  and  orderly  disposition  of  the 
world— a  Catholic  Church  to  guide  the  soul,  a  uni- 
versal empire  to  protect  the  body — was  an  idea  only, 
an  umcali/uble  dream,  practically  ineffectual.  In  the 
intellectual  sphere  this  double  headship  of  society 
brought  confusion  to  the  mind,  and  introduced  a 

VOL.  ii.  15 


226  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE  MAN 

double  allegiance.  In  actual  politics  the  existence  of 
two  coequal  sovereigns — both  human — at  once  raised 
questions  as  to  the  exact  boundaries  of  their  power, 
their  jurisdictions  inevitably  overlapped.  In  a  rude 
society,  and  with  widely  scattered  territories,  the 
appointment  of  bishops  was  an  important  considera- 
tion for  the  emperor  no  less  than  for  the  pope.  The 
bishops  were  political  factors  in  the  government  of 
mankind,  as  well  as  spiritual  shepherds  of  human 
souls ;  who  was  to  exercise  the  right  of  appointment, 
the  emperor  or  the  pope  ? 

But  the  clash  of  pope  and  emperor  over  such  a  point 
as  this  laid  bare  the  inherent  defects  in  the  mediaeval 
conception  of  society.  The  emperor  was  absent,  he 
did  not  reign  in  Rome;  the  pope  possessed  no  temporal 
weapons.  The  emperor,  at  war  with  his  spiritual 
brother  the  pope,  ordered  his  vassals  in  Italy  to  attack 
the  ecclesiastical  head  of  society;  and  the  pope,  at 
war  with  his  material  protector  the  emperor,  was 
forced  to  provide  material  protection  for  himself  by 
the  creation  of  a  personal  territory,  the  states  of  the 
Church.  The  beautiful  and  orderly  ideal  is  shattered  ; 
the  material  chief  has  attacked  the  spiritual,  the 
spiritual  chief  has  made  himself  a  material  prince. 
He  is  no  longer  pope  only,  he  is  something  more,  he 
is  an  Italian  sovereign  as  well.  Two  great  popes, 
Hildebrand,  Gregory  VII.,  and  Lothario  Conti,  Inno- 
cent III.,  achieved  and  carried  to  its  utmost  conclusion 
this  change  in  the  idea  of  the  papacy.  Gregory  stated 
his  object  and  formulated  his  claims  in  no  uncertain 
tones.  The  Church,  he  said,  ought  to  be  absolutely 
independent  of  the  temporal  power ;  that  it  might  be 
so  in  fact,  it  claimed  supremacy  over  the  State.  The 
pope  had  authority  to  depose  emperors ;  princes  must 
do  him  homage ;  he  was  competent  to  release  from 
their  allegiance  the  subjects  of  a  rebellious  sovereign. 
As  we  read  the  words  we  seem  to  hear  the  voices  of 
Bellarmine,  Baronius,  Mariana  or  Suarez,  and  to  catch 
an  echo  of  the  Bull  In  Cccna  Domini. 


CHURCH  AND  STATE  227 

Innocent  carried  on  the  Hildebrandine  tradition  and 
realized  it  in  fact.  He  changed  the  title  "Vicar  of 
Peter  "  for  "  Vicar  of  Christ,"  and  paved  the  way  for 
that  more  ambitious  style  of  "  Vice-Dio  "  which  was 
applied  to  Pope  Paul  V.  He  created  the  states  of  the 
Church ;  and  dreamed  of  a  spiritual  empire  over 
Europe,  a  temporal  sovereignty  over  Italy. 

But  the  consequences  of  this  papal  expansion  did 
not  correspond  to  the  hopes  of  these  great  prelates. 
The  abasement  of  the  empire  led,  not  to  the  trans- 
ference of  European  temporal  allegiance  from  the 
empire  to  the  papacy,  but  to  the  discovery  of  strong 
national  tendencies  among  the  various  races  of  the 
Continent.  And,  further,  inside  the  Church  itself, 
from  this  time  forward  two  distinct  lines  of  thought 
are  visible,  two  opposite  tendencies  in  the  spiritual 
and  political  region :  the  one  line,  continuing  the 
tradition  of  Hildebrand  and  Innocent  through  Thomas 
Aquinas  and  the  brilliant  series  of  anticonciliar  and 
secularizing  Pontiffs,  through  Bellarmine,  the  Jesuits, 
the  Inquisition,  and  the  Council  of  Trent ;  the  other, 
voiceless  as  yet,  but  soon  to  be  proclaimed  by  a 
phalanx  of  illustrious  writers,  Dante,  John  of  Paris, 
William  of  Ockam,  Marsilio,  Barclay,  Sarpi.  And 
this  double  opposition  to  the  Hildebrandine  theories, 
the  national  opposition  outside  the  Church,  the  intel- 
lectual opposition  inside  the  Church,  frequently  joined 
hands  and  worked  together  towards  the  development 
of  modern  Europe  as  a  congeries  of  independent  states. 

Here,  then,  I  think,  we  find  Sarpi's  intellectual 
pedigree.  Thomas  Aquinas  asserted  the  supremacy 
of  the  Church  over  the  State,  and  his  spiritual 
offspring  are  living  to  this  day,  in  all  who  hold 
ultramontane  views. 

Dante  maintained  the  rights  of  the  empire  as  against 
the  papacy,  but  his  client  was  moribund,  and  his  De 
Monarchia  died  sine  prole. 

Egidio  Colonna  and  John  of  Paris  enunciated  the 
doctrine  that  the  Church  and  the  State  are  absolutely 


228  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE   MAN 

distinct  one  from  another,  both  divinely  constituted, 
both  with  independent  spheres  of  action ;  and  from 
these  men,  by  a  direct  descent  through  Ockam  and 
Marsilio  of  Padua,  comes  Paolo  Sarpi. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  Marsilio  of  Padua,  the 
greatest  Italian  political  thinker  of  the  fourteenth 
century — perhaps  of  any  century. 

Dante  had  declared  that  qua  men,  pope  and  emperor 
were  equal,  but  qua  emperor  and  pope  they  were 
incompatible,  irreducible  to  a  common  denominator 
in  the  world  of  politics.  Of  course  he  is  seeking, 
as  the  schoolmen  always  sought,  the  universal  which 
includes  the  particular.  He  argues  accordingly  that 
the  resolution  of  these  incompatible  factors  of  the 
body  politic  must  be  sought  outside  the  world,  in 
God.  Marsilio  of  Padua  says :  Yes,  Dante  is  right. 
Only  I  must  not  introduce  into  the  world  of  politics 
a  factor  which  is  not  there.  I  must  seek  the  resolu- 
tion of  these  incompatibles  inside  the  political  sphere. 
He  then  announces  his  doctrine,  surprisingly  bold, 
astonishingly  modern  when  we  remember  that  the 
year  is  1324.  For  him  the  resolution  of  the  pope 
and  emperor,  the  universal  which  contains  the  par- 
ticular in  the  world  of  politics,  is  the  People.  The 
People  is  the  true  divine  on  earth  because  it  is  the 
highest  universal,  because  God  made  the  first  revela- 
tion of  Himself  not  to  the  rulers  but  to  the  People ; 
because  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  People  come  the 
various  appellations  of  the  body  politic — citizens, 
faithful,  lay,  cleric.  For  Marsilio  the  People  presents 
a  double  aspect :  it  is  the  universitas  civium,  but  it  is 
also  the  universitas  credentium.  From  the  People,  in 
one  or  other  of  these  aspects,  emerge  all  the  phenomena 
of  the  politico-ecclesiastical  world. 

Marsilio  called  his  book  Defensor  Paris,  Defender 
of  the  Peace,  but  he  might  with  greater  truth,  as 
regards  its  results,  have  named  it  Gladius  Fur  ens,  the 
Flaming  Brand — for  the  ecclesiastical  party  which 
represented  the  Hildebrandine  tradition  never  for  a 


MARSILIO  OF  PADUA  229 

moment  subscribed  to  his  bold  speculations,  and  such 
theories  must  have  sounded  but  little  less  distasteful 
to  the  ears  of  the  Imperialists.  And  yet  Marsilio's 
doctrines  sowed  seeds  which  have  lived — are  indeed 
more  living  now  than  ever  before — and  I  have  dwelt 
upon  them  because  I  think  that,  in  some  ways,  Sarpi 
was  nearer  in  politico-ecclesiastical  thought  to  Marsilio 
than  to  any  other  of  his  predecessors. 

When  I  say  that  Sarpi  was  intellectually  descended 
from  Marsilio  of  Padua,  I  do  not  mean  that  their  views 
were  identical.  There  was  a  wide  difference  between 
them,  the  result  partly  of  their  age,  partly  of  their 
temperament :  Marsilio,  eminently  scholastic,  construc- 
tive, boldly  speculative ;  Sarpi,  on  the  other  hand, 
coldly  scientific,  not  discursive,  occupied  in  answering 
definite  problems  as  they  are  presented  to  him,  not 
dealing  with  Utopias.  But  in  spite  of  all  differences, 
both  Marsilio  and  Sarpi  belong  to  the  same  order  of 
political  thought — to  that  party  which  was  called  into 
existence  by  the  excessive  expansion  of  papal  claims, 
the  party  whose  task  it  was  to  defend  the  just  liberties 
of  the  individual  and  the  State. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  services  which  Sarpi 
rendered  to  his  cause,  we  must  first  obtain  some 
view  of  the  position  which  papal  pretensions  had 
assumed  at  the  date  of  his  birth. 

The  temporal  claims  of  the  mediaeval  papacy,  con- 
ceived by  Hildebrand  and  carried  to  their  extreme 
conclusion  under  Innocent  III.,  induced  the  Hohen- 
staufen  emperors  to  an  attack,  in  which  their  greatest 
representative — Frederick  II. — was  worsted,  it  is  true, 
but  the  papacy  itself  suffered  in  the  conflict,  both  in 
moral  prestige  and  temporal  power.  To  support  itself 
against  the  later  Hohenstaufens  it  called  the  Angevine 
princes  to  its  aid.  A  crippled  papacy  was  no  match 
for  the  growing  national  tendencies  championed  by 
France.  The  struggle  between  Boniface  VIII.  and 
Philip  IV.  ended  in  the  capture  and  maltreatment  of 
the  pope.  The  victorious  Philip  was  able  to  place 


230  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE  MAN 

a  creature  of  his  own  upon  the  papal  throne,  and  to 
remove  that  throne  and  its  occupant  for  safety  to 
Avignon. 

But  if  the  mediaeval  conception  of  the  papacy  had 
proved  a  failure,  the  same  fate  had  likewise  befallen 
the  mediaeval  empire.  They  had  destroyed  each 
other  in  the  struggle  for  supremacy.  The  capture 
of  Boniface  at  Anagni  and  the  tragic  end  of  Manfred 
are  parallel  events,  each  of  them  closing  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  the  Church  and  of  the  empire. 

There  was  no  comparison  possible,  however,  between 
the  vitality  of  the  empire  and  the  vitality  of  the  papacy. 
The  waning  power  of  the  empire  allowed  the  growing 
national  instincts  to  make  their  way  in  the  formation 
of  modern  Europe.  The  waning  prestige  of  the  pope 
left  no  one  to  take  his  place.  However  weak  he 
might  temporally  be,  he  was  still  the  spiritual  head 
of  Christendom.  It  is  true  that  a  national  Church, 
like  the  Gallican  Church,  gained  in  authority  by  the 
abasement  of  the  papacy ;  but  no  one  had  been 
audacious  enough  to  carry  the  idea  of  a  national 
Church  to  its  logical  conclusion  by  declaring  the 
head  of  the  State  to  be  head  of  the  Church.  The 
spiritual  headship  of  the  papacy  remained,  however 
impaired  its  temporalities  might  be;  and  those  tem- 
poral claims,  though  abased  for  the  present,  lay 
dormant  only  until  the  papacy  was  strong  enough 
to  assert  them  once  more,  not  against  the  emperor, 
it  is  true,  but  against  the  growing  nationalities  which 
took  the  emperor's  place  in  the  field  of  European 
politics. 

The  papacy  had  struggled  with  the  empire,  and 
strangled  its  opponent.  Its  next  conflict  was  with 
the  nation,  as  represented  by  the  conciliar  principle— 
the  principle  that  the  Universal  Church  (Universitas 
credentiuni)  when  represented  by  a  General  Council  is 
superior  to  the  popes. 

The  results  of  the  struggle  are  notorious :  the 
apparent  triumph  of  the  conciliar  principle  at  Con- 


"EXECRABILIS"  231 

stance  by  the  election  of  Martin  V. ;  its  real  failure, 
owing  to  Martin's  unexpected  independence  of  action, 
the  moment  he  became  pope ;  the  patent  incapacity 
of  the  Council  of  Basel  to  command  Eugenius  IV.,  and 
its  fiasco  with  its  own  nominee  Felix  V.  As  far  as  the 
power  of  the  papacy  was  concerned,  it  seemed  that 
the  conciliar  movement  had  achieved  nothing  except 
to  make  the  popes  strong  again  by  sending  them  back 
to  Rome.  The  papacy  rejoiced  in  the  return  to  its 
native  seat. 

Three  able  popes — Eugenius,  Nicholas,  and  Pius  II. 
—successfully  defied  the  conciliar  movement,  and  gave 
a  new  and  purely  Italian  character  to  the  Holy  See. 
The  crown  was  set  upon  this  revival  by  the  famous 
Bull  which,  beginning  with  the  word  Execrabilis, 
declared  all  those  damned  who  should  venture  to 
appeal  from  a  pope  to  a  future  council.  And  the 
popes  had  achieved  their  new  position  by  the  help 
of  the  national  instinct — that  very  instinct  which 
had  called  up  the  conciliar  movement  against  them. 
It  was  the  support  of  Italy  which  enabled  Eugenius  to 
defy  Basel.  It  was  the  patronage  of  Italian  art  and 
learning,  and  the  restoration  of  Italian  towns,  which 
made  Nicholas  popular.  In  ./Eneas  Sylvius,  a  humanist 
pope  sat  on  the  chair  of  St.  Peter. 

The  restored  papacy,  thus  established  once  more  in 
Rome,  its  independence  asserted  by  Eugenius,  its 
splendour  by  Nicholas,  its  superiority  to  councils 
based  upon  Exccrabilis,  began  to  assume  the  aspect 
under  which  Paolo  Sarpi  came  to  know  it.  Three 
powerful  temporalizing  popes  confirmed  the  worldly 
tendencies  of  the  Petrine  See  as  an  Italian  sovereignty. 
The  system  of  family  aggrandizement,  begun  under 
Sixtus  IV.,  and  continued  through  Alexander  VI.  and 
Julius  II.,  laid  those  pontiffs  open  to  the  charge  of 
cynicism.  Men  were  shocked  to  see  spiritual  weapons 
employed  for  the  secular  ends  of  a  papal  family.  And 
by  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  we  find  a 
revival  of  that  line  of  opposition  to  the  Curia  Romana 


232  PAOLO   SARPI,  THE  MAN 

which  made  itself  first  heard  as  the  result  of  the 
Hildebrandine  theories.  The  spirit  is  the  same,  the 
tone  is  different,  no  longer  scholastic,  speculative, 
theoretical,  but  rather  spiritual,  religious,  with  some- 
thing in  it  of  the  coming  Reformation.  "  Whoever," 
writes  Francesco  Vettori  from  Florence  in  1527 — "who- 
ever carefully  considers  the  law  of  the  Gospel,  will 
perceive  that  the  pontiffs,  although  they  bear  the 
name  of  Christ's  vicar,  yet  have  brought  in  a  new 
religion,  which  has  nothing  Christian  in  it  but  the 
name  ;  for  whereas  Christ  enjoins  poverty  they  desire 
riches,  where  He  commands  humility  they  flaunt  their 
pride,  where  He  requires  obedience  they  seek 
universal  domination."  This  is  language  very  similar 
to  that  which  is  often  found  in  the  mouth  of  Sarpi— 
a  little  more  rhetorical,  less  coldly  impersonal  than 
Sarpi's  style,  but,  in  that  essential  phrase,  "  una  nuova 
religione,"  a  new  religion,  containing  the  whole  of 
what  the  opposition  felt,  the  break  in  divine  order,  the 
confounding  of  earth  and  heaven.  Their  protest  and 
their  spirit  are  preserved  to  this  day  in  the  term  Old 
Catholics. 

The  course  of  events  in  Europe,  no  less  than  in 
Italy,  tended  to  accentuate  the  quality  of  the  new 
papacy.  The  rise  and  spread  of  the  Reformation 
beyond  the  Alps  led  the  Roman  Curia  to  furbish  its 
spiritual  weapons  of  excommunication  and  of  interdict. 
However  lightly  we  may  think  of  such  things  now, 
there  was  a  time  when  papal  thunders  were  no  mere 
brutum  fulmen.  The  Venetians  had  learned  that  lesson 
to  their  cost  when,  in  1309,  the  Republic  was  placed 
under  interdict  and  excommunication,  with  the  result 
that  her  merchants  in  England,  in  Italy,  in  Asia  Minor 
were  threatened  in  their  lives,  despoiled  of  their 
goods,  and  Venetian  commerce  was  ruined  for  a  time. 
She  had  felt  the  effect  later  on,  when  the  attack  by 
the  League  of  Cambray  opened  with  an  interdict  and 
excommunication  from  Rome.  It  is  thanks  to  the 
action  of  Venice  and  to  the  guidance  of  Fra  Paolo 


THE  CONFERENCE  AT   RATISBON     233 

Sarpi  that  these  weapons  lost  their  point,  that  they 
have  ceased  to  be  used,  that  Europe  can  contemplate 
them  now  with  no  greater  alarm  than  we  should  feel 
at  the  threat  of  a  Star  Chamber  prosecution. 

But  further,  the  revolt  against  authority  which  was 
taking  place  beyond  the  Alps  served  only  to  em- 
phasize the  papal  claims  in  Rome.  A  noble  and 
genuine  effort  at  reconciliation  was  made  by  the 
yielding  Buccr,  the  gentle  Melanchthon,  and  the  win- 
ning Cardinal  Contarini  in  the  conference  of  Ratisbon. 
But  behind  these  dreamers  of  peace  was  Luther,  on 
the  one  hand,  declaring  that  whatever  formulas  might 
be  agreed  upon  at  Ratisbon,  nothing  would  induce 
him  to  believe  that  the  Catholics  could  be  sound  upon 
justification,  and  Paul  III.,  vowing  that  he  would 
accept  no  concordat  whose  terms  should  leave  the 
papal  authority  open  to  a  moment's  doubt. 

The  conference  of  Ratisbon  was  a  failure,  and 
merely  resulted  in  more  positive  assertions  of  the 
papal  position  and  more  active  and  even  violent 
measures  for  the  maintenance  thereof.  And  two  in- 
struments were  ready  to  hand.  The  Bull  Licet  ab 
initio,  which  founded  the  new  Inquisition  on  Heretical 
Depravity,  was  published  in  1542.  The  Society  of  Jesus 
was  definitely  established  in  1543,  nine  years  before 
the  birth  of  Paolo  Sarpi.  Nor  was  it  long  ere  the 
world  perceived  that  the  Inquisition  and  the  Society 
of  Jesus  were  bent  on  attacking  freedom  of  thought, 
liberty  of  action,  national  independence,  in  the  interests 
of  papal  supremacy.  And  the  papacy,  or  at  least  the 
Curia  Romana,  came  to  be  identified  in  many  minds — 
among  them  Sarpi's — with  the  action  of  the  Inquisition 
and  the  teaching  of  the  Jesuits. 

In  the  face  of  this  aggressive  attitude  of  the  papacy 
temporal  princes  began  to  look  to  the  defence  of  their 
rights.  Cardinal  Baronius  challenged  the  validity  of 
the  Spanish  claim  to  Sicily,  and  even  such  a  Catholic 
sovereign  as  Philip  III.  caused  the  book  to  be  publicly 
burned.  His  father  declined  to  accept  the  Roman 


234  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE   MAN 

Index,  and  declared  that  he  was  competent  to  make 
his  own.  The  Catholic  rulers  of  Europe  were  hostile 
to  the  papal  claims.  But  it  was  reserved  for  Venice 
and  Sarpi  to  champion  the  just  rights  of  secular 
princes,  to  defend  single-handed  a  cause  which  was 
common  to  all  sovereigns.  This  constitutes  Sarpi's 
claim  to  recognition  by  posterity.  His  action  in  this 
great  cause,  his  coolness,  his  courage,  give  us  the 
reason  why  he  has  had  to  wait  two  hundred  and 
seventy  years  for  the  erection  of  the  monument  de- 
creed to  him  by  the  Republic,  why  his  name  is 
venerated  by  all  lovers  of  national  liberty,  execrated 
by  those  whose  policy  he  helped  to  crush. 

And  now  let  us  return  to  Paolo  Sarpi  himself,  to  the 
man  who  was  called  upon  to  face  and  largely  modify 
the  politico-ecclesiastical  conditions  of  the  civilized 
world.  We  must  remember  that  it  would  hardly  have 
been  possible  for  Sarpi  to  embark  on  a  struggle  with 
the  Roman  Curia  in  any  State  save  Venice.  In  any 
other  Catholic  country  he  would  have  been  sur- 
rendered to  the  Inquisition;  had  he  retired  to  a 
Protestant  country  his  arguments  would  have  lost 
much  of  their  weight,  his  books  would  have  been 
prohibited,  he  himself  would  have  been  represented 
as  the  servant  of  a  Protestant  prince.  It  is  precisely 
because  the  defence  of  secular  princes  came  from  a 
Catholic  living  in  a  Catholic  State  that  it  made  so 
deep  an  impression  upon  Europe. 

Sarpi  and  the  Republic  were  singularly  at  one  in 
their  external  attitude  towards  Rome.  The  Republic 
had,  from  the  earliest  times,  maintained  a  more 
independent  position  than  was  generally  assumed  by 
the  other  princes  of  Italy.  Yet  Venice  always 
remained  Catholic.  When  the  pope  alluded  to 
reforming  tendencies  in  the  Republic,  the  Doge 
Donate,  Sarpi's  personal  friend,  broke  out,  "  Who 
talks  of  Calvinists?  We  are  as  good  Christians  as 
the  pope,  and  Christians  we  will  die,  in  despite  of 
those  who  wish  it  otherwise."  It  was  this  attitude 


THE  RUPTURE  WITH   ROME  235 

of  Venice,  a  defence  of  temporal  freedom  while  ad- 
mitting a  spiritual  allegiance,  which  Sarpi  was  to 
proclaim  and  to  defend. 

The  events  which  immediately  led  to  the  rupture 
between  Venice  and  Rome  had  been  ripening  for 
many  years  before  the  protagonists,  Sarpi  and  Pope 
Paul,  appeared  upon  the  scene ;  and  relations  were 
strained  at  the  moment  when  Camillo  Borghese  was 
raised  to  the  papal  throne  in  1605  as  Paul  V.  Borghese, 
member  of  a  Sienese  family,  born  at  Rome,  had  been 
auditor  of  the  Apostolic  Chamber,  was  a  strong 
churchman,  and  believed  himself  a  great  jurist.  He 
was  so  amazed  at  his  own  elevation  to  the  papacy, 
that  he  considered  it  to  be  the  special  work  of  heaven, 
and  determined  to  act  accordingly.  The  pope  "  was 
scarce  warm  in  his  chair "  before  he  plunged  into 
controversies  right  and  left.  Genoa  yielded  ;  Lucca 
yielded  ;  Spain  was  pliant.  But  when  the  Venetian 
ambassadors,  sent  to  congratulate  his  Holiness,  were 
admitted  to  audience,  they  referred  in  no  doubtful 
terms  to  the  attitude  of  the  Republic  on  the  questions 
pending  between  Venice  and  the  Holy  See.  The  pope 
answered  by  complaining  of  two  laws,  lately  renewed 
by  the  Republic ;  both  of  them  affecting  Church 
property.  In  the  course  of  a  pacific  reply  to  the  pope, 
the  Senate  enunciated  its  fundamental  principle :  "  We 
cannot  understand  how  it  is  possible  to  pretend  that 
an  independent  principality  like  the  Republic  should 
not  be  free  to  take  such  steps  as  she  may  consider 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  State,  when 
those  measures  do  not  interfere  with  or  prejudice 
other  princes."  It  seems  a  reasonable  reply,  but 
the  difficulty  lay  in  this,  that  neither  party  would 
condescend  upon  a  definition  of  what  was  or  what 
was  not  to  the  prejudice  of  another  prince.  That 
depended  upon  what  the  other  prince  claimed.  And 
the  pope  was  a  prince.  The  need  for  such  a  definition 
led  Sarpi  to  formulate  precisely  what  he  considered  the 
boundary  line  between  temporal  and  spiritual  rights. 


236  PAOLO   SARPI,  THE  MAN 

"  The  dominion  of  the  Church,"  he  says,  "  marches 
along  celestial  paths  ;  it  cannot  therefore  clash  with  the 
dominion  of  princes,  whichmarches  on  paths  terrestrial." 
Could  he  have  obtained  subscription  to  a  dichotomy 
of  this  nature,  the  quarrel  would  have  been  at  an  end. 
But  the  Roman  Curia  never  dreamed  of  making  such 
a  renunciation  of  its  substantial  authority. 

While  the  question  was  still  pending,  two  criminous 
clerics  were  arrested  in  Venetian  territory,  and  im- 
prisoned. The  pope  considered  this  act  a  violation 
of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  He  sent  two  briefs  to 
the  nuncio  at  Venice,  one  demanding  the  repeal  of  the 
obnoxious  laws,  the  other  the  persons  of  the  two 
prisoners,  and  threatening  excommunication  in  case 
of  disobedience.  The  briefs  reached  Venice ;  but  before 
the  nuncio  presented  them,  the  doge  died.  The 
nuncio  declared  that  no  election  to  the  dukedom  was 
valid,  as  the  State  was  under  excommunication  till  it 
had  satisfied  the  papal  demand.  This,  of  course,  did 
not  stay  the  Venetians,  who  proceeded  to  elect 
Leonardo  Donato,  Sarpi's  friend,  to  the  vacant  chair. 
The  election  was  no  sooner  over  than  the  Senate 
desired  the  counsels  of  a  doctor  in  canon  law,  and 
Sarpi  was  invited  to  express  an  opinion  on  the  case. 
He  gave  it  verbally.  The  cabinet  asked  for  it  in 
writing.  Sarpi  declined.  The  Senate  saw  the  reason- 
ableness of  this  refusal,  and  issued  an  order  by  which 
they  took  Sarpi  into  the  service  of  the  State  and  under 
its  protection.  In  answer  to  the  question,  "What 
are  the  proper  remedies  against  the  lightnings  of 
Rome  ? "  the  newly  appointed  theologian  replied, 
"  Forbid  the  publication  of  the  censures,  and  appeal 
to  a  council."  This  position  was  supported  in  a 
document  of  fifteen  pages,  in  which  the  whole  question 
of  appeal  to  a  future  council  is  argued  with  profound 
learning  and  perfect  limpidity  of  thought.  The  brevity, 
strength,  and  clearness  of  this  written  opinion  gave 
the  highest  satisfaction,  and  the  reply  to  the  pope  was 
dictated  by  Sarpi.  It  was  still  pacific  in  tone ;  the 


THE  INTERDICT  237 

Senate  declares  that  "  Princes  by  divine  law  have 
authority  to  legislate  on  matters  temporal  within  their 
own  jurisdiction.  There  was  no  occasion  for  the 
admonitions  administered  by  his  Holiness,  for  the 
matters  in  dispute  were  not  spiritual  but  temporal." 
The  pope  was  furious.  He  declared  to  the  Venetian 
cardinals  that  "  this  discourse  of  yours  stinks  of 
heresy  " — spuzza  d'  eresia — and  dictated  a  monitorium, 
in  which  he  allowed  the  Republic  twenty-four  days 
to  revoke  the  objectionable  laws  and  to  consign  the 
ecclesiastics  to  the  nuncio ;  if  obedience  were  refused, 
Venice  would  be  placed  under  an  interdict. 

The  monitorium  was  published  in  May,  1606.  The 
Senate  replied  by  two  manifestoes,  one  appealing  to 
the  cities  of  the  Veneto  for  support,  the  other  com- 
manding the  clergy  to  ignore  the  monitory,  to  continue 
divine  services,  and  to  affix  this  protest  in  a  public 
place.  There  was  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
clergy  to  disobey ;  but  an  example  or  two  were 
sufficient  to  secure  compliance.  A  vicar  refused  to 
say  Mass  ;  the  government  raised  a  gibbet  before  his 
door  and  he  was  given  his  choice.  At  Padua  the 
capitular  vicar,  when  ordered  to  surrender  despatches 
received  from  Rome,  replied  that  he  would  act  in 
accordance  with  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
to  which  the  governor  replied  that  the  Ten  had 
already  received  that  inspiration  to  hang  all  who 
disobeyed.  The  rupture  with  Venice  was  complete. 
The  nuncio  and  the  ambassador  were  recalled  from 
their  respective  posts. 

The  question  now  was  whether  the  Republic  would 
yield  as  she  had  done  before,  as  other  more  powerful 
States  had  often  been  compelled  to  do.  Pope  Paul 
never  doubted  the  issue.  But,  at  Venice,  now  inspired 
and  guided  by  Paolo  Sarpi,  there  was  an  unwonted 
spirit  of  resistance  to  the  papal  claims,  which  found 
expression  in  the  doge's  farewell  to  the  nuncio. 
"  Monsignore,"  said  Donato,  "  you  must  know  that  we 
are,  every  one  of  us,  resolute  to  the  last  degree,  not 


238  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE  MAN 

merely  the  government  but  the  nobility  and  the  popu- 
lation of  our  State.  Your  excommunication  we  hold 
for  naught.  Now  just  consider  what  this  resolution 
would  lead  to,  if  our  examples  were  followed  by 
others  " — a  warning  which  the  pope  declined  to  take. 
Yet  this  spirit  of  resistance  in  defence  of  temporal 
rights  was  accompanied  by  a  remarkable  attention  to 
ecclesiastical  ceremonies.  The  churches  stood  open 
day  and  night,  and  were  much  frequented.  The 
procession  of  the  Corpus  Domini  was  conducted  on 
a  scale  of  extraordinary  magnificence.  The  Re- 
public desired  to  make  her  attitude  clear :  it  was  the 
claims  of  the  Curia,  and  not  the  Church,  which  she 
was  opposing. 

Meantime  the  controversy  assumed  a  literary  form  ; 
Venice  was  attacked  in  books,  in  pamphlets,  in  the 
confessional,  from  the  pulpit.  The  attention  of  Europe 
was  soon  attracted  to  the  surprising  spectacle  of  a 
temporal  sovereign  successfully  defending  his  temporal 
rights  against  the  pope,  while  still  endeavouring  to 
remain  inside  the  pale  of  the  Church.  France  was 
friendly  ;  England  promised  support ;  Spain  alone  was 
openly  hostile.  The  mass  of  controversial  literature 
grew  rapidly,  especially  in  Venice,  where  all  adverse 
criticism  was  studied,  not  burned,  as  at  Rome.  The 
government  appointed  a  committee  to  deal  with  this 
side  of  the  contest,  and  Sarpi  was  its  ruling  spirit.  An 
attack  by  Bellarmine  drew  Sarpi  openly  into  the  con- 
troversial arena ;  and  instantly  he  became  the  mark 
for  the  arrows  of  the  Curia.  His  works  were  pro- 
hibited and  burned ;  he  was  cited  before  the  Inquisition, 
and  refused  to  obey  on  the  double  ground  that  he  had 
already  been  judged  illegally,  because  unheard  in 
defence,  and  that  Bellarmine,  one  of  his  adversaries, 
would  also  be  upon  the  judicial  bench.  His  phrase  was, 
"  I  defend  a  just  cause."  The  pope  prepared  for  war ; 
and  Venice  too  armed  herself.  But  the  pontiff  found 
that  even  his  ally  Spain  was  not  willing  to  support 
him  in  a  cause  which  was  so  hostile  to  the  temporal 


THE  INTERDICT   FAILS  239 

interests  of  princes,  and  likely  to  be  opposed  by  all  the 
powers  in  Europe. 

The  interdict  had  now  lain  upon  Venice  many 
months  without  effect,  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church 
were  performed  as  usual,  the  people  were  not  deprived 
of  the  sacraments,  they  could  be  baptized,  married, 
buried,  as  though  no  interdict  had  ever  been  launched. 
That  terrible  weapon  of  the  ecclesiastical  armoury 
hung  fire.  Each  day  discredited  it  still  further. 
Venice  was  demonstrating  the  truth  of  Machiavelli's 
observation  that  these  instruments  were  powerless 
unless  backed  by  force ;  like  bank-notes  with  no  metal 
reserve,  current  as  long  as  the  credit  of  the  institution 
lasted,  as  long  as  people  took  them  on  faith. 

At  Rome  it  was  becoming  evident  that  the  pope 
would  be  compelled  to  retire.  The  only  question  was 
how  to  yield  with  as  little  loss  as  possible.  Both 
Spain  and  France  were  ready  to  mediate.  France 
proposed  terms  of  an  agreement.  But  the  Venetian 
government,  after  taking  Sarpi's  opinion,  modified 
these  terms  beyond  all  recognition.  The  pope  might 
be  entreated,  but  not  in  the  name  of  Venice ;  the 
prisoners  would  be  given  to  the  king,  not  to  the  pope ; 
nothing  would  be  said  about  withdrawing  the  protest ; 
and  as  for  the  controversial  writings  in  favour  of 
Venice,  the  Republic  would  do  with  them  whatever  the 
pope  did  with  those  in  favour  of  the  Curia.  The 
position  of  Venice  was  that  she  had  done  no  wrong : 
her  cause  was  just.  From  this  firm  attitude  the 
government  would  not  move.  The  pope  raised 
objections,  hoped  for  help  from  Spain,  implored  the 
intervention  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  changed 
his  mind  a  hundred  times.  But  the  scandal  of  the 
powerless  interdict  grew  daily  more  serious ;  the 
cardinals  protested  against  the  injury  to  the  prestige 
of  Rome;  and  the  pope  was  forced  to  yield. 

France  undertook  to  mediate,  and  for  that  purpose 
the  Cardinal  de  Joyeuse  came  to  Venice.  The  various 
st.  ps  in  the  ceremony  of  reconciliation  were  carried 


24o  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE   MAN 

out  with  the  utmost  punctiliousness  on  the  part  of  the 
Republic.  The  terms  of  the  proclamation  withdrawing 
the  protest  were  framed  so  as  to  allow  no  word  to 
escape  which  might  imply  that  Venice  acknowledged 
an  error. 

The  surrender  of  the  prisoners  was  made  to  the 
ambassador  of  France  as  a  gratification  to  his  Most 
Christian  Majesty,  and  without  abrogating  the  right  to 
try  ecclesiastics.  The  ambassador  handed  over  the 
prisoners  to  the  cardinal  as  a  present  from  the  King. 
The  cardinal  then  proceeded  to  the  cabinet,  which  was 
sitting,  and  announced  in  the  pope's  name  that  "all 
the  censures  were  removed."  Whereupon  the  doge 
presented  to  him  the  proclamation  which  recalled  the 
protest.  And  so  the  celebrated  episode  of  the  interdict 
came  to  an  end. 

The  victory  remained  with  Venice,  and  Sarpi  was  the 
hero  of  it.  It  was  a  great  achievement  to  have  resisted 
the  temporal  assertions  of  the  Curia  without  breaking 
from  the  Church.  And  Sarpi  himself  makes  it  quite 
clear  that  he  was  aware  of  the  effect  of  his  handiwork. 
He  writes  :  "  The  Republic  has  given  a  shake  to  papal 
claims.  For  whoever  heard  till  now  of  a  papal  inter- 
dict, published  with  all  solemnity,  ending  in  smoke? 
And  whereas  the  pope  once  raised  a  wasps'  nest  about 
our  ears  for  wishing  to  try  two  criminous  clerics, 
from  that  day  to  this  a  good  hundred  have  been  brought 
to  justice.  Our  differences  with  the  Curia  continue 
just  as  before,  but  they  have  never  ventured  to  use  an 
interdict  again  :  its  power  is  exhausted."  An  appre- 
ciation confirmed  by  so  cautious  an  historian  as 
Hallam,  who  says :  "  Nothing  is  more  worthy  of 
remark,  especially  in  literary  history,  than  the  ap- 
pearance of  one  great  man,  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi,  the  first 
who,  in  modern  times  and  in  a  Catholic  country, 
shook  the  fabric  of  papal  despotism." 

It  was  not  likely  that  the  Roman  Curia  would  ever 
forgive  such  a  blow.  Sarpi  was  quite  right  in  saying 
that  it  left  the  Republic  alone  for  the  future,  but  it 


ATTEMPTED  ASSASSINATION          241 

pursued  the  men  who  had  been  the  Republic's  advisers. 
It  was  the  object  of  the  Curia  to  induce  Sarpi  and  his 
colleagues  to  come  to  Rome ;  it  could  then  have 
represented  them  as  erring  children  returning  to  the 
bosom  of  the  Church,  wrung  recantations  from  them, 
and  undone  most  of  the  benefits  secured  by  their 
courage.  Sarpi  refused  to  leave  Venice,  and  pleaded 
an  order  from  his  sovereign  which  forbade  him  to  go. 
Others,  less  cautious,  yielded  to  the  promises  of  pro- 
tection and  of  honours,  and  failed  to  detect  what 
Sarpi  called  "  the  poison  in  the  honey."  Their  fate  was 
pitiable.  Sarpi  alone  his  enemies  could  not  get,  though 
he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "  They  are  determined  to  have  us 
all,  and  me  by  the  dagger."  And  he  was  right.  He 
had  received  several  warnings  that  his  life  was  in 
danger.  Caspar  Schoppe,  on  his  way  from  Rome, 
told  him  that  it  was  almost  impossible  for  him  to 
escape  the  vengeance  of  the  pope.  The  government 
also  begged  him  to  take  precautions.  Sarpi  refused  to 
change  any  of  his  habits.  He  continued  his  daily 
attendance  at  the  ducal  palace,  passing  on  foot  from 
his  monastery  at  Santa  Fosca  through  the  crowded 
Merceria  to  St.  Mark's,  and  back  again  when  his  work 
was  done. 

On  October  5,  1607,  he  was  returning  home  about 
five  o'clock  in  the  evening.  With  him  was  an  old 
gentleman,  Alessandro  Malipiero,  and  a  lay  brother, 
Fra  Marino;  the  people  of  the  Santa  Fosca  quarter 
were  mostly  at  the  theatre,  and  the  streets  were 
deserted.  As  Sarpi  was  descending  the  steps  of  the 
bridge  at  Santa  Fosca,  he  was  set  upon  by  five 
assassins.  Fra  Marino  was  seized  and  bound,  while 
the  chief  assailant  dealt  repeated  blows  at  Fra  Paolo  ; 
only  three  took  effect,  two  in  the  neck,  of  small  con- 
sequence, and  one  in  the  head  which  was  given  with 
such  violence  that  the  dagger,  entering  the  right  ear, 
pierced  through  to  the  cheek-bone  and  remained  fixed 
there.  Sarpi  fell  as  though  dead,  and  the  assassins, 
believing  their  work  accomplished,  and  being  dis- 

VOL.  ii.  16 


242  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE   MAN 

turbed  by  the  cries  of  Malipiero  and  some  women  who 
had  witnessed  the  assault  from  a  window,  fired  their 
harquebuses  to  terrify  the  people,  who  were  running  up, 
and  made  off.  Sarpi  was  carried  into  his  monastery, 
where  he  lay  for  long  in  danger  of  his  life.  The 
Republic  insisted  upon  calling  in  all  the  celebrated 
doctors  and  surgeons  of  Venice  and  Padua — though 
Sarpi  himself  desired  to  be  left  to  the  care  of  Aloise 
Ragozza,  a  very  young  man  in  whom  he  had  confidence. 
The  multitude  of  doctors  nearly  killed  their  patient. 
But  at  length  the  wound  healed,  and  Sarpi  resumed 
his  ordinary  course  of  life. 

He  had  never  any  doubt  as  to  the  quarter  whence 
the  blow  came;  when  shown  the  dagger1  which  had 
wounded  him  he  drily  remarked,  "Agnosco  stylum 
Curiae  Romanae " ;  and  the  flight  of  the  assassins  to 
papal  territory,  their  triumphal  procession  to  Rome, 
the  protection  they  received  there,  all  point  to  one 
conclusion. 

The  Republic  was  lavish  of  its  attentions  to  its 
famous  councillor.  Sarpi  was  offered  a  lodging  for 
himself  and  two  others  on  the  Piazza,  and  the  Senate 
voted  him  a  pension  of  four  hundred  ducats.  He 
declined  the  money  and  refused  to  leave  his  monastery. 
All  that  he  would  accept  was  the  construction  of  a 
covered  way,  and  a  private  door,  so  that  he  might 
reach  his  gondola  without  passing  through  the  streets. 
These  precautions  were  by  no  means  unnecessary,  for 
his  life  was  never  safe.  At  least  twice  again  plots 
were  laid  against  him.  The  one  which  was  discovered 
in  the  monastery  was  a  real  pain  to  him.  He  writes  : 
"  I  have  just  escaped  a  great  conspiracy  against  my 
life ;  those  of  my  own  chamber  had  a  part  in  it.  It  has 
not  pleased  God  that  it  should  succeed,  but  I  am 
deeply  sorry  that  the  agents  are  in  prison.  Life  is  no 

1  Sarpi  hung  the  dagger  as  an  ex  voto  in  the  church  of  his  monastery. 
When  that  was  desecrated  by  Napoleon,  the  dagger  was  removed,  and 
eventually  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Giustinian  Recanati,  who 
now  own  it. 


LAST  YEARS  243 

longer  grateful  to  me  when  I  think  of  the  difficulty  I  have 
to  preserve  it" 

That  is  the  first  note  of  weariness  which  we  come 
across  in  Sarpi's  letters  ;  it  is  a  note  which  is  repeated 
and  deepened  during  the  later  years  of  his  life.  Those 
years  were  passed  in  constant  and  active  discharge  of 
his  duties  to  the  State,  in  the  preparation  of  opinions 
upon  the  various  points  about  which  the  government 
consulted  him — on  benefices ;  on  Church  property ;  on 
the  Inquisition  ;  on  the  prohibition  of  books ;  on  tithes. 
The  epithets  applied  by  distinguished  authorities 
bear  witness  to  their  value.  Gibbon  talks  of  "  golden 
volumes,"  Grotius  calls  them  "  great." 

The  fame  of  the  great  Servite  grew  world-wide. 
But  at  Venice  his  years  were  closing  in  some  lone- 
liness and  depression.  To  his  eyes  it  seemed  that  his 
policy  had  not  achieved  all  the  success  he  desired. 
The  murder  of  Henry  IV.  in  1610  was  a  cruel  blow; 
and  he  saw  France  falling  once  more  under  the  Jesuit 
sway.  Venice  too  appeared  to  be  lost  in  a  lethargy 
which  offered  no  resistance.  Again  and  again  in  his 
correspondence  he  complains  of  Venetian  supineness, 
and  declares  that  the  Republic  is  no  freer  after,  than 
it  was  before,  the  fight.  Moreover,  his  intimate  friends 
and  supporters  were  dying:  Alessandro  Malipiero  in 
1609,  Leonardo  Donate,  the  doge,  in  1612,  Andrea 
Morosini,  the  historian,  in  1618.  The  younger  genera- 
tion held  different  views;  were  disposed  to  leave  matters 
alone.  Sarpi  felt  the  gradual  abandonment.  It  is  said 
he  even  thought  of  going  to  England  or  again  to  the 
East.  The  extent  of  that  abandonment  was  shown 
immediately  after  his  death.  The  Senate  decreed  a 
monument  in  his  honour.  The  nuncio  declared  that  the 
pope  could  not  submit  to  such  an  affront,  and  if  it  was 
erected,  the  Holy  Office  would  be  obliged  to  proclaim 
Sarpi  an  impenitent  heretic.  The  Venetian  ambassador 
counselled  compliance,  comforting  himself  with  the 
reflection  that  "  he  who  may  not  live  in  stone  will  live 
in  our  annals  with  less  risk  from  all-corroding  time." 


244  PAOLO  SARPI,  THE   MAN 

But  the  end  of  this  active  life  was  drawing  near. 
Sarpi  had  never  feared  death.  When  his  friend  the 
doge  expired,  he  wrote1  that  nothing  more  desirable 
could  happen  to  an  honest  man  than  to  say  adieu  to 
the  earth  after  a  lifetime  spent  in  preparation  for 
departure  by  integrity  of  thought  and  the  discharge 
of  duty.  That  indeed  was  Sarpi's  own  case.  He  died 
in  harness. 

On  Easter  Eve,  1622,  while  working  in  the  archives, 
he  was  seized  with  a  violent  shivering  fit.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  the  end,  though  he  rallied  and  resisted 
for  another  year.  Early  in  1623  he  obeyed  a  summons 
to  the  palace.  He  was  very  ill  at  the  time,  and  on 
his  return  he  knew  himself  stricken  for  death.  On 
January  14  he  took  to  his  bed.  Fra  Fulgenzio  was 
summoned  to  the  Senate  to  give  a  report.  "  How 
is  he?"  they  said.  "At  the  last,"  replied  Fulgenzio. 
"  And  his  intellect  ? "  "  Quite  clear."  The  govern- 
ment then  proposed  three  questions  on  which  they 
desired  the  dying  man's  advice.  Sarpi  dictated  his 
replies,  which  were  read  and  acted  upon. 

He  grew  rapidly  worse;  still  he  was  able  to  say 
with  a  smile,  "  Praise  be  to  God :  what  is  His  pleasure 
pleases  me,  and  with  His  help  we  will  through  with 
this  last  act  becomingly."  Then  falling  into  a  delirium, 
they  heard  him  murmur,  "  I  must  go  to  St.  Mark's. 
It  is  late.  There  is  much  to  do."  About  one  in  the 
morning  he  turned  to  his  friend  Fra  Fulgenzio, 
embraced  him,  and  said,  "  Do  not  stay  here  to  see 
me  in  this  state :  it  is  not  fitting.  Go  you  to  bed, 
and  1  will  return  to  God  whence  I  came."  "  Esto 
perpetual" — "  May  she  endure!" — were  the  last  words 
on  his  lips,  a  prayer  which  his  audience  took  as  on 
behalf  of  his  country,  for  whose  just  rights  and  liberties 
he  had  fought  so  well. 

1  Lett.  ii.  334 :  "  Nulla  e  piu  desiderabile  ad  un  onesto  uomo,  che 
dire  addio  alia  terra  doppo  un  apparecchio  di  tutta  la  vita  nell' 
interezza  dei  sentimenti  e  nell'  adempimento  stesso  dei  propri  officj." 


The   Spanish    Conspiracy:    An    Episode   in   the 
Decline  of  Venice 

THE  Spanish  conspiracy,  by  the  timely  discovery  of 
which  Venice  was  believed  to  have  narrowly  escaped 
destruction  in  1618,  is  one  of  those  episodes  in  history 
which  at  once  arrest  attention  by  focussing  the  con- 
ditions of  a  period  and  throwing  a  flood  of  light  upon 
subsequent  events.     In  diabolical  picturesqueness  this 
conspiracy  takes  rank  with  the  Gunpowder  Plot  or 
the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.     Owing  partly  to 
doubts  thrown  upon  its  reality  at  the  very  outset,  partly 
also  to  the  silence  of  the  Venetian  government,  to 
the    mystification    of   some  contemporaries  and   the 
declared   scepticism   of  others,   the  whole  affair  has 
acquired   the   fascination   of  a   riddle.      The   subject 
has  attracted  abundant  research,  and  has  even  found 
its  way  into  dramatic  literature  in  the  best  of  Otway's 
plays,    Venice  Preserved.      At  the  time  there  was  a 
French    answer,    a    Spanish    answer,    a    Neapolitan 
answer,  a  Turkish  answer  to   this   riddle,   and   sub- 
sequent  historians,   Capriata,   San   Real,   Chambrier, 
each  adopted  one  or  other  of  these  solutions.      No 
one  of  these  answers  is,  however,  quite  satisfactory, 
nor  covers  the  whole  ground  of  our  information.     It 
may  be  impossible  now  to  read  to  the  bottom  of  this 
muddy  pool ;  and  von  Ranke,  the  most  distinguished 
of  those  who  have  attacked  the  problem,  has  confined 
himself  to  researches  in  the  fact  without  expressing 
a  decided   opinion   in   any   direction.     He   has    been 
followed   by    Romanin,   who   has    gone    still  further 
into   the  documentary  evidence,  though  neither  has 

345 


246  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

completely  exhausted  the  material  at  our  disposal. 
Indeed  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  tangled 
skein  for  the  historian  to  unravel ;  yet  the  process 
reveals  so  curious  a  condition  of  society  in  Europe, 
and  in  Venice  especially,  at  the  opening  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  throws  so  strong  a  light 
upon  the  causes  which  first  corrupted  and  then 
destroyed  the  Republic,  that  the  effort  to  follow 
each  clue  through  the  labyrinth  is  repaid  with 
interest. 

And  first  for  the  outward  and  visible  facts  of  the 
case  as  they  appeared  to  the  Venetians  in  the  spring 
of  1618.  Early  in  this  year  the  city  was  full  of 
strangers — Italians  from  the  mainland  and  foreigners 
wandering  in  search  of  adventure,  whose  nature  it  was 
to  be  drawn  at  last  towards  the  city  of  the  sea,  to  "  fall 
like  spent  exhalations  to  that  centre."  They  were 
attracted  thither  by  the  splendour  of  Venetian  state 
ceremonies,  which  were  gradually  growing  more  and 
more  sumptuous,  were  surely  being  made  the  pretext 
for  a  larger  licence.  On  this  occasion  Venice  was  pre- 
paring to  celebrate  the  election  of  a  new  doge,1  and  the 
yearly  pageant  of  wedding  the  sea  happened  to  fall 
about  the  same  time.  The  locande,  therefore,  were 
all  full ;  so  too  were  the  lodging-houses  which  served 
as  dependencies  to  the  overcrowded  inns.  The  piazza 
at  night  was  thronged  with  foreign  forms  in  long 
cloaks,  slouched  hats,  and  high  leather  boots,  pro- 
menading and  swaggering,  now  in  shadow,  now  in 
moonlight,  and  filling  the  air  with  the  adventurer's 
language,  French  in  all  its  endless  modifications  of 
patois.  The  air  seemed  charged  with  vague  uneasi- 
ness, and  Venice  had  reached  a  highly  nervous 
condition  between  her  amusements  and  her  fears. 
For  some  time  past  the  conduct  of  the  Spanish 
governors  in  Naples  and  Milan  had  been  the  cause 

1  The  Doge  Giovanni  Bembo  died  on  March  12,  1618  ;  he  was 
succeeded  on  April  5  by  Nicol6  Donate,  who  reigned  less  than  a 
month,  and  on  May  17  Antonio  Priuli  was  called  to  fill  his  place. 


of  serious  alarm  to  those  politicians  who  were  not 
entirely  dazzled  by  the  blaze  of  pageantry  and  lost 
in  the  hunt  after  pleasure ;  but  there  was  a  wild 
swirl  of  reckless  enjoyment  all  about  them,  and  a 
warning  voice,  had  they  raised  one,  would  have  been 
drowned  in  the  din  of  the  revel. 

On  the  morning  of  May  18,  the  day  after  the 
election  of  the  doge,  Venice  awoke  to  another  day  of 
enjoyment  —  to  her  midday  siesta,  the  evening 
al  fresco  upon  the  lagoon,  the  "  masques  and  balls 
begun  at  midnight,  burning  ever  to  midday."  But  a 
thrill  of  terror  awaited  her.  This  morning  of  the 
1 8th  the  early  risers  found  the  bodies  of  two  men, 
hung  each  by  one  leg  to  a  gibbet  in  the  piazza,  in 
sign  that  they  had  been  executed  for  treason.  On  the 
23rd,  two  days  before  the  Sposalizio  del  Mare,  another 
body,  bearing  the  marks  of  terrible  torture,  was  also 
exposed  in  a  like  manner.  The  public  emotion  became 
intense.  The  people  felt  themselves  suddenly  pulled 
up  by  this  evidence  of  death,  secret,  swift,  and 
apparently  causeless,  in  their  very  midst,  hung  full  in 
face  of  their  heedless  enjoyment.  The  silence  of  the 
government  heightened  the  alarm.  The  executive 
made  no  motion  to  postpone  the  ceremonies  of  the 
next  few  days ;  the  three  bodies  hung  there,  un- 
explained, but  relieved  in  horrible  colours  upon  the 
brilliant  background  of  civic  pomp.  No  one  knew 
these  men  who  had  been  put  to  death.  They  belonged 
to  the  mob  of  vagabonds  and  adventurers  whom 
Venice  attracted,  and  upon  whom  she,  in  a  measure, 
lived.  One  thing  alone  was  clear ;  they  were  all 
Frenchmen.  Conjecture  was  allowed  free  play ;  and 
the  public  soon  pieced  together,  out  of  the  endless 
rumours  of  the  town,  a  consecutive  story.  These 
men  were  the  agents  of  the  Duke  of  Osuna,  Viceroy  of 
Naples,  and  of  the  Marquis  Bedmar,  Spanish  am- 
bassador in  Venice.  In  accordance  with  a  preconcerted 
design,  the  city  was  to  have  been  seized  by  a  Spanish 
fleet,  which  already  lay  outside  Malamocco,  the 


248  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

arsenal  fired,  the  mint  and  the  treasury  of  St.  Mark's 
rifled,  the  doge  and  his  council  blown  up.  When 
Venice  had  been  sufficiently  cowed,  she  was  to  be 
handed  over  to  Spain.  The  plot  had  been  discovered 
in  time,  the  guilty  arrested  and  tortured ;  more  than 
five  hundred  of  their  accomplices  had  been  drowned  by 
night  in  the  canals.  In  proof  of  this,  the  inns,  full  to 
.  the  garret  a  few  days  before,  were  now  nearly  empty. 
Such  was  the  story  which  gained  immediate  acceptance. 
The  reticence  of  the  government  neither  affirmed  nor 
denied  anything,  and  the  popular  fury  exploded  in  an 
attack  upon  the  Spanish  embassy.  Bedmar's  palace 
and  even  his  life  were  in  serious  danger. 

At  the  moment  when  the  conspiracy  was  discovered 
the  French  ambassador,  Leon  Bruslart,  was  absent 
from  Venice  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Loretto.  He  received 
information  of  events  from  his  brother  Broussin,  who 
was  in  charge  of  affairs,  and  therefore  sent  a  similar 
communication  on  the  subject  to  the  Minister  of  the 
Exterior  in  Paris.  Even  thus  early,  four  days  after 
the  first  executions,  Broussin  expresses  his  disbelief 
in  the  reasons  popularly  given  for  the  sentence.  He 
was  sceptical  as  to  the  alleged  Spanish  origin  of 
the  plot,  because  he  and  all  the  French  officials 
knew  that  there  existed  a  French  plot  to  which  the 
condemned  were  parties,  and  whose  centre  was  in 
their  own  court;  a  plot  directed  not  against  the 
Republic,  it  is  true,  but  against  a  power  the  Republic 
dreaded  and  desired  to  conciliate — against  the  Turks. 
Moreover,  this  French  design  was  aimed  at  the  Levant, 
where  Venice  had  always  shown  herself  jealous  of  any 
interference.  To  the  French  embassy,  therefore,  it 
seemed  clear  that  here  lay  the  real  reason  for  these 
sudden  executions.  Bruslart  returned  to  Venice  three 
weeks  later ;  and  since  those  who  had  suffered  death 
were  Frenchmen,  a  long  correspondence  ensued 
between  the  ambassador  and  the  minister  in  Paris. 
In  all  his  despatches  Bruslart  denies  that  the  Spaniards 
were  the  authors  of  the  plot.  Daru,  the  French 


DARU'S  THEORY  249 

historian  of  Venice,  accepts  Bruslart's  negation  and 
carries  it  a  step  further.  He  boldly  asserts  that  the 
Spanish  Conspiracy  never  had  any  existence  at  all. 

Daru's  theory  is  so  startling,  and  in  supporting  it 
he  deals  so  elaborately  with  the  condition  of  the  plot, 
that  it  will  be  of  service  to  follow  him  closely  for  a 
little  way.  By  rejecting  the  accredited  story  of  the 
conspiracy,  the  French  historian  lays  himself  under 
the  obligation  to  explain  the  action  which  Venice 
took  in  the  matter.  This  he  does  with  surprising 
dexterity.  The  Duke  of  Osuna,  Spanish  Viceroy  of 
Naples,  Daru  affirms,  was  engaged  in  schemes  to  make 
himself  King  of  Naples.  He  asked  Venice  to  help  him, 
and  she  consented.  Osuna's  treason  was  discovered 
at  Madrid,  and  Venice  exerted  all  her  powers  to 
obliterate  every  proof  of  her  complicity  with  the 
viceroy.  To  do  this  effectually  she  hanged,  drowned, 
or  strangled  five  hundred  men,  emissaries  of  Osuna, 
whom  she  found  in  her  dominions,  and  who  were 
aware  that  she  was  herself  a  party  to  their  designs, 
and  who  might  be  called  as  witness  against  her  at  the 
Spanish  court.  The  tortures  she  inflicted  were 
applied  to  wring  from  her  own  confederates  the  names 
of  all  who,  by  the  slightest  side-wind,  might  have 
obtained  an  inkling  that  the  Republic  was  a  principal 
in  the  conspiracy.  To  the  world  Venice  said  that 
Spain  had  been  compassing  her  ruin,  and  her  doge 
celebrated  a  public  Te  Deum  for  this  salvation  from 
danger ;  in  reality  she  had  been  plotting  against 
Madrid,  and  the  thanksgiving  was  held  because  she 
had  succeeded  in  destroying  all  her  accomplices,  and 
with  them  every  trace  of  her  guilt  towards  Spain. 
This  is  a  bold  conjecture,  and  picturesque  in  the  lurid 
light  in  which  it  places  the  Venetian  government.  If 
Daru's  theory  were  correct,  no  more  sacrilegious 
ceremony  than  the  Te  Deum  in  St.  Mark's  was  ever 
celebrated  inside  a  Christian  church.  But  it  is  not 
correct ;  and  a  wider  view,  embracing  the  general 
condition  of  Europe,  and  more  especially  the  attitude 


250  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

of  France,  Spain,  and  the  viceroyalty  of  Naples,  will 
prove  its  fallacy. 

By  the  Peace  of  Lyons,  France  had  virtually  with- 
drawn from  Italy  in  1601.  She  had  ceded  Saluzzo, 
in  Piedmont,  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  in  exchange  for 
the  district  of  La  Bresse  on  the  French  side  of  the 
Alps.  The  French  no  longer  possessed  a  claim  to 
any  portion  of  Italian  territory;  Spain  was  left  in 
undisturbed  possession.  The  withdrawal  of  France 
caused  serious  alarm  to  those  Italian  states  which  still 
retained  their  independence.  No  power  remained  in 
Italy  to  prevent  Spain  from  suppressing  the  last 
embers  of  freedom  ;  and  these  fears  received  colour 
when  the  Spanish  began  to  harass  the  Duke  of  Savoy 
and  to  support  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  in  the  war 
he  was  waging  against  Venice  on  the  plea  that  she 
was  responsible  for  the  depredations  of  the  Liburnian 
pirates  the  Uskoks.  The  Peace  of  Madrid,  however, 
in  1617,  promised  to  restore  quiet  to  Italy,  and  that 
peace  was  especially  the  work  of  the  Spanish  court. 
Indeed,  the  centre  of  disturbance  lay  by  no  means  in 
Spain  itself.  There  the  attitude  was  pacific.  The 
court  of  Madrid  was  virtually  asleep,  sunk  in  a  death- 
like inactivity.  The  king,  Philip  III.,  was  consumed 
by  a  gloomy  religious  fervour,  unrelieved  by  any  vital 
interest  beyond  the  preservation  of  a  rigid  and  stifling 
etiquette.  He  was  completely  dominated  by  the  Dukes 
of  Lerma  and  Uzeda,  who  dreaded  a  war  which  might 
rouse  his  Majesty  from  this  lethargy  or  should  call 
into  notice  men  of  action  who  would  prove  rivals. 
In  contrast  to  the  paralysis  of  Madrid,  the  provinces 
were  feverishly  restless,  owing  to  the  active  ambition 
of  their  governors.  It  was  Inojosa,  Fuentes,  Toledo, 
Osuna,  Bedmar,  who  threatened  the  remnants  of 
Italian  freedom.  They,  and  not  their  court,  were  the 
source  of  that  alarm  which  Italy  felt.  These  men 
were  powerful  and  fully  aware  of  the  weakness  of 
their  home  government.  They  seldom  received  in- 
structions from  Madrid,  and  still  seldomer  obeyed 


THE  DUKE  OF  OSUNA  251 

them.  Virtually  independent  princes,  it  was  in  war, 
in  conspiracy,  and  in  movement  that  they  came  to  the 
fullest  consciousness  of  their  power.  To  the  Spanish 
representatives  in  Italy  the  peace  of  1617  was  dis- 
tasteful, as  any  peace  must  have  been,  and  they  agreed 
to  ignore  it  Toledo  and  Osuna  both  continued  to 
annoy  Venice,  in  spite  of  repeated  orders  to  disarm. 

The  Viceroy  of  Naples  plays  so  important  a  part  in 
the  story  of  the  Spanish  Conspiracy,  that  we  must 
look  a  little  closer  at   the  course  of  his  life.     Don 
Pedro  y  Giron,  grandee  of  Spain,  knight  of  the  Golden 
Fleece,  and  gentleman  of  the  bed-chamber,  was   the 
head  of  a  powerful  Spanish  house,  and  had  increased 
his  influence   by  an  alliance  with  the  family  of  the 
Duke  of  Lerma,  favourite  and  all-powerful  minister  of 
King  Philip.    By  nature  Don  Pedro  was  ambitious 
and  impetuous,  and  the  restless  air  of  his  century 
raised  his  pulse  still  higher.    At  the  age  of  twenty-five 
he  conceived   himself  neglected    by    his    court.     He 
therefore  formed  a  company  of  troops  at  his  own 
charge,  and  took  them  to  the  Netherlands,  where  he 
served  under  the  Archduke  of  Austria.    On  the  close 
of  the  campaign  he  returned  to  Madrid  with  a  fine 
reputation  for  valour,  and  was  soon  after  appointed 
Viceroy  of  Sicily.     In  his  kingdom  he  made  himself 
unboundedly    popular.      His    manners    were    distin- 
guished by  courtly  Spanish  grace,  relieved  by  flashes 
of  humour  which  appealed  to  the  popular  taste.     He 
soon  became  a  favourite  with  nobles  and  people  alike. 
But  he  committed  one  fatal  mistake — he  allowed  him- 
self too  great  a  freedom  in  matters  of  religion.  Already 
he  was  suspected  by  the  Church  for  his  fearless  de- 
fence of  the  heretics  against  the  rigours  of  his  own 
court.     And  now  many  stories  of  his  levity  were  set 
afloat,    and   came   to  the    ears    of   his    enemies    the 
Jesuits,  who  stored  them  up  against  the  day  of  his 
disgrace.      When  Venice  fell  out  with   Ferdinand  of 
Austria,    Osuna    was    sent    as    viceroy    to    Naples, 
with  orders  to  support  the  archduke.    At  Naples  he 


252  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

continued  his  popular  policy,  taking  special  care  to 
conciliate  the  people.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to 
execute  certain  barons  for  cruelty  to  their  dependents. 
The  populace  of  Naples  adored  him.  They  called 
him  the  "  good  viceroy  " ;  but  the  nobility,  whom  he 
curbed,  united  with  his  old  enemies  the  Jesuits  to 
work  his  ruin,  and  the  combination  in  the  end  proved 
too  strong  for  Osuna.  On  the  Peace  of  Madrid 
being  signed,  the  viceroy  refused  to  disarm,  and  con- 
tinued to  attack  Venice  in  the  Adriatic.  With  a 
frankness  characteristic  of  himself,  Osuna  again  and 
again  told  the  Venetian  resident  that  he  had  no  in- 
tention of  observing  the  treaty.  "  I  am  resolved,"  he 
said,  "  to  send  the  fleet  into  Venetian  waters,  in  spite 
of  the  world,  in  spite  of  the  king,  in  spite  of  God." 
The  fleet  sailed  under  Osuna's  own  colours,  and  his 
enemies  were  not  slow  to  comment  on  the  viceroy's 
flag  flying  from  the  ships  of  Spain.  His  army 
steadily  grew  in  numbers,  and  became  the  asylum  for 
all  the  bravi  and  broken  men  who  were  wandering  in 
swarms  over  Europe.  The  Jesuits  and  the  nobility  had 
little  difficulty  in  surmising  that  Osuna's  object  was 
the  crown  of  Naples.  They  gave  him  another  year 
to  commit  himself,  and  then  they  struck.  In  October 
of  1618 — that  is,  five  months  after  the  Spanish  plot 
was  discovered  at  Venice — a  formal  information  against 
Osuna  was  lodged  at  the  court  of  Madrid.  Early  in 
the  following  year  the  government  determined  to  re- 
call him ;  and  then,  for  the  first  time,  Osuna  secretly 
sounded  the  Venetian  resident  as  to  whether  the 
Republic  would  support  him  in  case  he  determined 
to  resist  the  authority  of  his  own  court.  The  Vene- 
tian answer  was  prompt  and  decisive.  The  Ten 
declined  to  treat  upon  the  subject  at  all.  Osuna  saw 
that  his  case  was  hopeless,  and  quietly  resigned  his 
office  to  his  successor,  Cardinal  Borgia.  He  returned 
to  Madrid,  where,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  he  met 
with  a  most  favourable  reception,  and  it  is  probable 
that  the  government  did  not  consider  his  treason 


THE  DUKE  OF  OSUNA  253 

proved.  The  Venetian  ambassador  wrote  from  Madrid 
that  the  Duke  of  Osuna  lived  in  greater  state  than 
ever  he  did  in  Italy;  adding,  however,  "we  must  not 
praise  the  day  till  night  fall."  A  stormy  night  soon 
closed  upon  Osuna.  The  king  died  in  1621,  and  the 
ex-viceroy  lost  the  protection  of  his  relation  the  Duke 
of  Uzeda,  whose  reign  ended  with  his  master's  life. 
Osuna's  enemy,  the  Church,  revived  the  old  charge 
of  heresy,  and  he  was  put  upon  his  trial.  For  more 
than  three  years  the  process  lasted,  spun  out  to  an 
interminable  length  by  the  Jesuits,  who  had  at  length 
involved  their  prey.  For  these  three  years  Osuna 
languished  in  prison ;  finally  he  died  at  the  castle  of 
Almeda,  poisoned,  it  is  said,  by  the  hand  of  his  wife, 
to  save  the  family  honour  from  the  shame  of  a  public 
execution. 

The  whole  of  Daru's  argument  in  explanation  of  the 
Spanish  Conspiracy  rests  upon  the  relations  between 
the  Viceroy  of  Naples  and  the  Venetian  Republic.  It  is 
more  than  probable  that  Osuna  did  meditate  seizing 
the  crown  of  Naples.  The  scheme  may  appear  to  us 
now  little  better  than  a  mere  bubble  certain  to  burst. 
But  it  is  just  one  of  the  notes  of  this  period  that  a 
thousand  such  mad  and  vague  designs  were  in  the  air. 
That  Osuna  asked  Venice  to  aid  him,  and  that  the 
Republic  lent  a  willing  ear,  is  incorrect.  The  viceroy 
made  no  overtures  to  Venice  until  a  year  after  the  plot 
was  discovered,  and  then  they  were  at  once  rejected. 

Thus  far,  then,  the  French  historian  has  carried  us, 
and  we  have  obtained  no  explanation  of  the  Spanish 
Conspiracy.  Nor  can  we,  without  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  force  which  was  moving  the  whole 
continent  at  this  time.  The  human  spirit  had  for  long 
been  busy,  fusing  and  amalgamating  much  diverse 
matter  inside  the  crucible  of  Italy.  Now  the  crucible 
was  broken  by  foreign  invasion,  and  its  contents 
flowed  out  to  work  in  the  innermost  core  of  Euro- 
pean society.  The  North  was  vivified  at  last,  and 
returned  upon  its  vivifier.  After  long  years  it  had 


254  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

caught  the  element  of  life  and  became  intellectualized 
in  its  constant  and  brutal  violations  of  Italy.  It  left 
its  mistress  dead,  but  itself  arose,  quickened  to  a 
nobler  life  by  her  undying  and  invincible  spirit.  It 
was  an  age  of  liberation,  of  freedom  beyond  the 
borders  of  Italy,  who  died  in  the  effort  to  project 
the  ideas  she  created.  She,  "the  lamp  of  other 
nations,  the  sepulchre  of  her  own  splendour,"  had 
taught  the  world  how  to  tread  firmly  in  the  path 
where  the  spirit  guides.  But  this  liberation,  this 
firm  tread,  brought  with  them,  as  of  necessity  they 
must,  certain  defects ;  and  so  we  find  side  by  side 
freedom  and  licence,  the  steady  step  and  the  headlong 
rush.  The  motto  of  the  age  was — "  Attempt " ;  Perge  ! 
ne  timeas  !  Luther  obeyed  the  spirit  in  his  own  bold, 
rough  fashion ;  rejoicing  like  a  lad  in  his  new-found 
strength ;  almost  hoping  that  he  might  find  as  many 
devils  in  Augsburg  as  there  were  tiles  on  the  roof; 
gladly  accepting  the  devil  as  a  bodily  fact  for  the  sake 
of  a  blow  at  him,  for  the  pleasure  of  a  well-aimed  ink- 
pot. But  in  Italy  they  were  long  past  this  boyhood 
they  once  knew  so  well ;  they  had  now  struggled  so 
long  that  they  were  weary  of  movement  and  desirous 
of  rest.  For  ages  past  the  Italians  had  been  active, 
creating  the  Roman  Empire,  the  Roman  Church,  re- 
awaking  the  arts  and  rediscovering  humanity.  They 
might  look  at  Luther  as  a  man  looks  at  a  child,  but 
they  could  not  feel  with  him  even  in  memory.  Italy 
was  old.  She  had  not  that  directness  which  comes 
from  partial  understanding,  nor  the  youth  nor  the 
brutality  to  free  herself  as  entirely  in  outward  form 
from  Rome,  as  she  was  already  freed  in  spirit. 
Campanella,  Bruno,  and  Sarpi  are  intellectually  as 
bold  as  Luther  and  of  far  further  vision,  far  more 
prophetic.  But  just  there  lay  the  cause  of  their  defect 
as  agents.  In  their  wide  and  almost  universal  view 
the  points  for  which  Luther  was  struggling  seemed  of 
such  trifling  moment.  The  raw  muscle  for  an  external 
blow  they  had  not,  though  the  intellectual  courage  to 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE          255 

deal  one  was  theirs  in  abundance.  See  the  hardihood, 
the  audacity,  the  adventurous  spirit  of  Sarpi.  At  each 
moment  you  expect  him  to  falter,  to  stay  his  hand, 
hearing  behind  him  the  thunder  of  Rome,  or  dreading 
the  gleam  of  her  assassin's  dagger.  But  no !  step  by 
step  he  advances ;  each  proposition  stated  and  estab- 
lished becomes  to  him,  as  it  were,  a  spring-board 
whence  to  take  a  wider  and  a  bolder  flight ;  till 
from  apologist  he  becomes  accuser :  Venice,  his  client, 
quits  the  dock  for  the  judgment-seat ;  and  the  pope, 
no  longer  the  terrible  judge,  is  in  his  turn  arraigned, 
tried,  and  condemned.  Yet  all  the  while  Sarpi  remains 
inside  the  Church,  not  outside  it  with  Luther.  Luther 
passed  outside  the  Church  through  an  intellectual  de- 
fect, through  a  boyishness  of  understanding,  because 
he  did  not  go  the  whole  length  of  his  argument,  because 
he  was  about  to  found  a  new  Church.  Sarpi  remained 
inside  the  Church  because  he  was  intellectually  com- 
plete, a  full-grown  man,  following  his  argument  to  its 
close,  because,  in  short,  he  was  a  man  of  no  Church. 

But  these  men  are  the  fine  phenomena  of  the  spirit, 
the  brilliant  side  of  the  mirror.  We  may  be  sure  there 
was  also  a  darker  side.  Nothing  is  more  open  to 
infection  than  the  human  mind ;  the  quality  of  its 
flame  depends  on  the  air  which  feeds  and  surrounds 
it.  When  such  world-moving  forces  as  freedom  are 
at  work,  no  portion  of  the  social  organism  can  escape 
the  shock  or  refuse  to  share  in  the  impulse.  But  the 
nature  of  the  manifestation  depends  upon  the  medium ; 
and  so,  while  we  look  with  pride  on  a  Luther  or  a 
Sarpi  as  brilliant  examples  of  spiritual  liberation,  we 
are  warned  to  read  a  lesson  of  humility  in  the  motive- 
less anarchy  of  a  Guy  Fawkes  or  a  Jacques  Pierre. 
In  men  of  coarser  fibre,  the  boldness  and  self- 
reliance  which  constituted  the  strength  of  Luther 
became  licence  and  unreasoned  restlessness.  What 
could  be  done  by  pushing  audaciously  onward,  by 
adopting  the  motto  "Attempt,"  was  constantly  re- 
ceiving illustration  in  countless  instances  of  successful 


256  THE   SPANISH   CONSPIRACY 

adventure.  Concini,  the  Italian,  was  marshal  of  France 
and  virtual  sovereign  ;  handsome  George  Villiers  was 
ruling  England  to  the  ruin  of  the  crown.  For  all  the 
men  who  were  obeying  the  spirit  of  their  age,  whose 
minds  were  being  ruffled  to  unrest,  some  such  success 
seemed  possible.  They  turned  their  eyes  from  the 
failures — from  d'Ancre's  dead  body  in  the  courtyard 
of  the  Louvre,  from  Ravaillac  torn  in  pieces  by  horses, 
from  the  three  corpses  in  St.  Mark's  Square — they 
turned  their  eyes  from  these,  or  rather  their  desire 
made  them  single-eyed,  with  vision  only  for  the  impos- 
sible goal.  The  how,  the  when,  the  probabilities  they 
forgot  to  think  of;  their  delirium  overlaid  all  such 
back-drawing  thoughts.  There  was  a  South  Sea 
bubble  always  floating  within  their  ken  ;  an  El  Dorado 
about  to  be  won  by  them,  as  others  had  just  failed  to 
win  it.  That  the  bubble  was  never  caught  before  it 
burst,  that  the  El  Dorado  was  never  gained,  but  ended 
only  in  a  Raleigh's  death,  merely  added  a  keener  zest 
to  the  pursuit  which  fruition  would  have  satiated. 
Adventure  for  adventure's  sake — that  was  the  real  joy 
of  life's  game. 

The  Reformation  had  shaken  Europe  to  its  foun- 
dations, and  the  tremulous  condition  of  the  powers 
afforded  the  very  medium  in  which  this  restless  spirit 
of  adventure  might  most  freely  indulge  itself.  Plot 
after  plot,  hazy  in  outline,  undefined  in  object,  im- 
possible of  execution,  appears  in  the  political  world ; 
"perplexing  kings  with  fear  of  change,"  no  one  of 
whom  could  find  the  sore  place,  nor  lay  their  hand 
on  it  to  heal  it.  Conspiracy  was  epidemic,  infecting 
the  social  atmosphere,  breathed  by  princes  and  ad- 
venturers alike.  Men  born  to  great  estate  recklessly 
embarked  upon  schemes  of  which  they  only  dimly 
saw  the  value  or  the  issue  The  Duke  of  Nevers 
meditated  establishing  a  principality  in  Greece  and 
resuscitating  the  empire  of  the  East.  Pope  Gregory 
was  in  close  connection  with  the  adventurer  Stukeley, 
concocting  designs  for  a  revolution  in  Ireland.  The 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE          257 

Duke  of  Osuna  saw  himself  King  of  Naples  and  Sicily. 
Even  if  the  passion  for  intrigue  had  not  been  so  rife 
in  Europe,  this  gambling  spirit  of  its  princes  and 
nobles  would  inevitably  have  created  a  lower  class  of 
doubtful  characters — men  who  became  denationalized 
and  ready,  on  sufficient  bribe,  to  turn  their  hand  to 
any  disgraceful  work.  But  as  it  was,  circumstances 
had  already  created  such  a  class.  The  civil  wars  in 
France  and  the  Spanish  wars  in  the  Netherlands 
turned  loose  upon  the  continent  a  number  of  men 
reared  in  camps,  living  by  brawls  and  intrigues,  cos- 
mopolitan in  the  most  vicious  sense.  They  passed 
freely  from  one  capital  to  another,  and  offered  them- 
selves for  hire  wherever  anything  was  stirring.  Their 
credentials  were  the  rough  outlines  of  a  hundred  plots 
and  with  these  in  their  pockets  they  presented  them- 
selves to  men  like  Nevers,  Osuna,  or  Toledo.  Should 
any  one  of  these  schemes  happen  to  take  the  fancy  of 
these  princes,  the  details  received  the  necessary  altera- 
tion and  expansion  ;  and  then  the  whole  work  was 
put  in  hand,  with  the  adventurer  as  manager.  In  fact, 
these  men  were  the  promoters  of  bubble  companies. 
The  chief  difference  between  our  day  and  theirs  is 
that  the  bubbles  they  blew  were  not  railroads  or  silver 
mines,  but  political  conspiracies.  Their  designs  are 
marked  by  reckless  and  meaningless  audacity.  The 
number  of  assassinations  planned  or  effected  at  this 
time  was  very  large.  William  the  Silent  is  shot ; 
Henry  IV.  stabbed  ;  James  and  the  lords  nearly  blown 
up  ;  the  Doge  of  Venice  escapes  a  like  fate  by  a  hair's 
breadth.  Yet  no  reasonable  explanation  based  upon 
political  necessity  can  be  found  for  these  multitudinous 
conspiracies.  It  was  madness  to  imagine  that  England 
or  Venice  could  be  overthrown  by  a  Gunpowder  Plot 
or  a  Spanish  Conspiracy,  and  it  is  still  more  impossible 
to  see  what  advantage  Guy  Fawkes  or  Pierre  could 
have  reaped  from  their  ruin.  There  was  the  pleasure 
of  the  long  and  secret  preparation,  the  excitement  of 
the  scramble  for  the  plunder  and  the  hurried  flight, 
VOL.  n.  17 


258  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

but  nothing  more.  Yet  it  is  among  men  such  as  these, 
who  owned  no  allegiance  but  to  the  spirit  of  revo- 
lutionizing adventure,  that  we  must  look  for  the 
authors  and  agents  of  these  mad  designs.  The 
whole  air  was  disturbed.  For  the  North  this  dis- 
turbance meant  life,  vitality,  and  growth.  England 
was  about  to  develop  her  Parliamentary  liberty. 
France  was  approaching  the  brilliant  epoch  of 
Louis  XIV.  But  for  Italy  this  invasion  of  the  North, 
this  rejection  upon  herself  of  her  own  spirit,  this 
apparition  of  Machiavelli  as  an  avenging  ghost,  was 
preparing  a  tenebrce  from  which  there  could  be  no 
resurrection. 

Italy  was  breaking  down  into  the  abyss  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  and  Venice 
shared  in  the  general  declension.  She  had  reached 
her  apogee  and  was  steadily  declining.  After  the 
Peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis  in  1558,  she  had  enjoyed 
nearly  forty  years  of  comparative  quiet.  She  appeared 
in  her  fullest  splendour.  Never  before  had  the 
Republic  made  so  magnificent  a  display  in  the  eyes 
of  Europe ;  nor  was  she  slow  to  invite  the  princes  of 
Europe  to  visit  her.  Palaces  rose  along  the  Grand 
Canal;  state  ceremonies  increased  in  number  and  in 
pomp ;  life  in  the  sea-city  appeared  like  one  prolonged 
festival.  But  there  were  two  ominous  symptoms  mani- 
festing themselves,  almost  unobserved,  at  the  very 
heart  of  Venice.  The  banking  system  caught  the 
general  fever,  became  inflated,  and  burst  with  ruinous 
results  ;  and  the  population  of  Venice  continued 
steadily  to  decrease.  Not  only  did  the  population  fall 
off  in  numbers,  it  also  began  to  deteriorate  in  quality. 
The  race  for  distinction  in  wealth  and  splendour 
shattered  the  poorer  noble  families,  and  the  collapse 
of  the  banking  system  completed  their  ruin.  The 
yo,ung  men  of  these  broken  case  nobili  refused  to 
embark  on  business ;  and  nothing  remained  for  them 
but  a  life  of  mischievous  adventure,  centring  round 
the  churches  and  the  piazza..  There  was  decay  in  the 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  IN  VENICE      259 

noble  class  and  a  corresponding  decay  among  the 
artisans.  Commerce  and  shipbuilding  steadily  declined. 
The  number  of  pauper  and  foundling  children  increased 
so  rapidly  that   the  government   was  compelled   to 
make   provision   for  their  support.     A  large   part  of 
the  population  was  living  on  the  charity  or  the  vices 
of  the  rich.     But  this  general  collapse  of  a  widespread 
prosperity  had  a  reflex  action ;  and,  while  it  ruined 
the  smaller  nobility  and  the  smaller  traders,  it  confined 
the  flow  of  money  to  the  larger  houses  who  had 
weathered   the   storm.     And  so  side  by  side  there 
existed  enormous  private  fortunes,  luxury,  and  display, 
and  a  desperate  poverty  which  hated  the  luxury  while 
serving  it.     In  fact,  there  was   a  schism  inside   the 
State  ;  and  this  schism  showed  itself  in  the  art  no  less 
than  in  the  social  life  of  Venice.    The  great,  schools  of 
painting  and  of  architecture,  magnificent,  rich,  ornate, 
were  a  fitting  expression  of  the  wealth,  the  pomp,  and 
pride  of  Venice.     But  from  the  people  came  a  poetry 
that  was  spontaneous,  native,  licentious,  irreligious, 
because  it  felt  the  reflex  of  the  Reformation.   Profanity 
invaded  the  altar.     The   Pere   Duchesne  of  Venice 
appeared.    The  Senate  was  obliged  to  prosecute  those 
who  chaunted  fictitious  psalms  and  obscene  litanies, 
to  take  action  against  mock  priests  who  administered 
the  sacraments  or  received  confessions.     Everywhere 
there  was  an  insurgence  of  dialect ;    a  reformation 
directed  not  against  the  dogma  of  Rome,  but  against 
the  pedantry  of  Rome.    Comedy  rose  once  more  from 
the   heart  of  the  people  to  answer  the  Ciceronian 
phrase  or  the  Platonic  refinement.    "  This  was  the 
apparition  of  the  people  in  letters,  of  Luther  in  poetry, 
of  free  judgment  on  the  stage.     Harlequin  is  opposed 
to  the   Inquisition ;   Pulcinella   to    pontifical  wrath ; 
Pantaloon  to  the  last  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 
Beltran  counterbalances  S.  Carlo  Borromeo ;  Florindo 
neutralizes  S.  Filippo  dei  Neri." l    While  Europe  is  at 
tlu-  reformation,  Italy  had  reached  the  revolution. 
1  See  Ferrari,  op,  cit. 


260  THE  SPANISH   CONSPIRACY 

Here,  then,  is  Venice  divided.  And  the  division  is 
marked  in  its  strongest  tones  of  splendour  and  of 
corruption  by  two  events  :  the  reception  of  Henry  III., 
King  of  France  and  Poland,  and  the  Spanish  Con- 
spiracy. Henry  passed  through  Venice  in  1574,  on 
his  way  to  take  the  crown  of  France.  The  Republic 
determined  to  receive  him  as  became  his  rank  and 
her  desire  to  secure  the  friendship  of  France.  The 
sumptuary  laws  were  suspended  during  the  ten  days 
of  Henry's  stay.  The  great  ladies  were  invited  to 
vie  with  one  another  in  magnificence  of  dress  and 
jewellery.  The  guilds  were  ordered  to  prepare  a 
splendid  pageant.  The  Palazzo  Foscari,  the  destined 
lodging  of  the  king,  was  hung  with  cloth  of  gold, 
with  crimson  velvet,  with  sky-blue  silk  seme  of 
fleurs-de-lys.1  Forty  pages,  the  youth,  the  beauty, 
the  nobility  of  Venice,  were  appointed  for  service  on 
the  king.  They  met  him  as  he  came  in  his  barge 
from  the  shore  near  Mestre,  each  in  his  gondola,  and 
his  gondolier  in  silken  shirt  and  hose  embroidered 
with  the  family  arms.  They  swept  in  a  semicircle 
round  the  royal  barge  and  conducted  the  king  to 
Murano.  Then,  on  the  following  day,  in  grand 
procession,  they  brought  him  to  the  palace  of  the 
Foscari.  For  ten  days  the  king  was  feted  as  no 
prince  had  ever  been  before.  There  were  the  gor- 
geous liveries  of  France  and  of  Venice;  fantastic 
barges,  sea  monsters  on  whose  backs  the  workmen 
of  Murano  fashioned  crystal  vases  at  the  furnace 
mouth ;  water  pageants ;  triumphal  arches  designed 
by  Palladio  and  painted  by  Tintoretto ;  regattas ; 
serenades  ;  fireworks  on  the  canal  by  night ;  banquets 
where  the  plates,  the  knives,  the  forks,  the  food  were 
all  of  sugar;  a  ball  in  the  Sala  del  Maggior  Consiglio, 
and  that  parterre  of  lovely  ladies  whose  perfume  of 
beauty  intoxicated  the  royal  senses  past  all  waking. 

1  See  Marsilio  della  Croce  for  a  detailed  account  of  Henry's  visit, 
Historia  della  publica  e  famosa  entrata  in  Vinegia  del  Serenissimo 
Henrico  III.,  etc. 


The  king  never  forgot  it  nor  recovered.  His  life  after 
was  a  long  mad  dream.  Henry  is  said  to  have  left 
the  remains  of  his  vigour  in  Venice.  We  cannot 
wonder,  for  he  brought  very  little  with  him,  and 
Venice  was  a  siren  tangling  the  hearts  of  men  in 
that  network  of  woven  light  and  colour,  the  silver- 
golden  waters  of  her  lagoons.  Or  shall  we  say 
that  she  was  a  harlot,  selling  herself  for  her  own 
pleasure;  buying  a  doubtful  political  importance  by 
bartering  her  body,  not  by  the  force  and  weight  of 
her  arms? 

Underneath  all  this  pomp  which  Henry  saw,  there 
lay  a  starving  and  a  dangerous  population,  casting 
up  as  a  froth  a  mob  of  varied  nationality ;  men  who 
haunted  the  piazza,  and  gained  a  livelihood  by  all 
disgraceful  means — by  spying,  by  informations,  and 
by  murder.  The  bravi  were  a  source  of  constant 
alarm,  and  in  1600  the  government  passed  a  stringent 
decree  of  banishment  against  them  all ;  but  in  vain. 
These  ruffians  were  thoroughly  acquainted  with  all  the 
hiding-places  of  the  intricate  city ;  a  favourite  refuge 
was  the  palace  of  an  ambassador,  where  they  were 
sure  to  find  a  ready  asylum.  The  police  magistrates 
have  constantly  to  complain  that  their  sbirri  are 
mocked  and  insulted  from  the  grille  in  the  basement 
of  some  embassy  by  the  man  they  were  sent  to  arrest. 
These  basements  were,  in  fact,  hives  of  scoundrels  of 
all  sorts,  petted,  caressed,  embraced  by  men  like 
Bedmar  or  like  Bruslart,  who  required  their  services 
to  obtain  information  or  to  remove  a  foe.  The 
difficulty  of  dealing  with  these  people,  the  rapid 
spread  of  political  corruption,  and  the  continual 
murders,  induced  the  government  to  encourage  a 
class  of  men  who  were  in  themselves  as  dangerous 
as  the  bravi.  Denouncement  became  a  trade.  The 
bocca  dil  /cone  was  opened  and  a  reign  of  terror 
began,  very  similar  to  that  produced  by  the  delatores 
of  imperial  Rome.  No  one  was  safe — the  charge 
of  treason  offered  such  a  sure  and  secret  method  of 


262  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

securing  vengeance  on  an  enemy.  In  every  great 
house  some  servants  were  to  be  found  who  were 
informers  by  profession.  The  fearful  lengths  to  which 
this  system  of  espionage  might  be  pushed  received  an 
illustration  in  the  fate  of  the  unfortunate  Foscarini, 
accused  of  plotting  in  the  house  of  Lady  Arundel, 
with  whom  he  was  merely  in  love.  Foscarini  was  put 
to  death  ;  and  the  lady  herself  only  escaped  humiliation 
by  compelling  Wotton,  the  English  ambassador,  to 
plead  her  cause  before  the  Senate ;  so  powerful  were 
informers  and  so  dangerous  the  confidence  reposed 
in  them  by  the  government.  Spies,  bravi,  courtesans, 
footmen,  barbers,  quack  doctors — in  short,  all  the  evil 
spirits  of  the  place  stood  together  in  a  kind  of 
freemasonry  of  iniquity  with  which  the  police  were 
quite  unable  to  cope.  These  were  the  elements  of 
a  corrupt  society,  banded  together  to  prey  on  all 
from  whom  they  could  wring  any  money  or  other 
advantage.  Their  numbers  were  constantly  recruited 
by  fresh  arrivals  from  Naples,  from  Spain,  above  all 
from  France.  The  Venetian  ambassador  writes  from 
Paris,  "  Every  day  my  house  is  crowded  with  people 
who  declare  themselves  desirous  to  serve  the  Republic ; 
the  applications  are  numberless ;  so  full  is  this  king- 
dom of  idle  men."  No  one  of  these  adventurers  who 
arrived  at  Venice  was  likely  to  remain  outside  the 
floating  population  of  his  brothers  whom  he  found 
already  established  there.  His  initiation  would  take 
no  long  time,  and  he  would  soon  learn  that  under 
the  life  of  the  Venetians  themselves  there  was  a  life 
of  foreigners,  roues,  declasses — men  all  of  them 
engaged  in  intrigue  of  some  sort.  Before  long  he 
might  find  himself  committed  to  a  plot  as  wild 
as  that  for  blowing  up  the  doge  and  sacking  the 
city. 

To  come  now  to  the  plot  itself  and  the  details  as  far 
as  we  can  gather  them  from  the  documents.  The 
opening  scene  is  laid  in  Naples,  and  it  is  to  the 
despatches  of  Gasparo  Spinelli,  Venetian  resident  in 


OSUNA  IN   NAPLES  263 

that  city,  that  we  must  look  for  information.1    Osuna 
arrived  as  viceroy  in  Naples  on  July  20,  1616.      He 
was  sent  there  from  Sicily  by  the  Spanish  government, 
with  the  distinct  object  of  harassing  Venice  in  the 
Adriatic;  the  intention  of  Spain  was  to  support  the 
Archduke  Ferdinand  in  his  war  against  the  Republic, 
with  a  view  to  rendering  its  support  of  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  less  efficacious,  and  thereby  to  forward  Spanish 
designs  for  securing  absolute    supremacy  in    Italy. 
Osuna  was  resolved,  in  the  pursuit  of  this  policy,  to 
challenge  Venetian   dominion    in    the  Adriatic,   and 
to  break  by  force  the  Venetian  claim  on  the  "  Gulf"  as 
a  mare  clausum.     Spinelli   was   soon    aware  of  the 
viceroy's  intentions — indeed,  Osuna  never  made  any 
secret  of  them — and  reported  home.     Venice  became 
alarmed,  and  instructed   her  agents  in  England  and 
Holland  to  hire  ships  on  the  London  Exchange  and  to 
raise  troops.      The  dread   of  seeing  the   Dutch  and 
English  in  strength  in  the  Mediterranean — a  permanent 
dread  at  the  Spanish  court  ever  since  the  days  of  the 
Armada — compelled   the    government    at   Madrid    to 
change  their  attitude  towards  Venice    and  to  send 
positive  orders  to  Osuna  not  to  enter  the  Adriatic. 
Osuna  never  intended  to  obey ;  he  repeatedly  told 
Spinelli  that,  in  spite  of  all  orders,  he  would  send  his 
ships  into  "  the  Gulf,"  but  under  his  own,  not  the 
King's,  flag.    All  the  same,  the  vacillating  policy  of 
Madrid  seriously  hampered  the  viceroy,    delayed  his 
operations  by  long  and  tedious  correspondence  with 
Spain,  and  when  Osuna  was  ready  to  strike  it  was  too 
late.8    In  a  sense  Venice  owed  her  preservation  to  the 
action  of  England  in  resolving  to  make  her  sea-power 
felt  in  the  Mediterranean. 

1  Archiv.  di  Stato,  Senate,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  and  Inquisi- 
tori  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  1617—1618.  These  latter  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  consulted  by  Ranke  and  Romanin.  The  official 
decipher  is  missing  in  some  cases  and  has  to  be  reconstructed. 

*  See  Corbett,  England  in  the  Mediterranean  (London,  Longmans  : 
1904),  voL  i.  chaps,  iii.  and  v.,  where  this  aspect  of  the  case  is 
admirably  put. 


264  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

When  Osuna  came  to  Naples  with  the  intention  of 
challenging  and  breaking  Venetian  maritime  supremacy 
in  the  Adriatic,  he  found  that  his  first  step  must  be  the 
formation  of  an  adequate  fleet.  He  had  received  his 
sea-training  in  Flanders  with  Federigo  Spinola,  and  in 
England ;  he  was  convinced  that  a  sailing  fleet  alone 
could  give  him  command  of  the  sea ;  and  he  had 
learned  that  to  make  a  crew  efficient  it  must  be  well 
paid  and  well  fed.  To  assist  him  in  his  plans  of  reform, 
he  called  in  the  services  of  several  French  corsairs, 
and  chief  among  them  the  notorious  Jacques  Pierre, 
who  eventually  became  the  leading  spirit  in  the 
Spanish  Conspiracy. 

Pierre's  reputation  as  an  adventurer  was  of  the  most 
dubious  quality.  He  had  preceded  Osuna  to  Naples, 
arriving  there  in  December,  1615  ;  and  Spinelliat  once 
reported  to  his  government  that  such  harbingers  of 
the  viceroy's  arrival  could  not  fail  to  awaken  suspicion.1 
His  fame  as  a  seaman,  however,  stood  very  high.2 
He  was  a  Norman  by  birth,  bred  to  the  sea,  with  so 
little  schooling  that  he  could  hardly  read  or  write, 
and  spoke  only  a  broken  patois  of  French  and  Spanish. 
For  this  reason,  when  we  find  him  at  Naples,  he  had  in 
his  company  a  Frenchman  called  Nicolas  Regnault, 
who  wrote  his  letters  for  him  and  acted  as  secretary. 
Pierre  apparently  left  France  to  seek  employment  first 
in  Tuscany,3  where  he  won  the  support  of  the  dowager 
duchess,  but  failed  to  obtain  leave  to  go  privateering 
under  the  grand  ducal  flag.  We  hear  of  him  next  at 
Naples,  building  ships  and  trying  to  recover  moneys 
due  from  the  Duke  of  Savoy,4  who  eventually  paid  the 
corsair  eight  thousand  ducats  for  the  use  of  his  ships.6 

1  "  Vedendosi  prevenire  la  venuta  del  Signer  d'  Osuna  da  simili 
soggetti  nonpuo  apportare  se  non  ombrae  sospetto,"  Romanin,  op,  cit, 
vol.  vii.  p.  115. 

3  Arch,  di  Stato,  Inquisitori  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Sept.  12, 
1617,  "  un  gran  capitano  et  il  miglior  uomo  che  fosse  in  mare." 

3  Arch,  di  Stato,  Senate,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Firenze,  Dec.  25,  1610. 

4  Arch,  di  Stato,  Senato,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Savoy,  Nov.  27,  1611. 

5  Ibid.,  Jan.  8,  1612. 


OSUNA  IN   NAPLES  265 

By  December,  1615,  he  had  definitely  entered  Osuna's 
service,  and  was  employed  by  the  Viceroy  in  furthering 
his  designs  for  the  construction  of  a  fleet  of  "  ships  " 
and  for  the  training  of  officers  and   crews.      Proofs 
of  his  ability  were  soon  displayed  in  the  efficiency 
of  the   viceregal  armament  and  the  skill  of  its  com- 
mander, Francisco  Ribera,  whose  seamanship,  which 
won  him  the  brilliant  victory  of  Cape  Celidon,  was 
probably  due  to  the  training  of  Jacques  Pierre.1    As 
far  as   the   preparation   of  a   fleet  for  the  attack  on 
Venice    was     concerned,    Osuna's     policy    promised 
success.     A  squadron  adequate  to  cope  with  Venice 
and  the  Dutch,  though  not,  perhaps,  with  the  English 
in  addition,  was  being  built  up  out  of  the  disorderly 
navies  which  Osuna  found  on  his  arrival  in  Sicily  and 
Naples.      But  the   peculiar    position    of    Venice,   its 
shallow  waters  and  intricate  channels,  called  for  more 
special   preparations,   and   presently   Spinelli  has  to 
report  that  in  the   arsenal  at  Naples  the  viceroy  is 
building  flat-bottomed  boats  of  shallow  draft.3     More- 
over, the  viceroy  was  known  to   have  in   his  study 
"  un  disegno  bellissimo  et  diligentissimo  della  citta  di 
Venetia  con  tutti  i  Lidi,"3  with  Spanish  ships  lying 
off  the  Castello  di  Sant'  Andrea,  and  galleys  in  the 
basin  of  San  Marco.     The  Ragusans  too  were  supply- 
ing him  with  charts  of  the  Adriatic 4 ;  a  certain  Captain 
Robert  Eliot  (Allyan)  furnished  plans  of  Istria  with 
which  he  was  well  acquainted.    Osuna  was  said  to  have 
an  understanding  with  one  of  the  consuls  in  Corfu,  and 
there  was  no  doubt  but  that  great  preparations  were 
being    made  in    the    harbour  of  Brindisi.      Osuna's 
ships  carried  a  supply  of  standards  of  San  Marco  to 

1  Corbett,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  30. 

'  Inquisitor!  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Sept.  12,  1617.  "Mi 
disse  egli  anco  delle  barche  che  si  fabricavano  nell'  arsenale  molto 
piano  nel  fondo." 

3  Senato,  Secreta,  Communicatione,  April  20,  1618. 

4  Inquisitori  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  April  17,  1618.     "  Molica 
[one  of  Osuna's  spies]  e  stato  a  posta  a  Venetia  a  scandagliare  la 
laguna,  che  e  stato  alle  Tre  Porti  et  a  Chioza." 


266  THE  SPANISH   CONSPIRACY 

serve  in  ruses  of  war.1  All  this  was  well  known  at 
Venice,  where  there  could  be  no  doubt  as  to  Osuna's 
intention  to  force  the  gulf,  and,  if  occasion  served,  to 
attack  Venice  itself.  The  viceroy  was  extremely 
anxious  to  find  out  how  the  secrets  of  his  cabinet  and 
the  operations  in  the  arsenal  came  to  the  ears  of  the 
Venetian  resident,  and  Spinelli's  house  was  sur- 
rounded by  spies  day  and  night 2 ;  he  even  thought  his 
life  in  danger.  On  the  other  hand,  Osuna  was  fully 
informed  of  all  that  passed  in  the  Senate  in  Venice,8 
nor  could  the  government  discover  where  the  leakage 
took  place ;  all  that  they  knew  was  that  the  news 
passed  through  the  Spanish  embassy  at  Venice,  and 
suspicion  rested  on  an  apothecary,  a  subject  of  the 
Duke  of  Parma,  but  who  supplied  the  apothecary  they 
could  not  find  out.  How  openly  and  for  how  long 
they  had  been  discussing  Osuna's  plans  at  Venice  we 
may  gather  from  a  despatch  written  by  Spinelli  to  the 
Inquisitori  di  Stato,  on  May  16,  i6i7.4  "  The  viceroy," 
he  says,  "is  indignant  at  a  message  he  has  received 
from  Venice,  telling  him  that  in  a  speech  in  the  Senate 
one  of  the  members,  discussing  the  possible  arrival  of 

1  Senate,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Oct.  10,  1617.  "Mi  fa  sapere 
suddito  di  V.  Sw  che  si  trova  in  questa  armata  esser  in  alcuni 
vasselli  bandiere  di  San  Marco  per  usare  dei  stratagemi."  Among 
the  pilots  on  Osuna's  fleet  was  a  certain  Giacomo  Fachia  di  Rovigno 
(in  Istria),  "pratico  dell'  Istria  et  del  porto  di  Malamocco,"  Inquisit. 
di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  March  4,  1617. 

*  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Jan.  23,  1618 :  "Mi  si 
tengono  da  alcuni  giorni  in  qu&  le  spie  anco  tutta  la  notte  intorno 
questa  casa."  Spinelli's  chief  informant  was  Andosiglia,  who  obtained 
information  from  one  of  Osuna's  pages.  Andosiglia's  fixed  pay  was 
ten  ducats  a  month. 

8  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  June  9,  1618  :  "Col  mezzo  di 
uno  di  casa  della  Principessa  di  Bisagnano  ...  mi  vien  fatto  saper 
che  vi  sia  in  Venetia  un  cittadino  che  fa  pervenire  a  sua  Ecc*.  ogni 
particolare  delle  cose  di  quella  citta." 

4  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Disp.  Nap.  1617,  May  16 :  "Che  nelP  Ecc™. 
Pregadi  in  renga  un  Illmo.  Senatore,  ragionando  sopra  la  venuta  de 
suoi  galeoni  in  Golfo,  dicesse  che  era  necessario  rintuzzare  1'  orgoglio 
et  il  troppo  ardire  di  un  Duchetto  et  reprimere  con  le  arme  queste  sue 
tante  pretension!  .  .  .  di  che  intendo  non  puo  darsi  pace." 


OSUNA'S  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  PLOT  267 

his  galleons  in  the  gulf,  declared  that  it  was  time  to 
curb  the  pride  and  insolence  of  this  little  dukling,  and 
to  crush  by  force  of  arms  his  overweening  pretensions." 
From  all  this  it  is  clear  that,  as  a  general  line  of  policy, 
Osuna  intended  to  attack  Venice  in  the  Adriatic,  that 
the  Venetians  were  well  aware  of  the  fact,  and  that, 
forewarned,  they  forearmed,  and  sent  instructions  to 
their  admiral  in  the  Adriatic,  to  the  Governor  of  Corfu, 
and,  in  face  of  the  acknowledged  efficiency  of  Osuna's 
fleet,  demonstrated  by  the  victory  of  Cape  Celidon, 
they  were  raising  auxiliary  forces  in  England  and 
Holland. 

But  there  was  another  and  a  secret  side  to  Osuna's 
schemes ;  and  it  is  here  that  we  come  upon  the 
Spanish  Conspiracy  properly  so  called.  It  is  necessary 
to  bear  in  mind  that  there  were  two  distinct  lines  of 
action  on  the  part  of  the  viceroy,  his  declared  and 
open  intention  to  challenge  Venetian  supremacy  in 
the  Adriatic,  and  the  secret  plot  by  which  he  hoped  to 
strike  a  blow  at  Venice  from  the  inside.  I  see  no 
reason,  in  face  of  the  evidence,  for  doubting  that 
Osuna  was  from  the  first  in  full  understanding  with 
the  conspirators.  How  far  he  thought  their  mad 
scheme  feasible  is  uncertain,  but  that  he  was  aware  of 
it  and  willing  to  take  advantage  of  it  for  the  further- 
ance of  his  openly  avowed  policy  seems  certain.  It  is 
highly  improbable  that  the  Council  of  Ten,  in  laying 
before  the  Senate  a  full  report  of  the  evidence  on  the 
plot,  a  report  of  the  most  secret  nature,  never  intended 
for  publication,  would  have  been  at  the  pains  to  con- 
coct such  a  chain  of  melodramatic  but  overwhelming 
proof;  and  if  that  evidence  is  sound,  then  there  can 
be  no  doubt  about  Osuna's  participation  in  the  con- 
spiracy from  the  beginning  to  the  end.1  The  facts,  as 

1  The  evidence  will  appear  in  the  course  of  the  narrative  ;  but  I  may 
here  recapitulate  the  chief  points,  which  are,  the  testimony  of  Juven 
and  Moncassin,  as  communicated  by  the  Ten  to  the  Senate  ;  the  dis- 
covery of  letters  addressed  to  Osuna  in  the  stockings  of  the  brothers 
Desbouleaux  ;  Jacques  Pierre's  letter  to  Osuna,  urging  him  to  treat 


268  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

we  shall  relate  them  from  the  documents,  point  to  no 
other  conclusion.  As  we  have  seen,  Jacques  Pierre 
had  with  him  in  Naples,  in  the  quality  of  secretary,  an 
old  Frenchman  named  Nicholas  Regnault  (Nicolo 
Rinaldi,  in  the  Italian  documents).  Regnault  was  an 
adventurer,  like  his  patron,  and — though  only  after  the 
discovery  of  the  plot  in  which  he  took  a  leading  part — 
the  French  ambassador  at  Venice  gave  him  no  very 
good  character.  "  Regnault,"  he  said,  addressing  the 
doge  in  cabinet,  "  as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  a  bad  lot ;  I 
forbade  him  the  house  a  year  ago,  when  I  learned  that 
he  was  taking  information  to  the  Spanish  ambassador. 
.  .  .  He  had  been  publicly  flogged,  and  unless  I  err, 
he  was  branded  with  the  royal  lily  on  one  shoulder."1 
But  these  facts  were  not  known  to  Spinelli  when  he 
first  made  Regnault's  acquaintance ;  to  the  Venetian 
resident  he  appeared  as  one  of  the  many  French 
gentlemen  wandering  abroad  in  search  of  fortune  and 
adventure.  Regnault  had  a  certain  amount  of  culture, 
wrote  a  fine  bold  hand,2  and  knew  Italian  very  well ; 
indeed,  it  was  for  these  reasons  that  Pierre  took 
him  into  his  service  to  supply  his  own  defects. 
Spinelli  first  met  Regnault  at  Constantinople ;  the 

Pierre's  wife  more  harshly,  so  as  to  blind  the  Venetians  as  to  the 
real  relations  between  them  (Communicate,  Oct.  17,  1618)  ;  Spinelli's 
despatch  of  June  9,  1618,  "  Si  dice  hora  che  da  sua  Ecc*.  era  tenuto 
carcerato  a  posta  un  tal  Visconte  amico  di  giac  Pierre  per  dar  da 
intender  di  perseguitare  anco  li  suoi  amici " ;  Inquisitori  di  Stato, 
Dispacci,  Napoli ;  Osuna's  confession  that  he  knew  money  had  been 
sent  to  the  conspirators  in  Venice,  though  he  denied  that  it  came  from 
him,  "  so  bene  che  vi  furono  mandati  denari,  ma  non  so  da  qual  parte 
non  certo  da  me,"  Ranke,  op.  cit.  p.  539  ;  Wotton's  statement  on  July  14, 
1618,  that  Pierre  was  "tutto  tutto  del  suddetto  Vicere,"  Esposizioni 
Principi,  Inghilterra. 

1  Esposizioni  Principi,  Francia,  July  18,  1618.  "  II  Rinaldi  vera- 
mente  era  uomo  cattivo  ;  lo  cacciai  da  mia  casa  sin  1'anno  passato.  .  .  . 
II  Rinaldi  fu  frustato,  et  credo  avesse  un  marco  del  giglio  regio 
sopra  la  spalla." 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Feb.  18,  1617-18,  enclosing 
seven  letters  addressed  by  Regnault  to  Spinelli.  These  letters  escaped 
the  attention  of  Ranke  and  Romanin. 


PIERRE  AND  REGNAULT  269 

Frenchman  was  living  in  good  society,  frequenting 
the  Venetian  embassy,  where  Spinelli  was  serving  on 
the  staff  of  the  Ambassador  Bon.1  In  the  autumn  of 
1615  Regnault  came  to  Naples,  apparently  on  some 
business  of  a  law  suit ;  and  when  Spinelli  arrived  as 
Venetian  resident,  the  Frenchman  proceeded  to  renew 
his  acquaintance.  Spinelli  himself  tells  us  that  he  was 
glad  to  see  him  because  he  appeared  to  be  sincerely 
attached  to  the  Republic,  and  was  moreover  an  excellent 
source  of  information  ;  accordingly  he  established  the 
custom  that  Regnault  should  dine  at  least  twice  a 
week  at  the  Venetian  legation. 

Regnault  and  Jacques  Pierre  were  in  intimate 
relations  with  one  another,  as  we  have  seen,  and 
along  with  them  was  another  Frenchman,  Captain 
Langrand,*  a  military  engineer,  skilled  in  the  com- 
position of  Greek-fire  and  explosives.  Both  Pierre 
and  Langrand  were  in  the  pay  of  the  Duke  of  Osuna. 
Pierre  had  a  wife  and  daughter,  whom  he  had  left 
at  Messina  when  he  came  to  Naples  in  Osuna's 
service ;  while  Langrand  had  a  wife  or  mistress, 
Madalena  Bellona,  a  Frenchwoman,3  living  with  him 
in  Naples — a  fact  of  some  importance  in  the  later 
development  of  the  plot. 

Soon  after  the  renewal  of  the  friendship  between 
Spinelli  and  Regnault,  Pierre  and  Langrand  began, 
by  means  of  Regnault,  to  express  to  the  resident  a 
desire  to  enter  Venetian  service.  Pierre  had  already 
made  similar  proposals  as  early  as  November  29,  1615,* 
to  Contarini,  Venetian  ambassador  in  Rome.  He 
offered  to  reveal  vast  designs  of  Osuna  against  the 
Republic,  but,  on  being  pressed  for  details,  became 
so  vague  that  Contarini  made  up  his  mind  that  the 

1  For  this  account  of  the  relations  between  Spinelli  and  Regnault, 
see  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Sept.  12,  1617. 

1  His  name  appears  as  Langrand,  Langrans,  Laugrand,  Lang  lad. 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Oct.  3,  1617.  Also  Regnault 
to  Spinelli,  Aug.  15,  1617,  in  despatch  from  Naples,  Feb.  13,  1617-18. 

*  See  Contarini  to  the  Capi  of  the  Ten. 


2/0  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

whole  tale  was  piu  tosto  chimere  che  altro.  Now,  how- 
ever, in  Naples,  Regnault  began  to  sing  the  praises 
of  Pierre  as  a  great  sea-captain,  whose  services  would 
be  of  untold  value  to  Venice.  Spinelli  swallowed  the 
bait.  He  had  confidence  in  and  liking  for  Regnault, 
and  he  granted  secret  interviews  by  night  to  Pierre, 
though  he  got  nothing  more  definite  from  him  than 
did  Contarini,  nothing  more  than  vague  outlines  of 
plans  for  attacking  Venice,  now  in  Albania,  now  in 
the  Morea,  now  in  the  Levant.  Pierre  astutely  de- 
clared that  he  knew  all  Osuna's  designs,  but  would 
not  reveal  them  till  he  was  in  Venice.1 

Matters  went  on  like  this  for  some  time,  Pierre 
making  secret  visits  by  night  to  the  legation  or 
meeting  Spinelli  in  the  monastery  of  Santa  Chiera ; 
terrifying  the  resident  with  tales  of  Osuna's  awful 
designs,  but  never  descending  to  particulars;  while 
Regnault  kept  up  the  chorus  of  praise,  all  of  which 
the  resident  reported  to  Venice.  Presently,  how- 
ever, Spinelli  received  orders  from  home  to  engage 
officers  for  service  with  the  Republic.2  He  was  con- 
vinced of  Regnault's  sincerity  and  Pierre's  and  Lan- 
grand's  value ;  he  had  also  another  officer  in  his  eye, 
Captain  Alessandro  Spinosa,  a  Roman.  But  as  all 
three  were  in  the  pay  of  Osuna,  of  whose  violence 
Spinelli  had  a  lively  terror,  he  did  not  dare  to  treat 
with  them  openly  as  to  the  terms  of  their  contract 
with  Venice.3  Accordingly  they  agreed  to  send  Reg- 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Sept.  12,1617:  "Etchenon 
voleva  palesar  cosa  alcuna  se  non  veniva  a  Venetia." 

*  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Sept.  12,  1617:  "Havevo 
ricevuto  ordine  publico  di  procurare  homini  di  comando  per  carichi 
superiori  et  inferiori." 

8  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  "Et  perche  non  mi  assicurava  di  intrare  con 
questi  a  tratare  alia  libera  la  sua  condotta  per  dubio  che  risapendolo 
il  Signer  Duca  di  Osuna  precipitasse  a  qualche  stravaganza  contra  di 
me.  ...  So  quanto  siano  precipitate  le  resolutioni  del  Signor  Vicere 
che  haverebe  asentito  ad  ogni  male  contra  la  persona  mia."  Spinelli 
was  so  afraid  of  some  violation  of  the  residency  that  he  sent  the 
archives  for  safe  custody  to  Padre  Ottaviano  Bon,  of  the  Cruciferi. 


THE  CONSPIRATORS  IN  VENICE      271 

nault  to  Venice  for  this  purpose ;  and  in  the  meantime 
Pierre  and  Langrand,  who  had  received  orders  from 
Osuna  to  go  to  Gaeta  and  Civita  Vecchia  to  raise  sailors, 
and  then  to  return  for  service  on  board  the  fleet,  took 
the  opportunity  of  escaping  to  Rome,  where  they  told 
Spinelli    they    would    await    the    confirmation    from 
Venice  of  the  terms  they  had  settled  with  him.     This 
confirmation  arrived   presently  at   Naples,   and   was 
forwarded   by  Spinelli  to  Contarini,  who  communi- 
cated it  to   Pierre,  Langrand,  and   Spinosa.      Pierre 
was  promised  service,  but  declined  any  definite  salary, 
declaring  that  he  was  sure  the  Republic  would  reward 
him  adequately  for  the  services   he    was    about    to 
render ;  Langrand  received  a  contract  for  three  years 
at  forty  ducats  a  month.1     Of  Spinosa's  contract  I  can 
find  no  trace,  though  we  shall  presently  see  that  he 
was  immediately  given   a  very  high   and   important 
command.     It  does  not  appear  from   the   documents 
that  Spinosa  was  actually  in  company  with  the  other 
three;   it  is  more  likely  that,  as  an  Italian,  he  was 
acting  separately,  and   had  merely  been  picked   out 
by  Spinelli  on  account  of  his  well-known  reputation  as 
a  soldier.     Regnault,  Pierre,  and  Langrand  arrived  in 
Venice  in  May,  1617,  Spinosa  apparently  a  little  later. 
Contarini  took  a  very  different  view  of  the  character 
and    intentions    of   Pierre    from    that  expressed   by 
Spinelli.     Spinelli,  in   forwarding  a  sort  of  letter  of 
recommendation    to    the    government,  declared    that 
"  Captain  Langrand  and  Jacques  Pierre  have  entered 
Venetian    service    with    the    sincerest  intention  and 
desire  to  act  honourably.      I  know  this  from  many 
proofs  and  observations,   and   chiefly  because   those 
who  are  here  suspected  of  having  had  a  hand  in  their 
flight  have  been  imprisoned  and  cruelly  tortured."* 

1  Senate,  Secreta  Communication!,  Aug.  2,  1617. 

1  Romanin,  op.  at.  vol.  vii.  118.  Senato,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Napoli, 
Aug.  i,  1617.  Spinelli  refers  here  to  a  certain  Visconti,  whose  arrest 
and  torture  were  afterwards  described  as  a  blind  employed  by  the 
duke. 


272  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

This  was  the  line  Spinelli  took  all  along,  until  one 
after  another  the  men  he  had  sent  to  Venice  were 
discovered  traitors.  He  continually  urges  that  it  is 
impossible  to  doubt  their  good  faith  in  face  of  the 
way  in  which  .Osuna  was  harassing  their  relations 
and  friends.  On  the  other  hand,  Contarini  wrote  from 
Rome  on  April  15,  1617,  as  follows:  "Captain  Jacques 
Pierre  has  in  a  hundred  ways  expressed  his  firm 
desire  to  enlist  in  Venetian  service ;  it  has  frequently 
crossed  my  mind  that  this  corsair,  whose  character 
merits  as  little  confidence  as  his  courage  and  audacity 
call  for  respect,  is  trying  to  enter  the  pay  of  the  Republic 
in  order  that,  having  once  obtained  a  command  in  the 
fleet,  he  may  render  some  service  to  the  Duke  of  Osuna 
and  the  Spanish ;  such  insistence  does  not  seem  to  be 
natural.  I  may  be  wrong,  and  hope  it  is  so.  In  any 
case,  a  good  doctor  knows  how  to  use  even  poisons ; 
I  mean  to  say  that  your  serenity  can  quite  well  avail 
yourself  of  his  information  and  his  services  in  such  a 
way  as  to  secure  the  benefit  without  the  damage." l 

Events  proved  that  Contarini  was  right,  and  Spinelli 
himself  admitted  subsequently  that  Osuna's  attitude 
was  merely  a  blind.  When  the  viceroy  heard  that 
Pierre,  Langrand,  and  Spinosa  had  left  Naples  for 
Venetian  service,  he  certainly  arrested  and  said  he 
had  tortured  Marco  Visconti  on  the  charge  of  having 
assisted  Pierre  and  Langrand,  and  Spinelli  reports 
that  he  flew  into  a  passion  on  receipt  of  the  news 
that  they  had  arrived  in  Venice,  though  it  is  true 
he  adds,  "or  at  least  he  feigned  rage  very  cleverly 
if  it  were  fictitious." 2  As  to  Spinosa,  here  again  the 
viceroy's  conduct  convinced  Spinelli  that  the  breach 
between  the  duke  and  this  officer  was  genuine  and 
complete.  Writing  home  after  the  execution  of 

1  Romanin,  op.  cit.  vol.  vii.  p.  118.  Senate,  Secreta,  Dispacci, 
Roma,  April  15,  1617. 

*  Inquisit.di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Sept.  12,1717:  "Sua  eccellenza 
intese  la  venuta  di  deti  francesi  a  Venetia  arabiava  dal  dispiacere, 
overo  fingeva  molto  bene  quando  sia  altramente." 


SPINOSA   IN   VENICE  273 

Spinosa,  he  says,  "  The  subtlest  art  was  employed 
to  deceive  me.  I  could  never  have  believed  that,  as 
the  viceroy  had  cashiered  Spinosa,  imprisoned  him, 
and  affronted  him  in  other  ways,  these 1  injuries  could 
ever  have  been  overlooked."  Spinelli's  attitude  was 
not  unnatural :  Osuna's  conduct  would  have  deceived 
a  shrewder  man  than  the  Venetian  resident  at  Naples  ; 
and  yet  there  can  hardly  be  any  doubt  that  the 
viceroy  "  fingeva  molto  bene."  The  facts  that  Spinosa 
was  still  retained  in  Osuna's  pay,  that  he  had  hardly 
reached  Venice  before  he  embarked  on  treasonable 
courses,  and  that  Pierre  and  company  were  in  frequent 
correspondence  with  Naples,  render  the  conclusion 
almost  certain.  I  do  not  mean  that  Osuna  either  knew 
the  details  of  their  mad  designs  or  discussed  their 
execution ;  but  he  was  aware  that  these  French  and 
Italian  adventurers  had  gone  to  Venice  to  further 
Spanish  interests  and  his  own  plans,  he  was  quite 
prepared  to  take  advantage  of  whatever  treachery 
they  might  perpetrate,  and  they  could  look  to  him 
for  support  and  reward. 

When  Pierre,  Regnault,  and  Langrand  reached 
Venice  they  met  with  a  cold  reception.  The  govern- 
ment had  before  them  Spinelli's  warm  recommenda- 
tion and  Contarini's  shrewd  letter  of  warning,  and 
in  the  perplexity  of  the  situation  they  delayed  to 
fulfil  the  contract ;  none  of  the  three  received  a  com- 
mission. With  Spinosa  it  was  different.  Contarini 
had  not  seen  him  ;  in  his  case  there  was  no  hostile 
report.  He  was  almost  immediately  appointed  to  the 
important  post  of  Governor  of  the  Castle  of  Chioggia.8 

Meanwhile,  the  government  was  in  constant  receipt 
of  news  which  made  them  uneasy  as  to  the  attitude 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Oct.  3,  1617:  "Ha  usato 
grandissima  arte  per  ingannarmi  .  .  .  essendogli  stato  levata  la  com- 
pagnia  dal  Sig.  Vicere,  fatto  carcerare,  et  fattigli  altri  affronti." 

1  Consig.  de  X.  Processi,  Criminali,  reg.  34,  fol.  45,  Aug.  25,  1617  : 
"  Cap".  Alessandro  Spinosa  ultimamente  richiamato  dalla  custodia  del 
Castello  di  Chioggia  dove  era  deputato." 

VOL.    II.  1 8 


274  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

of  the  Spanish  ambassador,  Alfonso  della  Queva, 
Marquis  of  Bedmar.  As  early  as  June  27,  1615, 
Lionello,  secretary  in  London,  had  informed  the 
inquisitors  that  Bedmar  was  planning  mischief  and 
had  many  partisans  even  among  the  nobles.1  And 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  Bedmar  was  in  close  correspon- 
dence with  Osuna,  helping  him  to  mature  his  designs 
and  encouraging  him  in  every  way  by  representing 
the  Venetian  exchequer  as  exhausted  and  the  whole 
direction  of  her  naval  and  military  forces  in  confusion. 
More  alarming  still,  Bedmar  was  observed  to  be  in 
close  relations  with  the  English  ambassador,  Sir 
Henry  Wotton,2  and  the  French  ambassador,  Leon 
de  Bruslart.3  All  this,  coupled  with  Osuna's  openly 
declared  intentions,  news  of  which  was  furnished 
almost  weekly  by  Spinelli,  warned  the  government 
that  the  situation  was  critical  and  kept  them  in  a  state 
of  high  nervous  tension.  When  Jacques  Pierre  did 
begin  to  make  his  promised  revelations,  he  told  the 
government  nothing  that  they  did  not  know  already. 
Meantime  Pierre  and  company,  finding  that  they 
were  making  no  progress,  that  their  commissions 
were  delayed  and  themselves  treated  coldly,  resolved 
to  take  a  step  characteristic  of  adventurers.  They 
had  measured  their  man  at  Naples  and  knew  quite 
well  that  Spinelli  was  living  in  terror  of  his  life. 
They  wrote  an  anonymous  letter  to  the  resident,4 

1  Romanin,  op.  cit.  vol.  vii.  p.  119. 

1  Senate,  Secreta,  Communication!,  filza  viii.  June  28,  1617  :  The 
English  ambassador  spent  two  hours  with  the  Spanish  ambassador, 
a  thing  he  had  not  done  for  a  year  past.  Also,  Lionello  from 
London,  August  n,  1617,  Winwood  (Vinut)  had  inquired  about 
Wotton  "  del  quale  li  provenivano  ogni  giorno  alle  orecchie  avisi 
peggiori  che  eran  intorno  la  sua  poca  fedelta  "  ;  "  et  e  fama  che  fusse 
guadagnato  da  Spagnoli  al  trattato  di  Vesel." 

3  Romanin,  op.  cit.  vol.  vii.  p.  120. 

*  The  letter  is  enclosed  in  Spinelli's  despatch  of  July  26.  It  is  in 
Regnault's  fine,  bold  hand.  See  Senate,  Secreta,  Communicationi, 
Aug.  2,  1617.  Spinelli  says,  "  Ricevo  hora  una  lettera  scrittami 
da  Venetia  .  .  .  sotto  scritta  Pierez  Serandeaus  et  credo  sia  il 
Capitan  Giac  Pier  et  compagni." 


PIERRE  THREATENS  SPINELLI        275 

threatening  to  return  to  Naples  "to  thank  him  as 
he  deserved."  Spinelli  took  this  as  a  threat  on  his 
life.  He  wrote  home  on  July  26  enclosing  the  letter, 
and  went  on  to  say  that  in  settling  the  terms  of 
Pierre's  and  Langrand's  contracts  he  had  merely 
carried  out  orders  from  the  government.  "These 
men  now  seem  to  be  highly  indignant  that  my  pro- 
mises have  not  been  kept.  They  think  they  have 
been  befooled.  If  they  do  come  back  here,  they  will 
certainly  kill  me.  Osuna  will  do  nothing  to  protect 
me  when  he  finds  out  that  it  was  I  who  sent  them 
into  your  serenity's  service.  But  if  these  French- 
men are  satisfied — Langrand  by  receiving  his  pay  of 
forty  ducats  a  month  and  Pierre  by  some  honourable 
employment — I  could  then  stay  on  here  with  less 
danger.  Regnault,  too,  who  went  to  Venice  to  con- 
clude the  contract,  might  at  least  receive  his  travelling 
expenses.  They  threaten  to  be  here  in  a  few  days, 
so  delay  is  most  dangerous.  I  think  it  would  be  as 
well  to  employ  them  with  the  fleet,  for  if  they  choose 
they  can  render  signal  services." l  This  was  followed 
by  the  letter  of  recommendation  dated  August  i, 
already  quoted,  and  to  Spinelli's  great  relief  both 
Pierre  and  Langrand  were  definitely  taken  into 
Venetian  service  on  August  5,  i6i7.2  But  Spinelli 
was  not  quit  of  them  yet.  On  August  15  Regnault 
wrote  to  him  asking  him  on  behalf  of  Langrand  to 
advance  fifteen  ducats  to  Madalena  Bellona,  Lan- 
grand's wife,  whom  he  wished  to  bring  to  Venice. 

1  Senato,  Secreta,  Communication!,  Aug.  2,  1617:  "  Sono  venuti 
a  Venetia  condottivi  di  ordine  publico  havendo  io  qui  terminate)  il 
stipendio  al  Capitano  Langrans,  ingenero,  in  40  ducati  al  mese  et  il 
Cap*.  Giac  Pier  con  speranza  di  esser  riconosciuto  secondo  il  buon 
servitio  che  prestava.  ...  II  Sigr.  Nicol6  Rinaldi  pa»tl  di  qua  per 
venir  a  trattar  a  Venetia  la  condotta  di  questi  e  sarebbe  bene  darle 
alcuna  sodisfattione  almeno  delle  spese  del  viaggio.  .  .  .  Sarebbe 
bene  mandarli  in  armata,  perchfe  quando  vogliono,  come  spero, 
possino  prestar  ottimo  servitio." 

1  Senato,  Secreta,  Delib.  under  date.  Romanin,  op.  cit.  vol.  vii. 
P-  124. 


276  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

Spinelli  consented,  out  of  fear  that  these  ruffians 
("  quest!  soggetti ")  would  do  him  an  injury.1  When 
Madalena  did  set  out  early  in  1618,  she  was  arrested 
by  Osuna's  orders  at  A  versa,2  a  short  distance  from 
Naples,  thereby  confirming  the  impression  which 
he  wished  to  create — namely,  that  Pierre  and  his 
whole  company  were  in  deep  disgrace  with  the 
viceroy,  and  might  therefore  safely  be  trusted  by 
Venice. 

Langrand  was  now  drawing  his  pay  from  the 
Republic,  though  as  yet  without  a  post,  while  Pierre 
began  to  fulfil  his  promises  of  what  he  would  do 
when  once  admitted  to  Venetian  service.  He  put 
in  vague  statements  as  to  Osuna's  designs  in  con- 
junction with  the  Archduke  Ferdinand,  as  to  his 
armaments  intended  for  the  Levant,  as  to  his  flat- 
bottom  boats  filled  apparently  with  merchandise,  but 
really  concealing  soldiers,  with  which  the  viceroy 
proposed  to  seize  the  city  of  Venice ;  all  the  wild 
schemes,  in  short,  which  the  government  had  heard 
of  over  and  over  again  from  Spinelli  and  from  Conta- 
rini.  The  surprise  was  to  be  carried  out  in  March 
or  in  September  of  the  following  year.3  But  Pierre 
had  already  taken  a  far  more  definite  step  to  win 
the  confidence  of  his  employers. 

We  must  return  for  a  little  to  Captain  Spinosa, 
Governor  of  the  Castle  at  Chioggia.  This  Roman 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Feb.  18,  1617-18,  enclosure  i. 
Regnault  to  Spinelli,  Aug.  15,  1617  ;  Inquisit.  Dispacci,  Napoli, 
Oct.  3,  1617,  Spinelli  to  Inquisitori :  "  Rinaldi  mi  ricercfc  li  giorn 
passati  de  dover  esborsare  ducati  1 5  ad  una  Madalena  Bellona  .  .  . 
gli  li  esborsai  et  gli  lo  scrissi,  et  stimai  bene  di  fargli  servitio  perche 
quest!  giorni  passati  hebbi  grandissimo  timore  che  questi  soggetti 
mi  farebero  qualche  burla."  Langrand  seemed  unwilling  to  repay 
Spinelli's  loan,  but  Regnault  compelled  him  to  do  so  out  of  his  pay. 
Spinelli  to  Inquisitori,  Feb.  13,  1617-18,  "Et  dopo  qualche  mese  istesso 
Renaldi  me  li  fece  ricuperar  dalle  paghe  del  detto  Langrand." 

3  For  the  arrest  of  Madalena  see  Inquisit.  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Jan. 
30  and  Feb.  13,  1617-18. 

3  Consig.  di  X.  Parti  Secrete,  Sept.  2,  1617  ;  also  Senate,  Secreta, 
Communication!,  of  same  date. 


PIERRE  DENOUNCES  SPINOSA        277 

adventurer  soon  made  the  acquaintance  of  his  French 
brother-adventurers  in  Venice,  and  among  others,  of 
Jacques  Pierre,  if  he  had  not  known  him  already  at 
Naples  when  both  were  in  the  duke's  pay.  Spinosa  also 
made  friends  among  the  aristocracy,  especially  with  the 
patrician  Girolamo  Grimani,  a  man  with  an  overween- 
ing conceit  of  his  own  value,  and  a  grievance  against 
the  government  for  not  employing  him.  Grimani  and 
Spinosa  were  always  about  together,  and  Grimani's 
brother-nobles  used  to  rally  him  on  his  attachment  to 
"  suo  Capitano."  Under  Spinosa's  influence  Grimani 
finally  resolved  to  seek  the  service  of  Osuna,  a  step 
which  proved  his  ruin.1  Spinosa,  moreover,  it  seems, 
was  already  in  secret  relations  with  Bedmar.8  He 
introduced  Pierre  to  the  Spanish  embassy,  where  in 
the  room  of  the  secretary,  Robert  Brouillard,  they  had 
an  interview  with  the  ambassador,  and  freely  discussed 
Osuna's  plans  against  Venice.  Here  Pierre  saw  his 
opportunity.  He  may  have  been  jealous  of  a  fellow- 
adventurer  and  unwilling  to  admit  a  partner  in  the 
prospective  profits,  but  more  probably  he  was  merely 
intent  on  securing  to  himself  the  confidence  of  the 
Venetian  government,  so  as  to  enable  him  the  more 
safely  to  mature  his  plot.  In  any  case,  he  denounced 
Spinosa  to  the  Council  of  Ten,  about  the  middle  of 
August  sending  in  a  detailed  account  of  the  colloquy 
at  the  Spanish  embassy.  How  he,  an  officer  in  the 
service  of  the  Republic,  justified  his  own  presence  at 
the  embassy  and  allayed  Venetian  suspicion,  we  do 
not  know  ;  probably  he  said  he  was  spying  in  Venetian 
interests,  and  adduced  his  present  conduct  in  proof. 
However  that  may  be,  on  August  25,  1617,  the  Council 
of  Ten  ordered  the  arrest  of  Captain  Alessandro 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Oct.  10,  1617.  Grimani  to 
Cardinal  Melini,  Naples,  Oct.  27,  enclosed  in  Spinelli's  despatch 
of  Oct.  31. 

*  According  to  Daru  (lib.  xxxi.),  who  has  some  brief  though  in- 
complete and  inexact  notice  of  the  Spinosa  affair,  ignored  by  Romanin 
and  Ranke. 


278  THE  SPANISH   CONSPIRACY 

Spinosa,  who  had  been  recalled  from  his  post  as 
Governor  of  the  Castle  at  Chioggia,  and  his  case 
was  committed  to  the  Inquisitori  di  Stato  and  the 
Criminal  Committee  of  the  Ten.1  The  court  wrote 
to  Spinelli  to  furnish  full  particulars  about  the  man 
he  had  recently  sent  into  Venetian  service,  and  by 
September  5  Spinelli  had  in  his  hands  a  denun- 
ciation of  Spinosa,  furnished  by  the  legation  spy 
Andosiglia,  declaring  that  Spinosa  was  still  drawing 
his  pay  from  Osuna,  and  enclosing  a  document 
ltde  vita  et  moribus  di  esso  Alessandro  Spinosa," 
painting  the  captain  in  lurid  colours.2  But  the  In- 
quisitori at  Venice  did  not  wait  for  Spinelli's  report. 
On  September  6  they  proceeded  to  a  further  exami- 
nation of  the  prisoner.  They  had  orders  from  the 
Ten,  that  if  Spinosa  persisted  in  denying  the  charge, 
he  was  to  be  told  that  "  at  his  interview  with  the 
Spanish  ambassador  in  the  secretary's  room,  there 
were  present  Captain  Jacques  Pierre  and  D.  Annibale 
Rennat  [?  Regnault],  a  Frenchman,  and  the  tenor 
of  his  remarks  to  the  ambassador  is  to  be  re- 
peated to  him.  If  he  does  not  then  confess,  he 
is  to  be  put  to  the  torture,  as  we  desire  to  have 
him  convicted  and  confessed  of  the  truth  of  these 
particulars." s  Whether  Spinosa  confessed  or  not  we 

1  Consig.  di  X.  Processi  Criminali,  reg.  34,  fol.  45  :  "  Che  per  le 
cose  dette  e  lette  il  Cap0.  Alessandro  Spinosa  .  .  .  sia  ritento." 

+  15 

—  o 

-  i 

3  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Sept.  5,  Sept.  12,  and  Oct.  3. 
Andosiglia  received  his  information  about  Spinosa's  pay  through  a 
page  of  the  duke.  Spinelli  writes,  "  Intendo  molte  cose  in  detta 
relatione  (fie  -vita,  etc.)  che  mai  me  le  haverei  imaginate  di  questo 
soggetto  ch'  io  tenni  in  molta  consideratione  di  buon  et  onorato 
soldato." 

3  Consig.  di  X.  ibid.  fol.  46™ :  "  Et  persistendo  nelle  negative  li  sia 
detto  che  al  congresso  suo  con  1'  ambasciatore  di  Spagna  nella 
camera  del  Segretario  si  sono  ritrovati  presenti  con  esso  il  Cap0. 
Giac  Pier  et  D.  Annibal  Rennat  francese,  et  di  piu  li  siano  anche  detti 
li  particolari  delle  loro  trattationi  di  all'  hora ;  et  non  confessando 


SPINOSA  CONDEMNED  279 

do  not  know.1  On  September  1 5  Spinosa  was  called 
on  by  the  Ten  to  put  in  his  defence,  which  would  lead 
us  to  suppose  that  he  had  not  confessed ;  and  on  the 
same  date  Grimani  was  summoned  to  give  evidence, 
but,  as  we  shall  see,  he  had  already  fled.  Spinosa 
demanded  that  Spinelli  should  be  examined,  and  also 
Grimani,  to  which,  on  September  16,  the  court  replied 
that  they  would  not  examine  Spinelli,  their  envoy  at 
Naples,  and  could  not  examine  Grimani  as  he  was 
"fuori  dello  stato";  if  Spinosa  had  anything  further  to 
urge,  he  is  to  do  so  at  once.8  On  September  22  the 
Ten  proceeded  to  condemnation  and  sentence  in  the 
usual  form.  The  vote  condemning  the  prisoner  was 
unanimous ;  the  doge,  one  councillor,  and  one  chief 
of  the  Ten  moved  sentence  in  the  following  terms : 
"That  to-morrow  morning,  the  23rd  inst.,  at  the 
sound  of  the  Marangona,3  the  prisoner  be  conducted 
between  the  columns  of  San  Marco,  and  there  on  a 
high  gibbet  he  be  hung  by  the  neck  so  that  he  die." 
This  found  four  supporters.  An  amendment  was 
moved  that  the  prisoner  be  strangled  in  prison,  and 
then  hung  up  by  one  foot  between  the  two  columns 
till  sundown.  This  received  ten  votes,  and  was  carried.4 
There  was  a  difficulty  in  finding  any  one  to  carry 
out  this  sentence;  it  was  probably  neither  easy  nor 
safe  to  strangle  a  strong  man  in  a  narrow  cell  that 
could  only  hold  two  or  three  persons  at  the  most ;  but 
a  condemned  prisoner,  a  certain  Andrea,  bricklayer  of 

habbia  esso  collegio  del  caso  di  andar  con  la  persona  del  detto  Cap". 
Alessandro  al  tormento,"  etc. 

+   12 
.      O 

5 

1  The  minutes  of  the  trial  were  in  the  Cason  Grande  and  have 
perished  along  with  all  the  other  invaluable  documents.  See  Consig. 
X.  Parti  Secrete,  Nov.  28,  1618. 

1  Consig.  di  X.  ibid.  fol.  47,  fol.  48. 

3  The  Marangona  was  the  great  bell  of  San  Marco,  rung  in  the 
morning  to  call  artisans  to  work  and  in  the  evening  to  cease  work. 

*  Consig.  di  X.  Processi,  Criminali,  reg.  34,  fol.  48. 


280  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

San  Bruson  on  the  Brenta,  nicknamed  "  the  Cripple  " 
("el  Zoto"),  undertook  the  task,  on  condition  that  his 
sentence  was  remitted,  and  carried  it  out.1    The  day 
before  Spinosa's  arrest  his  friend  Grimani  had  been 
warned  by  some  of  his  brother-nobles  to  take  care 
what  he  was  about,  as  the  Inquisitori  were  convinced 
that  his  friends,  these  foreign  captains,  were  spies. 
On  the  day  of  the  arrest  Grimani  came  into  the  Piazza 
of  San  Marco  to  meet  Spinosa.     He  saw  at  once  that 
there  was  an  unusual  display  of  police,  and  taking 
alarm,  he  hurried  home  ;  but  just  at  his  door  he  heard 
that  suo  Capitano  had  been  seized,  and  he  at  once  took 
refuge  in  a  monastery.     The  Ten  sent  to  his  house  in 
town  and  then  to  his  villa  to  summon  him,  but  in  vain. 
After  four  or  five  days   in  hiding,  he  slipped  out  of 
Venice,  and  after  long  wandering  on  foot  by  unfre- 
quented roads  he  managed  to  win  free  of  Venetian 
territory  and   eventually  reached   Rome.     There  he 
applied   to  Cardinal   Borgia   for    an   introduction  to 
Osuna.      The  Cardinal   declined   to  assist  him,   but 
said   he   had   better  apply  to  Cardinal   Melini,   who 
had  known  Spinosa,  and  was  in  correspondence  with 
the  viceroy.      Grimani  passed   on   to  Naples,  where 
after  some  difficulty  he  obtained  access  to  Osuna,  who 
received  him  kindly,  and  ordered  his  secretary,  Uriva, 
to  give  him  one  hundred  ducats.     The  money  was  not 
forthcoming  at  once,  and  Grimani  lived  on  in  great 
straits,  experiencing  frequent  changes  of  fortune  as 
the  viceroy's  mood  varied.2    On  October  12,  1617,  the 
Council  of  Ten  empowered  the  Inquisitori  "  to  take 
every  possible  means  to  kill  Grimani,"3  and,  in  obedience 
to  analogous  instructions,  Spinelli  made  arrangements, 
through  Andosiglia,   with   two  young   gunners  that 
Grimani  was  to  be  tempted  to  set  out  for  Ancona,  where 

1  Consig.  di  X.  Processi,  Criminal!,  reg.  34,  fol.  48". 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Oct.  10,  1617. 

*  Consig.  di  X.  Parti  Secrete,  Oct.  12,  1617:  "Sia  dato  autorita 
agli  Inquisitori  nostri  di  Stato  di  poter  per  ogni  via  possibile  procurar 
che  li  sia  levata  la  vita." 


SPINELLI   REPRIMANDED  281 

he  was  to  meet  his  wife.  On  the  way,  Andosiglia  said, 
"there  are  woods  and  mountain  tracts  and  solitary 
places  where  execution  can  be  done  without  the 
smallest  risk."1  Andosiglia  also  told  Spinelli  that 
as  he  constantly  dined  with  Grimani  and  slept  in  a 
room  near  to  him,  he  could  easily  far  t  cffetto,  if  the 
resident  would  give  him  "  a  little  good  poison." 
Spinelli,  however,  refused  to  take  any  overt  steps 
against  Grimani  in  Naples  itself,  being  certain  that 
if  anything  happened  to  the  Venetian,  Osuna  would 
fasten  the  blame  on  him,  and  take  vengeance  on  the 
resident  and  his  household.3  Grimani,  partly  from 
poverty  and  partly  from  fear,  did  not  leave  Naples, 
and  was  still  there  at  the  time  when  the  Spanish 
Conspiracy  at  Venice  was  discovered  and  exploded. 

On  the  revelation  of  Spinosa's  treasonable  practices 
the  Inquisitori  seem  to  have  written  a  sort  of  repri- 
mand to  Spinelli  for  sending  such  doubtful  characters 
into  Venetian  service ;  for  we  find  the  resident  reply- 
ing, on  October  3,  that  he  could  never  have  believed 
that  Spinosa,  after  the  insults  put  upon  him,  would 
still  have  remained  faithful  to  the  duke.  "  In  any 
case,"  he  adds,  "  I  will  have  nothing  more  to  do  with 
enlisting  strangers,  as  the  world  is  daily  growing  worse 
and  worse  and  loyalty  is  dying  out." 3 

The  viceroy  was  furious  when  he  heard  of  Spinosa's 
execution,  an  anger  which  helps  to  confirm  the  fact  of 
Spinosa's  treacherous  relations,  and  shows  that  Osuna 
was  even  then  employing  soldiers  of  adventure  for  trea- 
sonable purposes  inside  Venice,  and  if  Spinosa,  why  not 
Pierre,  though  it  may  not  have  been  clear  to  Osuna  why 
Pierre  should  have  betrayed  Spinosa.  He  knewthe  fact,4 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Oct.  24,  1617  ;  Jan.  30, 
1817-18  ;  Feb.  27,  1617-18. 

1  Ibid.,  Oct.  24,  1617. 

*  Ibid.,  Oct.  3,  1617  :  "Perchfc  il  mondo  si  fa  sempre  piu  scelerato 
et  la  fede  va  mancando." 

4  Ibid.,  Oct.  3,  1617.  Grimani  promised  to  find  out  the  details 
for  Osuna.  Oct.  31  :  "  Dicendo  il  Vicere  che  era  stato  Giac  Pier 
che  le  haveva  accusato." 


282  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

however,  and  in  conversations  which  came  to  Spinelli's 
ears  he  declared  that  Jacques  Pierre  deserved  to  be 
killed  for  it.1  These  remarks  served  to  confirm  Spinelli 
in  his  confidence  that  Pierre  and  company  could  be 
fully  trusted  by  the  Republic,  and  he  reported  home  in 
that  sense.2  Yet  it  seems  certain  that  Pierre  was  in 
correspondence  with  Osuna,  and  the  viceroy  himself 
admitted  it,  though  he  denied  sending  "continue  lettere 
e  denari,"  as  Pierre  had  affirmed  to  Grimani.8 

In  any  case,  Pierre  seems  to  have  succeeded  in 
strengthening  his  position  at  Venice  by  the  denuncia- 
tion of  Spinosa,  though  the  government  was  not  as 
credulous  as  its  envoy,  Spinelli.  Regnault,  writing 
to  Spinelli  on  August  15 — that  is,  just  at  the  time  Pierre 
was  laying  information  against  Spinosa — says  that  the 
doge  had  "  received  Pierre,  embraced  and  kissed  him 
as  though  he  had  been  a  dear  brother,  and  declared 
that  he  would  make  him  un  figliolo  di  San  Marco" 
Regnault  adds,  however,  that  Pierre  is  not  satisfied 
with  the  small  rewards  he  has  received  as  yet,  but 
expects  honourable  employment  soon.  Again,  on 
October  7,  he  writes  that  Pierre  "  is  so  beloved  by  the 
Serene  Republic  that  they  are  going  to  send  him 
shortly  against  those  devils  of  Uskoks " ;  and  on 
November  25,  that  Pierre  "  has  given  such  proof  of  his 
fidelity  and  has  rendered  such  signal  services  to  the 
State  that  I  am  sure  you  would  be  pleased  at  the 
honour  in  which  you  have  a  share  as  having  intro- 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Oct.  31,  1617:  "  Hora  non 
solo  intendo  dalF  Andosiglia  che  sua  Eccellenza  habbia  detto  di 
doverle  ammazzare,  havendo  lui  scoperto  il  trattato  del  Spinosa." 

'  Ibid. :  "  Mentre  che  sua  Ecc*.  si  tiene  offesa  da  Giac  Pier  et  che 
dice  di  vendicarsene  io  non  credo  certo  che  vi  possa  passar  tra  essi 
ne  lettere  ne  corrispondenza ;  pure  sono  tanti  gli  arteficii  et  le  trame 
de  Spagnoli  che  non  mi  basta  1'  animo  di  affermare  cosa  alcuna." 

8  Ibid, :  "  Soggionse  [Osuna]  che  dopo  che  era  [Pierre]  a  Venetia  gli 
havera  scritto  una  lettera  per  potersene  ritornar  sicuramente."  .  .  . 
"  Havendo  egli  [Pierre]  dato  ad  intendere  al  Grimani  di  haver 
continue  lettere  e  denari  ...  da  sua  Ecc*.  per  quel  trattato,  il  che 
dice  sua  Ecc*.  non  esser  vero." 


OSUNA'S  FLEET  IN  THE  ADRIATIC    283 

duced  him  to  the  service  of  the  Republic.  If  I  had 
a  cipher  I  would  send  you  the  details." l  Regnault  is 
referring,  beyond  doubt,  to  Pierre's  services  in 
denouncing  Spinosa.  He  was  probably  painting  the 
situation  of  Pierre  and  company  in  too  rosy  colours. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  neither  Pierre  nor  Langrand  re- 
ceived any  appointment,  and  Regnault,  on  December  23, 
complains  to  Spinelli  that  as  yet  he  has  had  no 
remuneration  for  all  his  trouble.8 

Considering  the  whole  of  the  Spinosa  episode,  it 
seems  that  as  yet  the  government  had  discovered  no 
definite  plot,  and  that  Spinosa  was  executed  for  vague 
but  treasonable  talk  at  the  Spanish  embassy.  But  the 
Venetians  could  not  help  seeing  in  the  episode  a  con- 
firmation of  the  sinister  rumours  which  were  constantly 
reaching  them,  and  probably  Grimani's  friends  were 
right  when  they  said  that  the  Inquisitori  held  all  these 
foreign  captains,  including  Pierre,  for  spies. 

Meanwhile  Osuna  was  active  in  "  the  Gulf."  In  July, 
1617,  his  fleet  sailed  from  Brindisi,  and  in  the  waters 
of  Lesina,  off  the  Dalmatian  coast,  it  met  the  Venetian 
squadron,  which  declined  an  engagement  and  retired 
with  some  slight  losses.  Osuna  magnified  the  encounter 
to  the  proportions  of  a  great  naval  victory  and  issued 
a  medal  in  commemoration.  The  news  of  this  engage- 
ment encouraged  Pierre  and  company  in  Venice,  for 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  conspiracy  Pierre  always 
told  his  companions  that  the  co-operation  of  Osuna's 
fleet  was  an  essential  part  of  the  scheme. 

Pierre  had  been  working  steadily  to  enlist  associates 
in  his  design,  which  was  a  rising  in  Venice  itself,  sup- 

1  Regnault's  letters  to  Spinelli  enclosed  in  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Feb.  13, 
1617-18:  "L'amico  che  tratto  primo  con  V.S.  Clar™*.  fu  hieri 
[Aug.  14]  a  visitare  sua  Serenita  nella  sua  Camera,  dove  da  lei  fu 
talmente  ricevuto  et  accaressato  che  non  lo  posso  dire  .  .  .  fine  a 
bacciarlo  et  abbracciarlo  come  se  gli  forse  stato  caro  fratello " ; 
and  on  Nov.  4  :  "  Havendo  renduto  tal  e  cosi  segnalati  servicii  a  questa 
Republica  che  V.S.  Clar"".  si  stupira  quando  lo  sapra." 

*  Regnault  to  Spinelli,  Dec.  23 :  "  Ma  fine  hora  non  no  havuto 
remuneratione  alcuna  di  tanti  servicii  cho  fatto." 


284  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

ported  from  the  sea  by  the  Neapolitan  fleet.  His  chief 
recruiting-ground  was  naturally  the  foreign  mercenaries 
in  Venetian  pay.  Among  these  were  a  strong  force  of 
Dutch  under  Levenstein  who  had,  in  spite  of  Osuna's 
watchfulness  at  the  mouth  of  the  Adriatic,  been  brought 
into  Venice  by  the  Dutch  fleet  of  eleven  ships  under 
the  command  of  Hildebrant  Quast.1  These  troops  had 
been  interned  at  the  Lazzaretto,  where  inaction,  want 
of  pay,  and  poor  food  soon  made  them  ripe  for  mutiny. 
Pierre  and  his  immediate  friends  had  little  difficulty 
in  winning  them  over  to  his  designs.  In  conjunction 
with  Bedmar 2  everything  was  arranged  for  a  rising  in 
January.  But  on  November  10  the  Venetian  admiral 
Lorenzo  Venier  defeated  Osuna's  commander  Ribera 
off  Santa  Croce  and  drove  his  fleet,  very  roughly 
handled,  into  Brindisi.3  Moreover,  Osuna  was  in  receipt 
of  imperative  orders  from  Spain  to  recall  his  fleet  from 
the  Adriatic.4  Thus  hampered,  he  was  powerless  to 
take  any  steps  to  support  his  confederates  inside  Venice. 
But  the  Dutch  in  the  Lazzaretto  were  not  to  be  deterred. 
Having  made  up  their  minds  to  mutiny,  they  did  so,  in 
spite  of  Bedmar's  efforts  to  induce  them  to  postpone 
the  rising  till  they  could  look  for  outside  support.5 

1  Corbett,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  53. 

1  Senate,  Secreta,  Communicationi,  filza  viii.  Dec.  3,  1618 ; 
Roberto  Brouillard's  letter  to  Osuna  of  May  13,  1618  ;  Consig.  di  X. 
May  17,  1618. 

3  Senate,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Dec.  4,  1617.     Spinelli  encloses 
a   good  account  of  the   engagement  sent   to  him  by  the   Princess 
of  Stigliano  and  dated  November  23.     The  Spanish  losses  are  given  as 
300  killed  and  300  wounded  in  Spinelli's  dispatch  of  December  19. 

4  Corbett,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  pp.  49,  59.     Osuna  was  told  by  his  court 
that  he  must  abandon  his  design  against  Venice. 

5  Consig.  di  X.  Parti  Secrete,  May  17,  1618  :  "  Mentre  gli  olandesi 
erano  ammutinati  al  Lazaretto  fece  [Bedmar]  loro  offerir  denari  per- 
suadendoli  persister  nell'  ammutinamento  con  ferma  speranza  di  presto 
soccorso  con  galee,  barche  armate  et  altri  vaselli  di  Napoli."     Senato, 
Secreta,  Communicationi,  Dec.  3,  1618.     Robert  Brouillard  writes  to 
Osuna  to  say  that  at  the   time   of  the   rising  of  the  Dutch  troops 
"  fu  procurato  dalla  parte  dell'  ambasciatore  p°.  di  dar  fomento  a  questo 
tumulto  faccendoli  esortar  a  trattenersi  per  x  o  1 5  giorni  perch£  fra 
tanto  saria  gionto  il  soccorso  di  Osuna." 


PIERRE  COMMUNICATES  WITH  OSUNA  285 

The  mutiny  was  crushed,  and  thus  ended  the  first 
of  the  two  great  blows  which  Osuna,  by  means 
of  Jacques  Pierre,  had  intended  to  deliver  at 
Venice. 

It  is  not  likely  that  the  Venetian  government  was 
at  the  time  fully  informed  as  to  all  the  ramifications 
of  this  first  plot ;  they  were  not  aware  at  once  of 
Bedmar's  and  Pierre's  parts  in  the  rising,  and  looked 
upon  it  merely  as  an  outburst  of  discontented  foreign 
troops.  No  steps  were  taken  against  Pierre  and  his 
companions,  though  letters  from  Naples  from  the  too 
confiding  Spinelli  were  beginning  to  point  to  suspicions 
even  in  that  ingenuous  envoy. 

But  on  the  news  of  the  defeat  of  Ribera  and  when 
the  Dutch  rising  was  doomed  thereby  to  failure,  Pierre 
sent  an  acquaintance  of  his,  a  Frenchman  named 
Margogliet,1  to  consult  with  Osuna,  and  to  make 
arrangements  for  a  renewal  of  their  joint  attempt  to 
surprise  Venice.  Margogliet  was  well  received,  but 
had  not  returned  to  Venice  at  the  time  of  the  discovery 
of  the  second  design.  Instead  a  certain  Francesco 
Molica  was  sent  to  Venice,  and  Spinelli  warned  his 
government  against  him,  as  he  had  "  a  wide  acquaint- 
ance among  the  nobility,  and  is  probably  sent  to  keep 
open  correspondence  with  the  duke."  "A  tailor  in  the 
Campo  degli  Squelini  can  give  information  about  him." 
By  the  end  of  February  Molica  was  back  again  in 
Naples  with  soundings  of  the  lagoons  from  Treporti 
to  Malamocco.2  If  we  accept  as  authentic  the  letter 
dated  April  7,  1618,*  addressed  by  Pierre  to  Osuna,  we 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Jan.  18,  1617-18.  I  think  that 
the  Margogliet  of  Spinelli's  despatches  is  the  same  person  as  Daru's, 
Ranke's,  and  Romanin's  Lorenzo  Nolot. 

*  Ibid.,  Jan.  16  and  23,  1617-18  :  Molica  "dipende  certo  dal  servitio 
del  Sr.  Duca,  seben  qui  e  in  concetto  di  spia  doppia."  Feb.  27  : 
"  Molica  e  stato  aposta  a  Venetia  a  scandaghire  la  laguna  .  .  .  dice 
che  si  trascuri  ogni  guardiaet  che  li  basta  Panimo  de  introdurvi  galee 
di  sua  Ecc*.  senza  difficult^  alcuna."  Ap.  17. 

1  The  letter  is  printed  among  Daru's  Pihcs  Justificative!,  in  vol.  xi. 
p.  36  of  the  translation  published  at  Capolago,  1837.  The  MS.  is 


286  THE  SPANISH   CONSPIRACY 

have  further  and  convincing  proof  of  the  close  under- 
standing between  the  two.  In  that  letter  Pierre 
explains  to  the  duke  the  steps  he  had  taken  to 
organize  the  mutiny  of  the  Dutch  troops.  He  com- 
plains that  Margogliet  (Nolot)  had  returned  to  Venice 
ten  days  too  late ;  that  he  could  not  hold  the  Dutch 
any  longer,  and  therefore  the  whole  design  had  failed, 
otherwise  "  Venezia  sarebbe  in  nostro  potere."  But  if 
God  grants  him  life  and  freedom  from  discovery,  he 
promises  to  renew  the  attempt;  "ancora  non  sono 
fuori  di  speranza  di  ruinir  la  gente,  se  per  sorte  non 
vengo  impiegato  in  mare  da  questi  Signori."  That 
was  his  dread,  lest  he  should  be  sent  to  sea  and  so 
deprived  of  all  means  of  organizing  the  plot  inside 
Venice. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  Pierre,  after  the  failure 
of  the  first  attempt  and  the  suppression  of  the  Dutch 
mutiny,  had  been  busily  engaged  in  securing  recruits 
for  the  second  enterprise.  The  great  recruiting- 
ground,  the  Piazza,  was  always  open  to  him,  teeming 
with  idlers  ready  for  any  mischief.  He  and  his  friends 
found  little  difficulty  in  enlisting  a  band  of  conspira- 
tors ;  they  had  established  apparent  connections  with 
the  great  embassies  in  Venice ;  they  might  be  seen 
going  in  and  out  of  the  French  and  Spanish  ambassa- 
dors' palaces,  familiar  with  side  doors  and  known  to 
the  servants.  They  could  use  these  powerful  names 
and  hint  at  more  powerful  in  the  background.  The 
mere  attraction  of  a  plot  was  sufficient  for  these  law- 
less spirits ;  that  the  outlines  were  vague  only  ren- 
dered it  more  fascinating ;  the  imagination  had  freer 
scope  to  magnify  the  possible  prizes.  They  drank  in 

said  to  exist  in  the  Biblioteca  di  Brienna,  No.  10,  in  a  collection 
entitled  Relozioni  italiane  per  servire  all'  istoria  dal  1597  al  1626. 
Romanin,  op.  cit.  vol.  vii.  p.  125,  note  2,  says  :  "  Vedi  sua  lettera  al 
duca  d'  Osuna  in  Daru  ch'  io  credo  autentica  concordando  coll' 
andamento  dei  fatti."  There  is  nothing  in  the  letter  that  makes 
against  its  authenticity,  but  it  is  impossible  to  affirm  it  without  seeing 
the  MS.  If  it  were  in  Regnault's  handwriting  that  would  conclusively 
establish  its  genuineness. 


THE  PLOT  287 

with  childlike  avidity  Pierre's  high-sounding  schemes 
for  murdering  the  Senate,  or  the  Maggior  Consiglio, 
it  did  not  much  matter  which,  for  sacking  the  Mint, 
rifling  the  armoury  of  the  Ten,  blowing  up  the  arsenal.1 
They  hardly  paused  to  ask  the  how  and  the  when. 

Among  Pierre's  followers  were  the  two  brothers 
Charles  and  Jean  Desbouleaux,  and  one  day,  as  he 
was  in  the  church  of  San  Marco,  he  passed  a  young 
Frenchman,  whom  he  at  once  resolved  to  enlist.  This 
was  Gabriel  Moncassin,  a  gentleman  of  Languedoc, 
about  thirty  years  of  age,  who,  after  some  wanderings 
at  Genoa,  Florence,  and  Rome,  had  reached  Venice 
about  the  middle  of  March  and  had  enrolled  himself  in 
Venetian  service.  Pierre  accosted  Moncassin,  offered 
to  show  him  his  way  about  the  town,  took  him  to 
dine,  and  finally  installed  him  in  his  own  lodging. 
Little  by  little,  by  means  of  dark  hints  and  mysterious 
utterances,  Moncassin's  curiosity  was  aroused,  and 
finally,  under  oath  of  secrecy,  he  was  informed  that 
there  was  a  plot  against  Venice,  and  was  invited  to  join, 
which  he  did.  The  chief  conspirators  now  numbered 
eight  or  nine — Pierre,  his  secretary  Rossetti,  Langrand, 
Regnault,  the  two  Desbouleaux,  Moncassin,  a  certain 
Berard,  and  Margogliet.  One  day  Pierre  took  his  band 
to  the  top  of  the  Campanile  and  there  unfolded  in  detail 
the  whole  design.  Pointing  to  the  two  entrances  of 
Lido  and  Malamocco,  he  said  that  a  strong  landing-party 
from  Osuna's  fleet  on  a  concerted  date  would  drop 
anchor  off  the  Lido  shore,  and  could  easily  row  into  the 
lagoon  in  flat-bottomed  boats,  which  had  already  been 
prepared.  They  could  seize  and  barricade  the  Piazza 
and  Rialto,  while  Langrand  would  fire  the  arsenal  and 
bring  out  the  guns  to  hold  the  Piazza  and  Rialto, 
"  chi  tien  San  Marco  tien  tutto."  The  leading  nobles 
in  the  Maggior  Consiglio  could  be  killed  or  seized,  the 
others  held  to  ransom ;  the  armoury  of  the  Council  of 
Ten  was  to  be  forced,  and  the  arms,  which  were  always 
loaded,  were  to  be  distributed  to  the  supporters  whom 

1  Senato,  Secreta,  Communication!,  May  17,  1618. 


288  THE  SPANISH   CONSPIRACY 

the  conspirators  would  find  among  the  nobles  and  the 
people;  the  Mint  doors  would  be  blown  in  with  petards. 
Osuna  only  wanted  the  city;  the  loot,  the  ransoms, 
and  the  treasury  he  left  to  the  conspirators ;  each  of 
them  would  be  rich  enough  to  raise  ten  thousand  men 
for  three  years,  and  what  glorious  prospects  of  fighting 
and  plundering  with  such  a  force  at  their  backs.  Con- 
temporaneously Crema  would  be  surprised  from  inside 
and  handed  over  to  the  Spaniards  in  Milan.  It  was  all 
quite  easy ;  the  Venetians  were  only  good  "  at  eating 
and  sleeping  "  ("  al  cibo  et  al  sonno  ") ;  a  resolute  man 
with  a  stick  could  send  the  whole  crowd  flying ;  it  was 
a  marvel  Venice  had  remained  so  long  intact.1  If  Pierre 
and  Langrand  should  be  sent  to  sea,  as  they  feared,  they 
would  still  be  able  to  assist  the  plot  by  corrupting 
the  seamen  and  rendering  the  fleet  powerless  against 
Osuna's  ships  by  spiking  the  guns.2  The  time,  however, 
was  not  ripe  yet.  March  or  April  had  been  fixed  for  the 
arrival  of  Osuna's  fleet,  but  it  had  encountered  storms 
off  Manfredonia  and  had  been  compelled  to  return  to 
refit.  The  whole  scheme  would  be  deferred  till  the 
following  September  or  October.  Meanwhile,  the 
brothers  Desbouleaux  would  go  to  Naples  with  letters 
of  recommendation  from  Bedmar  to  put  the  final  touches 
to  the  concert  with  Osuna.  Such  were  the  outlines  of 
the  plot  as  subsequently  revealed  by  the  examination 
of  witnesses  and  the  investigations  of  the  Ten. 

But  as  yet  the  government  had  no  definite  informa- 
tion on  the  subject.  It  is  true  that  Spinelli  from 
Naples  began  to  sound  a  dubious  note  as  to  the 
character  and  intentions  of  Pierre  and  company. 
On  February  13,  1618,  he  wrote  home  to  say  that 
though  he  thought  it  impossible  that  Pierre  could 

1  Ranke,  op.  tit.,  pp.  477-83.  The  document  of  October  17,  1618, 
gives  this  account  of  the  design. 

*  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  June  9,  1618  :  "Mi  vien  fatto 
sapere  che  quel  triste  di  Giac  Pier  havesse  intelligenze  in  armata  et 
sopra  le  galee  grosse  in  particolare,  accioche  quando  occoresse  di 
combatter  con  questi  galeoni  fossero  inchiodate  le  artellarie." 


OSUNA'S  RUSES  289 

ever  make  it  up  with  Osuna,  because  of  the  Spinosa 
affair,  still  it  would  be  advisable  to  send  him  and  his 
companions  on  board  the  fleet,  where  an  eye  could  be 
kept  on  them  and  where  they  could  easily  be  punished 
if  guilty,  "  che  io  non  lo  posso  creder  per  hora."  *  On 
February  20  Spinelli  repeats  his  conviction  that 
there  can  be  no  communication  between  Pierre  and 
Osuna,  for  Osuna  has  caused  Pierre's  wife  and  daughter 
to  be  arrested  in  Messina  and  is  treating  them  so 
harshly  that  Spinelli  has  been  obliged  to  supply  money 
to  keep  them  alive,  as  he  dare  not  offend  Pierre,  who 
at  his  departure  from  Naples  had  confided  his  women- 
folk to  the  resident's  care.  "  I  am  certain,"  he  adds, 
"  that  the  duke  is  persecuting  them  in  earnest,  and 
there  cannot  possibly  be  any  understanding  between 
him  and  Pierre." 8  And  yet  it  seems  certain  that  this 
persecution  of  Pierre's  wife  was  in  fact  a  ruse  con- 
cocted by  the  duke  and  the  corsair  to  blind  the 
Venetians  as  to  their  true  relations ;  for  Pierre 
himself  told  his  brother-conspirators  that  he  had 
asked  Bedmar  to  write  to  Naples  that  his  wife  might 
be  treated  as  harshly  as  possible,  and  that  this  treat- 
ment should  be  made  public,  so  as  to  conceal  the  true 
situation.3  And  immediately  on  the  receipt  of  news 
that  Pierre  had  been  executed,  Osuna  released  his 
wife,  treated  her  with  all  kindness,  and  sent  her  home 
to  Naples.  On  March  6  Spinelli  reports  that  Osuna 
has  been  inquiring  of  Grimani  whether  Venice  would 
give  Pierre  a  command  in  the  fleet,  and  had  used 
expressions  which  made  Grimani  suspect  that  the 
Viceroy  was  in  communication  with  Pierre  and 
Regnault ;  he  therefore  recommends  that  Pierre  be 
kept  under  observation,  though  he  still  repeats  that 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  Feb.  13,  1617-18. 
f  Ibid. :  "  Che  io  stimo  certo  che  lo  perseguiti  da  vero  et  che  non 
vi  possa  esser  piu  accommodamento,"  Feb.  20. 
*  Senato,  Secreta,  Communication!,  Oct.  17,  1618  :  "  Et  che  Giacpier 

10  [Bedmar]  avea  ricercato  a  scrivere  a  Napoli  accioche  fusse  posta  sua 
moglie  in  maggior  strettezza  e  divulgato  questo  rigore,  per  colorirsi 

11  trattato." 

VOL.    II.  19 


290  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

he  cannot  believe  that  any  relations  exist  between 
Pierre  and  the  duke.  But  on  March  13  he  announces 
further  and  independent  information,  furnished  by  a 
certain  Zuanne  Sorato,  of  Udine,  a  merchant  in  Naples, 
who  of  his  personal  knowledge  warns  the  Venetians 
to  beware  of  Pierre.1  He  adds  that,  "per  le  tante 
machination!  di  questo  Vicerd  convengo  prender 
ombra  d'ogni  cosa." 

In  Venice,  too,  apart  from  Spinelli's  warnings, 
suspicion  was  accumulating  round  Pierre  and  his 
companions.  The  government  was  growing  more 
and  more  nervous  as  rumours  reached  them,  now 
of  designs  on  the  fortress  at  Marano,  now  on  the 
strong  place  of  Palma,2  now  that  the  viceroy  had  on 
his  table  a  full  and  accurate  plan  of  Venice,  which 
the  informer  Bernardo  Drusi  had  seen  with  his  own 
eyes,  and  that  great  preparations  were  going  on  in 
the  port  of  Brindisi.3  Still  there  was  nothing  definite 
as  to  a  plot  inside  Venice ;  as  to  Osuna's  hostile 
designs  outside  Venice,  in  the  Adriatic,  they  had 
been  fully  informed  from  the  first.  But  on  April  9 
an  anonymous  letter  was  found  in  the  chamber  of  the 
cabinet,  and  handed  to  the  Inquisitors.  It  threw  grave 
doubts  on  the  loyalty  of  Langrand,  and  incidentally 
attacked  Pierre  as  well.4  Thereupon  the  government 
ordered  Langrand  to  Zara  to  carry  on  his  profession 
of  Greek-fire  maker,  and  Pierre,  with  his  secretary 
Rossetti,  to  join  the  fleet,  while  they  informed  the 
commander,  Barbarigo,  of  the  suspicions  under  which 
both  were  labouring. 

1  Inquisit.  di  Stato,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  March  13,  1618. 

1  Senate,  Secreta,  Communicationi,  April  19,  1618. 

8  Ibid.  April  24,  1618. 

4  Consig.  di  X.  Parti  Secrete,  April  9,  1618 :  "Che  del  contenuto  della 
lettera  senza  sottoscrizione  ne  data  alcuna  trovata  ultimamente  dove  si 
riduceva  il  collegio  nostro,  et  che  e  stata  fatta  capitar  agli  Inquisitori 
nostri  di  Stato  in  proposito  del  Capitan  Langlad  francese,  per  la  quale 
vien  posta  in  sospetto  la  sua  fede  nel  servitio  della  signoria  nostra  et 
cosi  intorno  la  persona  del  Capitano  Giac  Pierre  paramente  francese  "  ; 
information  is  to  be  given  to  the  Admiral  Barbarigo. 


THE  PLOT  REVEALED  291 

This  is  what  Pierre  had  dreaded,  and  he  tried  to 
parry  the  blow  by  one  of  his  usual  adventurer's  ruses. 
He  submitted  to  the  government  a  long  memorandum 
on  Spanish  designs  and  on  Osuna's  projects,  which, 
with  the  leave  of  Venice,  he  desired  to  forward  to  the 
King  of  PVance,  by  means  of  Regnault.  The  govern- 
ment, however,  paid  no  attention  to  this  document, 
and  the  order  to  join  the  fleet  remained  in  force.  But 
before  Pierre  left  Venice,  another  young  Frenchman, 
Balbassare  Juven,  well  born  and  well  educated,  the 
nephew  of  Marshal  Lesdiguierres,  arrived  about  the 
middle  of  May.  He  brought  with  him  letters  from  his 
uncle  recommending  him  to  Leon  Bruslart,  the  French 
ambassador,  from  whom  he  sought  an  introduction 
to  the  Republic,  whose  service  he  desired  to  enter. 
Bruslart  endeavoured  to  dissuade  him,  speaking  ill  of 
these  "  Pantaloni  che  non  meritano  pari  vostri  al 
loro  servigio."1  Juven,  however,  remained  firm,  in 
obedience  to  his  uncle's  wish,  and  continued  to 
negotiate  with  the  Venetian  war  minister,  the  Savio 
alia  Scrittura,  for  a  command.  He  was  lodged  at 
the  hostelry  of  the  "  Trombetta,"  and  there  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Moncassin,  who  soon  began  to 
sound  him  with  a  view  to  enlisting  him  in  the  con- 
spiracy. Juven  was  introduced  to  Pierre,  and  even- 
tually agreed  to  join  the  conspirators  on  condition 
that  the  whole  scheme  was  unfolded  to  him,  and  that 
he  should  receive  a  written  statement  of  their  plans, 
which  they  called  their  capitoli.  Thus  fully  informed  and 
furnished,  Juven,  probably  because  he  was  a  Frenchman 
and  a  Huguenot,  and  therefore  a  deadly  enemy  of 
Spain,  resolved  to  reveal  all  to  the  government.  Taking 
Moncassin  with  him  one  day  to  the  ducal  palace,  on 
the  pretext  that  he  wished  to  speak  to  the  minister 
of  war  about  his  engagement,  he  led  him  into  the 
doge's  ante-chamber,  where  were  a  number  of  gentle- 
men, among  them  Marco  Bollani,  to  whom  Juven  had 
already  imparted  the  secret.  Moncassin,  taking  alarm, 
1  Romanin,  op.  cit.  vol.  vii.  p.  155. 


292  THE  SPANISH  CONSPIRACY 

said,  "  What  do  you  want  with  the  doge  ?  "  "  Oh  ! " 
said  Juven,  "  I  am  just  going  to  ask  his  leave  to  blow 
up  the  Mint  and  the  arsenal,  and  to  hand  Crema  to 
the  Spanish."  Moncassin  turned  pale  and  exclaimed, 
"Are  you  going  to  ruin  us  all?"  But  Juven  reassured 
him,  and  leaving  him  in  charge  of  Bollani,  went  in 
to  see  the  doge,  to  whom  he  revealed  the  matter  in 
outline,  saying  that  Moncassin  could  fill  in  the  details. 
Moncassin  was  then  introduced,  and  finding  himself 
in  a  desperate  plight,  consented  to  make  a  full  confes- 
sion. He  further  offered  to  capture  Robert  Brouillard 
with  Osuna's  correspondence  upon  him.  At  first  he 
proposed  that  Robert  should  be  arrested  at  the  Spanish 
embassy,  but  this  course  was  abandoned  as  too  violent 
and  also  as  involving  a  breach  of  the  rights  of  nations. 
Moncassin  then  said  he  would  inveigle  Brouillard  to 
the  house  of  a  woman,  where  he  might  be  seized. 
The  secretary,  however,  was  on  his  guard.  He  had 
already  committed  a  murder,  and  refused  to  venture 
beyond  the  asylum  of  the  embassy.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  the  Venetians  ever  obtained  any  positive 
proof,  under  his  own  or  his  secretary's  hand,  of 
Osuna's  complicity  in  the  plot.1 

Pierre,  Rossetti,  and  Langrand  had  by  this  time  left 
Venice  for  their  several  destinations ;  but  the  other 
conspirators,  the  brothers  Desbouleaux,  Berard— the 
man  in  charge  of  the  by-plot  to  hand  Crema  over  to 
the  Spanish — Moncassin  himself,  and  some  others  still 
continued  to  meet  to  discuss  in  French  the  details 
of  their  conspiracy.  By  the  help  of  Moncassin,  "a 
person  of  quality  and  of  excellent  judgment,  well 
versed  in  the  French  language  and  devoted  to  the 
State,"  was  secretly  introduced  and  hidden  in  the 
place  of  meeting.  There  he  heard  the  whole  details, 
and  took  note  of  the  conspirators.2 

1  See  the  communication  of  the  Ten  to  the  Senate  on  Oct.  17, 
Ranke,  op.  cit.  p.  486 :  "  Si  offerse  moncessino  di  farci  aver  detto 
Roberto  nelle  forze  nostre,  anche  con  lettere  e  scritture  presentate,"  etc. 

*  Ranke,  ibid. 


EXECUTIONS  293 

With  this  final  and  conclusive  evidence  in  their 
hands,  the  government  proceeded  to  act.  Orders 
were  sent  to  the  fleet  to  remove  in  the  most  secret 
and  sudden  manner  both  Pierre  and  Rossetti.  They 
were  drowned  at  once  and  their  papers  seized.  Similar 
orders  were  sent  to  Zara,  where  Langrand  was  shot.1 
The  brothers  Desbouleaux  were  just  setting  out  for 
Naples,  as  had  been  arranged  by  Pierre.  They  were 
arrested  at  Chioggia,  and  in  the  fold  of  their  stockings 
were  found  letters  from  Bedmar  to  Osuna  complaining 
that  the  favourable  moment  for  carrying  out  the  plot 
had  been  allowed  to  slip ;  but  stating  that  the  bearers, 
whom  he  named  and  recommended  to  the  viceroy, 
were  coming  to  Naples  to  arrange  for  its  future 
execution.  Besides  Bedmar's  letter,  there  was  also 
one  from  Robert  Brouillard  of  much  the  same 
tenor.'  The  brothers  Desbouleaux  and  Regnault, 
who  had  also  been  arrested  in  Venice,  were  tortured, 
and  confessed.  Before  execution  they  asked  pardon 
of  the  government  for  their  misdeeds.  They  were 
strangled  in  prison,  and  hung  by  one  foot  on  gibbets 
on  the  Piazza..  At  the  news  of  their  arrest  the  inns 
and  lodging-houses  emptied  as  by  magic.  The  crowd 
of  adventurers  and  broken  men,  many  of  whom  were 
doubtless  aware  of  the  plot,  fled  for  their  lives,  most 
of  them  to  Naples,  where  they  were  well  received  by 
Osuna.  This  sudden  emptying  of  the  city  gave  rise 
to  sinister  rumours  that  hundreds  and  hundreds  of 
accomplices  had  met  their  death  in  the  prisons  of 
Venice  or  in  the  lagoon ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 

1  Consig.  di  X.,  Parti  Secrete,  May  12,  1618. 

*  Whether  letters  from  Osuna,  not  merely  to  him,  were  discovered 
is  doubtful.  The  communication  of  May  19  says :  "  Che  le  cose 
comunicate  restano  comprobate  della  confessione  de"  rei  in  tormentis 
e  da  scritture  di  Osuna  e  lettere  dell'  ambassiatore  della  Cueva" 
(Ranke,  op.  cit.  p.  450,  note).  The  communication  of  September  26 
only  mentions  letters  to  Osuna.  The  informer,  Moncassin,  declared 
that  he  had  seen  at  the  Spanish  embassy  many  letters  written  by 
Uriva,  Osuna's  secretary.  The  Inquisitori  wished  to  have  these  in 
their  hands,  but  "  per  mera  disgratia  delle  cose  publiche  "  they  failed. 


294  THE  SPANISH   CONSPIRACY 

executions  for  what  we  may  call  the  main  plot— the 
plot  against  Venice  itself — were  six  in  all,  Jacques 
Pierre,  Rossetti,  Langrand,  Regnault,  and  Charles  and 
Jean  Desbouleaux;  for  the  by-plot  against  Crema, 
Berard  or  Labarriere,  and  Forniero ;  and  later  on, 
in  December  of  the  same  year,  Michiel  Valenti  and 
Marin  Mattei,  for  an  attempt  to  surprise  Pirano,  in 
Istria,  an  attempt  which  does  not  properly  belong  to 
the  Spanish  conspiracy,  but  rather  to  Osuna's  subse- 
quent prosecution  of  his  designs  against  Venice,  which 
he  by  no  means  abandoned  on  the  failure  of  Pierre's 
and  Berard's  plots. 

Thus  Venice  was  "  preserved "  from  what  was 
undoubtedly  a  serious  danger  to  her  independence, 
however  mad  and  hare-brained  the  schemes  of  the 
chief  conspirators  may  appear  to  us  now.  Osuna 
was  extremely  annoyed  at  the  discovery  of  the  plot 
and  the  executions  which  followed,  though  he  en- 
deavoured to  conceal  his  feeling.  Spinelli,  however, 
reports  "  that  not  even  his  immediate  dependents  deny 
that  the  plot  had  its  origin  in  Naples." l  The  French 
ambassador,  Leon  Bruslart,  at  once  expressed  doubts 
as  to  the  existence  of  the  conspiracy  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  impossible  to  believe  that  half  a  dozen 
adventurers  would  have  dreamed  of  capturing  Venice. 
Bedmar,  of  course,  denied  all  knowledge  of  the  plot, 
but  his  own  letters  refute  him.  The  course  of  the 
narrative,  as  drawn  from  authentic  documents,  leaves 
no  room  for  doubt.  Venice  put  on  record  for  the 
future  use,  not  of  the  public,  but  of  her  own  govern- 
ment, a  concise  account 2  of  the  whole  case  as  revealed 

1  Senate,  Secreta,  Dispacci,  Napoli,  July  20,  1618  :  "Gli  istessi 
dipendenti  di  Osuna  non  negano  quel  trattato  dipender  da  questa 
parte." 

*  Senate,  Secreta,  Communication!,  Oct.  17, 1618 :  "Perch£  potra  per 
avventura  riuscir  opportune  il  dar  alia  notitia  del  governo  con  maggior 
pienezza  conto  delli  proditorj  concerti,"  etc.  This  account  sums  up 
and  includes  the  Communications  of  May  17,  18,  19,  July  31,  and 
September  26,  all  printed  in  Ranke,  op,  cit.  documents  i.,  ii.,  v.,  vi., 
and  vii. 


CONCLUSION  295 

by  the  evidence  and  by  the  investigation  of  the  Ten. 
Now  that  this  account  is  open  to  inspection,  no  point 
in  it  is  impugned  by  the  circumstances  of  the  con- 
spiracy as  laid  bare  by  careful  research  among  other 
contemporary  documents. 

In  conclusion,  we  must  repeat  that  there  were  two 
aspects  of  the  Spanish  Conspiracy :  one  was  Osuna's 
unconcealed   determination  to   attack  Venice  in  the 
furtherance  of  Spanish  ambitions  in  Italy,  and  directly 
with  a  view  to  assisting  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  and 
to  depriving  Savoy  of  her  one  ally.     In  pursuit  of  this 
policy  he  resolved  to  challenge  Venetian  supremacy 
in  the  Gulf.     The  whole  of  his  action  is  interesting  as 
a  sequela  of  the  conditions  produced  by  the  defeat  of 
the  Armada,  and  the  appearance  of  England  and  the 
Dutch  as  sea-powers  in  the  Mediterranean.     Osuna's 
naval   policy  during  his  viceroyalties   in   Sicily  and 
Naples  is  closely  connected  with  the  development  of 
English  power  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  Spanish 
Conspiracy  takes  its  place  as  an  episode  in  the  history 
of  that  development.1    On  the  other  hand,  there  was 
the   internal  plot  in   Venice  itself,  with  its  various 
phases  marked  by  the   Spinosa-Grimani    affair,  the 
mutiny  of  the  Dutch,   the   revelations  of  Juven,  and 
the  plot  against  Crema ;  and  that  commands  our  atten- 
tion chiefly  as  a  symptom  of  the  social  condition  of 
Europe,  and  as  a  picturesque,  intricate,  and  terrible 
episode  in  the  decline  of  Venice. 

1  See  Corbett,  loc.  cit. 


Cromwell  and  the  Venetian  Republic 

THE  Spanish  Conspiracy  in  its  larger  historical  aspect 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  an  episode  in  the  development 
of  English  sea-power  in  the  Mediterranean.  It  was 
James's  determination  not  to  permit  the  disturbance 
of  the  old  balance  by  Osuna's  vigorous  attack  on  the 
Adriatic  which  caused  him  to  sanction  the  enlistment 
of  English  ships  and  men  for  the  service  of  the 
Republic ;  it  was  Spain's  dread  of  seeing  the  English 
in  force  in  the  Mediterranean  which  compelled  Philip 
to  hamper  Osuna  by  orders  to  leave  the  Adriatic 
alone,  and  thereby  saved  Venice  from  a  serious  danger. 
English  power  in  the  Mediterranean  had  grown  up  in 
a  fortuitous  fashion.  The  seed  was  sown,  the  way 
opened,  by  Ward  and  his  brother-pirates;  James,  how- 
ever, pursued  the  line  of  action  in  a  feeble  manner,  as 
though  he  only  half  perceived  the  purport  of  his  own 
policy,  and  Sir  Robert  Mansell's  operations,  though 
they  brought  the  English  officially  into  the  Mediter- 
ranean, did  not  establish  English  supremacy  there.1 
But  when  the  power  passed  into  Cromwell's  hands, 
the  English  position  assumed  a  very  different  aspect. 
Monk's  victories  over  the  Dutch  and  Blake's  expedi- 
tion "  to  the  Straits  "  proved  that  England  was  now 
the  dominant  sea-power. 

Venice  was  engaged  single-handed  against  the  Turks. 
The  long  war  of  Candia  and  the  heroic  efforts  of  the 
Venetian  admiral,  Lazzaro  Mocenigo,  were  command- 
ing the  admiration,  though  not  the  valid  assistance,  of 
Europe,  which  was  entirely  absorbed  in  the  struggle 

1  See  Corbett,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  ch.  vii.  and  viii. 
296 


THE  ENGLISH  IN  THE  MEDITERRANEAN  297 

between  France  and  Spain.  Cromwell,  with  striking 
ability,  seized  the  opportunity  to  slip  in  between  the 
two  contending  parties,  establish  England  in  the 
Mediterranean,  and  prove  himself  master  of  both.  It 
was  natural,  therefore,  that  Venice,  under  the  pressure 
of  her  long  and  exhausting  war  with  the  Turk,  should 
endeavour  to  secure  the  support  of  the  new  power. 
The  documents1  with  which  we  shall  presently  deal 
show  how  she  attempted  this  and  why  she  failed. 

Venice  had  always  maintained  friendly  relations 
with  the  house  of  Stuart  On  the  fall  of  that  house 
the  Republic  was  in  doubt  how  to  act.  Though  a 
republic  in  name,  it  disliked  a  republican  form  of 
government,  and  had  no  confidence  that  the  Parlia- 
mentary regime  would  last.  It  was,  therefore,  unwilling 
to  commit  itself  to  any  acknowledgment  of  Parlia- 
mentary supremacy. 

As  we  have  pointed  out  in  a  previous  essay, 
Charles  II.,  when  in  exile,  sent  Tom  Killigrew  to 
represent  him  in  Venice.  The  Venetians  expected 
that  the  Stuarts  would  soon  return  to  England,  and 
accordingly  the  resident  was  received  with  due 
honours  on  February  17,  1650.  This  action  on  the 
part  of  Venice  gave  the  greatest  offence  in  England, 
and  it  subsequently  cost  the  Venetian  representative 
much  time  and  trouble  before  he  could  remove  the 
ill  effects  of  the  slight  put  upon  Parliament.  It  was 
not  long,  however,  before  the  Venetians  discovered 
that  the  Stuart  cause  was  still  on  the  wane.  The 
Turkish  war  was  pressing  hard  upon  the  Republic, 
and  it  resolved  to  abandon  the  royal  house  of  England, 
to  make  peace,  if  possible,  with  the  Parliament,  and 
to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the  English  fleet  against 
the  common  foe.  The  first  step  towards  these  objects 
was  to  dismiss  Killigrew.  We  have  already  recounted 
thr  amusing  details  of  the  resident's  expulsion  for 

1  Berchet,  Cromwell  e  la  Republica  di  Venezia  (Venezia,  Naratovich  : 
1864).  These  documents  cover  the  period  of  English  history  from 
the  death  of  Charles  I.  to  the  fall  of  Richard  Cromwell. 


298   CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN   REPUBLIC 

keeping  "a  bit  of  a  butcher's  shop."  Killigrew  left 
Venice  in  June,  1652.  Previous  to  this,  however,  the 
Senate  had  sent  orders  to  Morosini,  the  ambassador 
in  Paris,  to  despatch  his  secretary,  Lorenzo  Pauluzzi, 
to  London,  to  open  relations  with  Parliament,  to 
urge  the  Levant  Company  to  assist  Venice,  to  raise 
troops  and  ships  for  the  Turkish  war,  and  generally 
to  report  upon  the  condition  and  the  prospects  of 
that  government.  But  Pauluzzi  was  sent  without  cre- 
dentials and  without  any  recognized  official  position. 
This  was  an  error  which  cost  Venice  dear ;  for  Parlia- 
ment was  determined  to  accept  nothing  short  of  a  full 
acknowledgment  of  its  sovereign  position.  Pauluzzi 
left  Paris  for  London.  The  duty  of  receiving  him  fell 
upon  Sir  Oliver  Fleming,  master  of  the  ceremonies, 
a  man  whom  Carlyle  has  described  as  "  a  most  gaseous 
but  indisputable  historical  figure,  of  uncertain  genesis, 
uncertain  habitat,  gliding  through  the  old  books  as 
master  of  the  ceremonies — master  of  one  knows  not 
what."  Pauluzzi  seems  to  have  found  Sir  Oliver  solid 
enough,  and  certainly  quite  master  of  the  situation. 
On  May  2,  1652,  Pauluzzi  reports  to  Morosini  as 
follows :  "  I  went  to  Fleming,  master  of  the  cere- 
monies, and  began  by  explaining  to  him  that  I  was 
your  Excellencies'  secretary,  sent  to  England  in 
Venetian  interests,  to  raise  ships  and  men.  For  that 
purpose  I  had  desired  to  be  put  in  communication 
with  some  of  the  gentlemen  of  Parliament ;  but,  since 
the  forms  of  the  present  government  did  not  permit 
of  this,  I  had  come  to  him  to  assure  him  that  if  the 
Republic  thought  that  its  friendship  was  desired  and 
would  be  returned,  it  would  not  withhold  it.  At  these 
words  of  friendship  desired  and  returned  Sir  Oliver 
broke  in,  '  I  beg  you  not  to  use  such  language.  This 
Republic  has  no  need  to  court  the  good  will  of  Venice. 
Let  us  leave  these  rigmaroles  and  formalities,  and 
speak  frankly.  If  you  have  credentials  proving  you 
the  accredited  minister  of  the  Serene  Republic,  well 
and  good — you  will  get  what  you  want.  Pray  tell  me 


PAULUZZI'S  MISSION  299 

distinctly ;  for  if  you  have  I  will  adopt  one  tone,  if 
you  have  not  I  will  adopt  another.'  I  found  myself 
obliged  to  confess  that  I  had  no  credentials,  as  I  had 
only  come  to  raise  ships;  but  I  believed  that  if  cre- 
dentials were  necessary,  the  Republic  would  send  them 
to  me  at  once.  Sir  Oliver  then  grew  very  angry,  and 
said,  '  I  am  surprised  that  you  should  come  here  in 
this  fashion  even  for  the  object  you  mention.  If  I,  let 
us  suppose,  were  to  go  to  Venice  in  this  way,  pray 
tell  me,  what  would  the  Serene  Republic  say?'  I 
replied  that  he  would,  no  doubt,  receive  every  satis- 
faction, and  that  I  expected  the  same.  Sir  Oliver 
answered,  '  I  am  willing  to  believe  it,  and,  no  doubt, 
you  know  better  than  I  do.  But  I  am  amazed,  and  so 
will  Parliament  be  amazed,  all  the  more  as  we  have 
frequently  been  advised  that  the  Serene  Republic 
intended  to  send  a  commission  to  recognize  this 
Republic,  and  the  delay  can  only  proceed  from  aversion 
to  the  present  government.'  I  wished  to  disabuse  him, 
but  he  interrupted :  '  Well,  you  have  come  here  to 
raise  ships  and  men — I  believe  it ;  but  perhaps  also 
to  play  the  spy,  as  a  Frenchman  did  lately.  I  must 
tell  you  that  we  compelled  him  to  leave  the  kingdom. 
Up  to  the  present  time  the  Republic  acknowledges  a 
minister  of  Charles  Stuart ;  what  good  can  such 
irresolution  do  you  ?  If  you  want  our  friendship,  we 
are  ready.  And  now  your  prudence  will  tell  you  how 
you  ought  to  act.' "  With  this  sharp  lesson  Pauluzzi 
was  dismissed. 

Venice  proceeded  to  repair  her  mistake.  On 
June  i,  1652,  Pauluzzi's  credentials,  addressed  "To 
the  Parliament  of  England,"  passed  the  Senate.  But 
the  Republic  had  to  wait  seven  months  before  Parlia- 
ment considered  its  honour  vindicated  and  consented 
to  acknowledge  the  representative  of  Venice.  On 
January  8,  1653,  Speaker  Lenthal  replied,  receiving 
Pauluzzi  as  agent  for  the  Republic.  Meantime  Moro- 
sini  had  been  removed  from  Paris,  and  Giovanni 
Sagredo  filled  his  place.  Sagredo  was  now  Pauluzzi's 


300  CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN   REPUBLIC 

immediate  master,  through  whom  he  communicated 
with  the  Senate  and  received  their  orders.  On 
May  17  Pauluzzi  is  instructed  to  sound  the  Con- 
stituent Convention  as  to  its  willingness  to  send  an 
embassy  to  Venice  should  the  Republic  send  one  to 
London.  To  this  an  affirmative  answer,  signed  by 
"  E.  Montagu,  President  of  the  Council  of  State,"  came 
from  Whitehall,  under  date  November  25.  But  before 
this  reciprocal  intention  could  be  carried  out,  Oliver 
Cromwell  had  been  created  protector,  and  Pauluzzi 
remained  in  London  in  the  quality  of  resident. 

Throughout  his  despatches  Pauluzzi  is  hostile  to 
Cromwell.  He  announces  in  these  words  Cromwell's 
assumption  of  the  protectorate :  "  London  January  3, 
1654.  Friday  last  the  general  was  created  protector  of 
the  three  kingdoms.  The  Parliamentarians  do  not 
cease  to  bite  their  nails  for  having  allowed  him,  step 
by  step,  to  mount  to  such  a  height  of  authority  as 
renders  him  odious  to  the  people."  On  February  21 
we  have  an  account  of  Cromwell's  first  public  appear- 
ance after  his  elevation  to  the  protectorship :  "  On  his 
appearance  not  the  slightest  sound  of  applause  or  of 
satisfaction  was  heard,  nor  any  blessings  on  the  name 
and  person  of  the  protector.  Very  different  from  that 
which  used  to  happen  when  the  late  king  appeared  in 
public.  In  general  the  protector  enjoys  but  little 
affection  ;  nay,  there  are  not  wanting  signs  of  that 
hatred  against  him,  which  grows  daily  because,  under 
cloak  of  humility  and  care  for  the  nation's  and  the 
people's  weal,  he  has  arrogated  all  authority  and 
sovereignty.  Only  the  title  of  king  is  wanting,  while 
his  actual  power  certainly  exceeds  that  of  the  late  king. 
At  present,  however,  though  they  feel  themselves 
downtrodden,  dissatisfied,  and  deluded,  they  dare 
attempt  no  action  ;  nor  do  they  speak  except  through 
their  teeth.  But  every  one  hopes  to  see  fulfilled  some 
day  the  prophecy  that  this  government  cannot  last 
long."  And  again,  on  March  i,  he  writes  :  "  Every 
day  the  ill-humour  against  the  protector  and  the 


PAULUZZI'S  AUDIENCE  OF  CROMWELL   301 

disobedience  of  the  troops  increase.  Cromwell, 
however,  persists  in  his  habitual  attitude  of  humility 
and  retirement.  He  protests  that  he  is  only  what 
have  made  him ;  that  he  will  never  be  other 
than  they  wish  him  to  be.  Traits  of  an  insincere 
humility,  under  cloak  of  which  he  aims,  perhaps,  at 
glory  greater  than  his  present ;  and  on  this  ground 
his  headlong  fall  is  continually  foretold  and  desired. 
But  he  will  save  himself  with  all  the  greater  astuteness 
that  he  knows  it  to  be  the  general  expectation  and 
desire." 

Pauluzzi  had  already  had  an  audience  of  Cromwell 
on  January  29,  which  he  thus  describes  :  "  The  day 
before  yesterday  was  appointed  for  my  audience. 
I  was  received  with  the  same  ceremonial  as  that 
observed  towards  other  ministers.  I  was  met  by  Sir 
Oliver  Fleming,  and  conducted  to  his  Highness,  whom 
I  found  in  a  chamber  surrounded  by  twenty  gentle- 
men, arranged  on  either  side,  and  Cromwell  in  the 
middle.  On  my  appearance  in  the  chamber  he  un- 
covered, and  remained  so  till  I  began  to  speak.  He 
uncovered  again  at  every  act  of  reverence  I  made 
when  naming  the  most  Serene  Republic.  I  expressed 
myself  as  follows  :  congratulating  the  protector  on 
his  elevation,  assuring  him  of  the  good  will  of  Venice, 
and  begging  his  aid  against  the  Turks.  He  remained 
attentive  to  all  I  said,  without  interrupting  me ;  and 
Sir  Oliver  translated  the  whole  into  English.  Crom- 
well replied  in  the  following  terms,  translated  into 
Italian  by  Sir  Oliver,  expressing  his  good  will  towards 
Venice;  declaring  that  he  had  every  desire  to  assist 
the  Republic,  which  he  considered  the  buckler  of 
religion  against  its  most  powerful  foe.  I  bowed  at 
these  expressions,  and  promised  to  report  them  to 
my  government ;  and  with  that  I  took  my  leave, 
accompanied  by  Sir  Oliver  to  my  carriage,  as  is  the 
etiquette  adopted  towards  all  who  are  recognized  as 
representatives  of  their  princes  and  masters." 

In  August  of  the  same  year,  Pauluzzi  again  had  an 


302   CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN   REPUBLIC 

audience  of  the  Protector,  in  order  to  present  letters 
of  congratulation  from  the  Senate.  He  was  treated 
with  greater  ceremony  on  this  occasion,  having  the 
compliment  of  a  guard  of  honour  of  one  hundred 
halberdiers  of  the  Protector's  household  troops. 
Pauluzzi  again  raised  the  question  of  assistance 
against  the  Turk.  Cromwell  replied  that  he  always 
admired  the  courage  of  the  Republic ;  he  would  inform 
Pauluzzi,  later  on,  of  his  decision  in  the  matter.  In 
January  of  the  following  year  (1655)  the  Senate  write 
to  Sagredo  that  they  can  no  longer  delay  the  despatch 
of  an  embassy  to  England.  They  were  anxious  to 
clinch  what  appeared  to  be  a  favourable  disposition 
on  the  part  of  Cromwell.  The  ambassador  is  to 
receive  six  hundred  gold  ducats  a  month  as  salary ; 
four  months  paid  in  advance,  and  no  obligation  to 
render  accounts ;  a  present  of  one  thousand  five 
hundred  gold  ducats  for  outfit ;  three  hundred  Vene- 
tian ducats  for  horses,  boxes,  rugs ;  three  hundred  for 
vails,  of  which  account  is  to  be  rendered.  He  is  to 
take  a  secretary  at  twenty-five  ducats  a  month,  and 
one  hundred  ducats  advanced ;  two  couriers  at  thirty 
ducats  each,  as  usual ;  an  interpreter  and  a  chaplain 
at  ten  scudi  a  month,  as  usual.  On  June  5  Sagredo 
himself  was  elected  for  the  English  embassy,  and 
received  his  credentials.  Sagredo  endeavoured  to 
excuse  himself  on  the  ground  that  he  was  already 
nearly  ruined  by  the  expenses  of  his  embassy  at  Paris ; 
but  the  Senate  declined  to  relieve  him  of  his  duties. 
Sagredo  accordingly  began  preparations  for  his  new 
mission.  His  carriage  alone  cost  him  one  thousand 
five  hundred  crowns,  and  his  liveries  as  much  again. 
On  September  i  he  left  Paris  with  a  large  suite, 
including,  over  and  above  his  embassy  staff,  five 
Venetian  noblemen  and  their  servants.  Cromwell 
was  pleased  at  this  mark  of  attention  on  the  part  of 
the  Republic,  and  showed  his  sense  of  the  compliment 
by  sending  a  man-of-war  to  meet  Sagredo  at  Dieppe, 
which  the  ambassador  had  chosen  as  the  point  of 


SAGREDO'S  EMBASSY  303 

embarkation  in  preference  to  Calais,  owing  to  the 
frequent  robberies  committed  by  the  garrisons  of 
Gravelines  and  Dunkerque.  Sagredo  was  much  im- 
pressed by  the  size  and  strength  of  this  man-of-war, 
and  wrote  to  the  Senate,  "  If  your  Serenity  had  twelve 
such  ships,  no  power  in  the  world  could  resist  the 
onset.  It  has  seven  hundred  men  and  one  hundred 
guns."  The  ship  crossed  the  Channel  to  Dungeness 
in  seven  hours,  and  landed  the  ambassador  in  Eng- 
land. His  public  entry  took  place  by  water.  The 
grand  master  of  the  ceremonies,  accompanied  by 
thirty  gentlemen  and  the  protector's  trumpeters,  came 
to  meet  him,  "  in  sixteen  feluccas,"  at  Greenwich, 
whence,  after  a  sumptuous  repast,  they  conducted  him 
to  the  Tower.  At  the  Tower  the  Protector's  carriage 
was  waiting  him  ;  and,  followed  by  five  other  carriages 
and  a  guard  of  fifty  horse,  he  was  conducted  to  the 
lodgings  reserved  for  ambassadors  and  other  dis- 
tinguished foreigners. 

Sagredo  sent  the  Senate  an  account  of  his  first 
audience  in  these  terms :  "  On  the  fourth  day  after 
my  public  entry  I  was  informed  that,  owing  to  the 
colic  which  had  attacked  his  Highness,  my  audience 
was  to  be  postponed  for  three  days.  Cromwell  sent 
the  master  of  the  ceremonies  to  assure  me  of  the 
regret  which  he  felt  at  this  delay,  and  to  inform  me 
that,  notwithstanding  the  sickness  which  confined 
him  to  bed,  he  would  rise  on  purpose  to  receive  me, 
if  I  thought  it  necessary.  I  did  not  fail  to  thank 
his  Highness  for  such  obliging  expressions,  and 
added  that  his  well-being  was  too  valuable  to  be 
exposed  to  any  imaginable  risk ;  that  I  would  await 
his  recovery,  nothing  complaining  of  this  delay  if  it 
were  employed  in  restoring  his  health. 

41  Three  days  later,  he  sent  his  carriages  and  two 
councillors  of  state  to  my  lodging  to  fetch  me.  I 
was  conducted  to  Whitehall,  that  is,  the  palace  of  the 
late  king.  On  my  entering  the  great  royal  hall,  hung 
with  the  richest  tapestry  and  crowded  with  people, 


304  CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN   REPUBLIC 

Cromwell  took  two  short  steps  towards  me.  He 
begged  me  to  be  covered,  and  I  then  expressed 
myself  as  follows :  that  the  Republic,  wishing  still 
further  to  mark  their  regard  for  the  protector,  had 
sent  me  as  special  envoy  to  repeat  to  him  what 
Pauluzzi  had  already  communicated.  Cromwell 
replied,  thanking  the  Republic,  and  declaring  that 
their  ambassador  should  receive  the  same  treatment 
as  that  accorded  to  the  representatives  of  other 
crowned  heads.  On  my  withdrawing,  he  again  took 
two  short  steps  towards  me,  hat  in  hand.  I  found 
him  somewhat  pulled  down,  with  signs  of  a  health 
not  absolutely  and  entirely  established,  for  I  noticed 
that  while  he  remained  uncovered,  the  hand  which 
held  his  hat  trembled.  For  the  rest,  he  is  a  man  of 
fifty-six  years  ;  a  thin  beard ;  a  full  habit ;  short,  robust 
and  martial  in  appearance.  His  countenance  is  dark 
and  profound ;  he  carries  a  large  sword  by  his  side. 
Soldier  as  well  as  orator,  he  is  gifted  with  talents 
to  persuade  and  to  act." 

Sagredo's  next  despatches,  dated  November  5,  6, 
and  12,  1655,  dwell  upon  the  difficulties  he  en- 
countered in  securing  the  object  of  his  mission, 
Cromwell's  aid  against  the  Turk  :  "  The  protector,  in 
order  to  maintain  the  credit  of  his  arms,  and  to 
justify  his  heavy  taxation,  has  resolved  to  attack  either 
Turkey  or  the  West  Indies.  Various  considerations 
incline  him  to  the  latter.  I  shall  do  all  I  can  to 
induce  him  to  attack  the  Turk,  but  there  are  two 
grave  obstacles.  The  first  is  the  Spanish  war;  the 
second,  the  Turkey  merchants,  who  form  the  most 
powerful  party  in  the  city,  and  who  fear  the  seques- 
tration of  their  wealth  in  the  Levant.  His  Highness 
sent  me  last  week  a  pamphlet  setting  forth  the 
reasons  which  oblige  England  to  go  to  war  with 
Spain.  The  conjuncture  is  little  favourable  to  my 
designs.  I  resolved,  however,  to  neglect  no  efforts 
which  might  conduce  to  the  public  benefit.  I  de- 
manded an  audience  of  his  Highness,  which  was 


SAGREDO   IN  AUDIENCE  305 

granted  me  in  his  private  cabinet.  He  met  me  in 
the  middle  of  the  room,  and  on  my  departure  he 
accompanied  me  to  the  door.  My  interview  had  for 
object  to  win  him  round  by  playing  on  his  religious 
feelings,  which  he  displays  with  all  palpable  demon- 
strations of  zeal,  even  going  so  far  as  to  preach  every 
Sunday  to  the  soldiers,  exhorting  them  to  live 
godly  lives.  And  this  preaching  he  accompanies  not 
merely  with  efficacious  persuasions,  but  also  with 
tears,  which  he  holds  ready  at  a  moment's  notice. 
By  these  means  he  excites  and  controls  the  spirit  of 
the  troops  at  his  pleasure.  In  the  second  place,  I  did 
not  fail  to  ply  him  with  the  stimulus  of  glory  and 
fame,  as  follows  :  '  I  am  instructed  to  remind  your 
Highness  that  Venice  has  now  for  eleven  years  been 
the  buckler  of  all  Christendom  against  the  Turk. 
These  barbarians  are  preparing  to  complete  the 
conquest  of  Candia,  the  outwork  of  Italy.  The  zeal 
your  Highness  has  for  the  Christian  faith,  that  piety 
and  religion  which  are  the  noble  ornaments  of  your 
generous  spirit,  will  surely  set  on  fire  the  sacred  flame 
of  your  great  courage,  and  put  a  keen  edge  on  your 
valorous  sword,  which  cannot  be  drawn  in  a  more 
glorious  cause  than  the  cause  of  the  gospel.'  To 
this  Cromwell  replied  that  the  generous  and  constant 
defence  offered  by  Venice  against  the  common  foe 
laid  every  Christian  prince  under  obligations  to  your 
Serenity;  that  he  had  frequently  felt  the  pricks 
and  goads  of  zeal  for  the  service  of  God ;  that  it 
would  have  been  better  had  I  come  to  this  court 
earlier — I  should  then  have  found  the  conjuncture 
favourable  to  my  wishes ;  that  he  would  take  the 
opinion  of  his  council.  He  personally  was  much 
disposed  to  all  that  might  profit  your  Serenity,  for 
whom  he  entertained  a  particular  esteem." 

These  negotiations,  however,  produced  no  fruit. 
The  insuperable  difficulties  in  the  way  were,  first, 
the  opposition  of  the  Levant  Company,  which  feared 
that  assistance  to  Venice  and  war  with  the  Turk 

VOL.    II.  2O 


306  CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN   REPUBLIC 

would  ruin  its  Turkish  trade ;  and,  secondly,  the  fact 
that  Cromwell  had  already  made  up  his  mind  to  a 
West  Indian  expedition.  Sagredo,  perceiving  that 
he  could  make  no  way  with  the  purpose  of  his 
mission,  demanded  his  recall.  The  Senate  granted 
his  request,  and  he  left  England  on  February  18, 
1656,  in  the  middle  of  a  violent  snowstorm,  having 
spent  five  months  in  London.  He  left  his  secretary, 
Francesco  Giavarina,  behind  him  as  resident  for  the 
Republic. 

On  his  return  to  Venice,  Sagredo,  according  to 
custom,  read,  in  the  Senate,  an  account  of  his 
embassy.  This  relazione  is  so  interesting  in  itself, 
as  a  fine  specimen  of  these  Venetian  reports,  and 
contains  so  curious  though  partial  a  view  of  the 
great  rebellion  and  the  protectorate  as  observed  by 
a  foreign  ambassador,  that  we  shall  venture  to  give 
it  almost  in  extenso. 

"  MOST  SERENE  PRINCE, 

"  The  position,  size,  and  population  of 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  are  so  well  known  to 
you,  from  books  and  from  the  reports  of  previous 
ambassadors  to  that  court,  that  it  would  be  superfluous 
and  tedious  to  recite  them  here. 

"  I,  Giovanni  Sagredo,  knight,  find  it  more  oppor- 
tune that  I,  as  your  first  ambassador  to  London  after 
the  downfall  of  the  royal  house,  should  give  you  a 
distinct  account  of  how  the  civil  war  began,  of  the 
causes  of  that  change  of  government,  of  the  character 
of  the  man  who  at  present  directs  and  commands, 
of  the  forces  and  the  alliances  of  England,  and  of  the 
designs  she  now  entertains. 

"  For  an  uninterrupted  period  of  fifteen  years  that 
kingdom  has  been  tossed  on  the  troublous  sea  of 
civil  war,  whereon  at  last  the  royal  authority  made 
lamentable  and  disastrous  shipwreck. 

"  The  causes  of  this  shipwreck  are  various ;  and 
perhaps  the  essential  causes  are  not  those  which  live 


CAUSES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR          307 

in  the  mouth  of  the  vulgar  and   by  the  notoriety  of 
common  report. 

"  The  hatred  against  Charles  I.  of  England  was 
augmented  by  a  certain  instability  in  religious 
matters,  an  instability  which  he  clearly  proved  by 
professing  himself  first  Calvinist,  then  Lutheran,  and 
finally  by  his  passionate  endeavours  to  render  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Protestant  Church  as  similar  as 
possible  to  those  of  Catholicism.  His  subjects,  who 
had  imbibed  from  their  ministers  an  implacable 
aversion  to  the  Catholic  faith,  hated  him  for  this 
policy,  which  proved  him  entirely  Catholic  at  heart. 
It  is  true,  however,  that  his  Majesty  on  the  scaffold, 
guided  by  a  diabolical  desire  to  prove  the  injustice 
of  his  condemnation,  publicly  professed  the  dogmas 
of  Protestantism,  and,  to  the  damnation  of  his  own 
soul,  endeavoured  to  give  the  lie  to  the  rumour  that 
he  leaned  towards  the  Catholic  faith.  We  must  add, 
as  no  unimportant  agent  in  his  ruin,  that  he  lacked 
the  spirit  to  govern  by  himself,  and  availed  himself 
of  ministers  whose  wits  were  slow  and  heavy,  such 
as  Lord  Holland,  or  of  austere  prelates  like  the  Bishop 
of  Canterbury,  who  desired  to  govern  London  as 
though  it  had  been  a  college  or  a  religious  house. 

"  His  Majesty  was  gifted  with  a  placid  nature, 
infinite  goodness,  and  incomparable  sincerity,  and  his 
breast,  as  though  it  had  been  made  of  crystal,  allowed 
all  his  most  secret  thoughts  to  shine  through  ;  so  that 
his  Scotch  servants,  by  whom  he  was  surrounded, 
treacherously  published  his  most  intimate  intentions, 
and  made  service  to  him  impossible  by  giving  his  foes 
the  opportunity  to  traverse  his  designs. 

1  That  he  did  not,  at  the  outset,  present  a  bold  front 
to  Parliament  contributed  much  to  his  misfortunes. 
He  suffered  meetings  and  assemblies  where,  under 
cloak  of  urgent  reforms,  the  royal  prerogative  was 
attacked,  and  the  first  seeds  of  revolution  were  sown. 

"  The  Parliament,  perceiving  the  occasion  favour- 
able to  its  designs,  grew  in  courage  and  audacity  as 


3o8   CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN   REPUBLIC 

the  king's  council  showed  itself  lacking  in  credit  and 
esteem.  And,  as  frequently  happens  in  civil  con- 
vulsions, the  first  movements  of  Parliament  were  re- 
ceived with  approval  by  those  who  love  to  fish  in 
troubled  waters,  and  think  to  better  their  own  fortunes 
by  the  misfortunes  of  their  country. 

"  Matters  having  come  to  an  open  rupture,  and  to 
the  arbitrament  of  arms,  the  Earl  of  Essex  was  the 
first  who  took  the  field  against  the  king.  In  the  open- 
ing encounter  Essex  was  so  thoroughly  crushed  and 
defeated,  that  eight  thousand  Parliamentarians  yielded 
themselves  prisoners  to  the  king ;  among  them  many 
of  his  bitterest  foes.  But  the  king,  always  prone  to 
clemency,  and  neglecting  the  sound  advice  to  make  a 
summary  and  deserved  example  of  these  men,  let  them 
all  go  free  upon  their  oath  not  to  bear  arms  against 
him  again. 

"  Fairfax,  successor  of  Essex,  who  had  been  poisoned 
by  the  Parliamentarians  on  suspicion  of  his  personal 
ambition,  defeated  the  royal  troops  twice ;  and,  after 
various  reverses,  the  king  resolved  to  place  himself  in 
the  hands  of  the  Scotch,  in  the  hope  that,  as  he  was 
their  countryman,  they  would  espouse  his  just  cause. 
But  the  Scotch,  who  had  already  ruined  his  Majesty 
by  selling  his  secrets,  now  actually  sold  the  king 
himself  to  the  Parliament  for  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds  sterling.  His  Majesty  was  closely  guarded  by 
the  Scotch  in  a  certain  castle ;  and  being  asked  by  them 
whether  he  preferred  to  stay  where  he  was  or  to  be 
consigned  to  the  English,  he  replied  that  he  would 
rather  be  in  the  hands  of  those  who  had  bought  than 
of  those  who  had  sold  him. 

"  When  they  had  the  king  in  their  power  the  Par- 
liamentarians deliberated  long.  The  more  moderate 
were  of  opinion  that,  when  abuses  had  been  reformed 
and  pledges  taken,  the  king  should  be  restored  to 
authority.  Others,  and  among  them  Cromwell,  who 
was  then  second  in  command  and  who  enjoyed  the 
highest  esteem,  represented  that  affairs  were  already 


EXECUTION  OF  CHARLES  309 

reduced  to  extremities,  admitting  no  adjustment  and 
no  compromise ;  that  the  hatred  between  the  king 
and  Parliament  was  too  deeply  rooted,  and  mutual 
injuries  too  far  advanced,  to  allow  of  retreat ;  that  the 
king  restored  would  take  revenge;  that  those  who 
feared  to  smite  a  crowned  head  would  find  a  hundred 
of  their  own  heads  smitten  in  its  place ;  that  the 
safety  of  Parliament  must  be  weighed  against  the 
safety  of  the  king;  and,  in  short,  that,  holding 
the  king  a  prisoner,  they  should  proceed  to  condemn 
him  as  a  criminal.  This  opinion,  which  gave  security 
to  guilty  consciences,  met  with  approval;  and  Charles  I., 
King  of  England,  was  condemned  to  be  publicly 
executed. 

"  The  charges  against  him  turned  on  his  share  in 
the  late  disturbances  ;  on  his  subservience  to  vicious 
and  greedy  favourites ;  and  on  the  sufferings  of  the 
people  during  the  civil  war. 

"  The  scaffold  was  raised  level  with  a  window  of 
the  palace,  and  hung  with  black  velvet.  And  because 
they  were  afraid  that  his  Majesty  might  resist  the 
execution  of  the  sentence,  and  refuse  to  lay  his  neck 
on  the  block,  two  iron  rings  were  fastened  to  the  foot 
of  the  scaffold,  through  which  a  cord  was  passed  to  be 
placed  round  his  Majesty's  neck,  and  so  to  compel 
him  by  force  to  extend  his  neck  to  the  axe  should  he 
refuse  to  bow  to  the  fatal  blow. 

44  But  the  king,  warned  in  time,  without  coming  to 
these  extremes,  begged  that  no  violence  might  be 
used,  as  he  would  of  his  own  accord  yield  to  the  law 
of  necessity  and  the  rigour  of  force.  He  died  with 
constancy  on  January  30,  I648,1  amid  universal  silence 
and  amazement ;  for,  owing  to  the  strong  detachments 
of  troops  posted  in  various  parts,  no  one  dared  to 
show  his  sorrow  except  in  his  heart  of  hearts.  So  he 
died ;  an  example  without  example  which  struck  pity 
not  only  among  men,  but  also  among  the  very  beasts. 
For  an  old  lion,  who  still  lives  in  the  Tower  of 
1  More  Veneto 


3io  CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN   REPUBLIC 

London,  showed  his  emotion  by  fierce  roars,  not  only 
on  the  day  of  the  execution,  but  even  now,  every  year 
on  the  anniversary  of  the  same,  to  the  wonder  and 
observation  of  all  people. 

"  London  was  the  chief  and  the  most  obstinate 
centre  of  the  war.  The  people  advanced  from  their 
private  purses  untold  treasures  for  the  maintenance  of 
their  army.  The  goldsmiths  alone  are  still  creditors 
for  eight  hundred  thousand  crowns. 

"Fairfax,  who  was  at  that  time  in  supreme  com- 
mand, was  unwilling  to  sign  the  death-warrant.  He 
gave  a  forced  consent,  however,  when  urged  by 
Cromwell,  who  brought  him  the  order  from  Parlia- 
ment. Fairfax  also  refused  to  advance  against  the 
Scots,  as  that  would  have  been  a  violation  of  treaty. 
Parliament  compelled  him  to  resign  his  baton  to 
Cromwell,  his  lieutenant.  Cromwell,  though  then 
only  second  in  titular  command,  was  in  every  way 
supreme  in  authority.  For  Fairfax  was  a  practical 
soldier  only,  whose  sword  was  his  sole  resource; 
while  Cromwell  knew  how  to  use  his  sword  and  his 
tongue  equally  well,  and  to  such  purpose  that,  after 
unhorsing  his  own  general,  he  also  unseated  Parlia- 
ment, though  it  had  been  the  chief  cause  of  his 
aggrandizement.  They  say  that  Cromwell,  foreseeing 
that  the  supreme  power  must  one  day  fall  into  his 
hands  owing  to  the  weakness  of  others  and  his  own 
ability,  insisted  that  the  execution  of  the  king  should 
follow  an  Act  of  Parliament— that  is,  a  decree  of  the 
people — in  order  that  the  breach  between  the  people 
and  the  king's  descendants  might  become  impassable. 
And  to  render  any  return  of  the  royal  family  all  the 
more  difficult,  the  royal  property,  to  the  amount  of 
eight  hundred  thousand  crowns  of  income,  was  sold, 
along  with  the  furnishings  of  the  king's  wardrobe, 
which  was  put  up  to  auction. 

"  As  upon  the  wreck  of  some  fallen  palace  we 
may  see  another  and  more  magnificent  edifice  arise, 
so  upon  the  ruins  of  the  royal  house  Cromwell  piled 


CROMWELL  IN  POWER  311 

up  the  portentous  splendour  of  his  fortunes,  until  he 
reached  that  culminating  point  where  he  now  stands. 
And,  because  all  subsequent  events  of  moment  are 
either  the  result  of  his  councils  or  the  fruit  of  his 
actions,  my  report  will  now  deal  with  nothing  but 
the  deeds  of  this  man,  who  has  become,  through  his 
fortune  and  his  ability,  the  most  famous  figure  of 
our  day. 

11  On  the  fall  of  the  royal  authority  all  government 
and  the  entire  control  of  public  affairs  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Parliament.  Although  Cromwell  had  only 
one  vote,  yet,  as  representative  of  the  army,  his 
opinion  was  venerated  and  supported  by  the  majority. 
We  must  remember  that  Parliament  was  deliberative, 
the  army  executive. 

"Cromwell's  success  in  Ireland,  and  his  personal 
courage  there,  rendered  him  all  the  more  powerful. 
The  reduction  of  Scotland,  accomplished  with  only 
nine  thousand  men,  added  to  his  renown.  Before 
going  into  battle,  he  encouraged  his  troops  by  telling 
them  that  God  had  assured  him  of  victory  by  a  voice 
which  spoke  to  him  in  the  midnight;  and  such  was 
the  confidence  which  his  soldiers  had  in  him,  that 
their  attack  was  irresistible.  The  Scotch  broke,  and 
there  was  not  a  man  of  the  English  army  who  did  not 
bring  in  a  prisoner  apiece. 

"Civil  war  being  thus  ended,  a  foreign  war  with 
Holland  followed,  on  the  question  of  the  herring 
fisheries. 

"The  navies  of  former  days  were  far  inferior  in 
tonnage  and  in  guns  to  those  of  to-day,  and  so  one 
may  say  without  exaggeration  that  the  ocean  never 
saw  more  formidable  armaments  nor  more  bloody 
battles  between  two  nations  braver  or  more  ferocious. 
As  many  as  three  hundred  ships,  English  and  Dutch, 
took  the  sea,  and  with  such  a  letting  of  blood  that 
many  times  the  very  waves  have  blushed  for  the  shame 
of  such  cruel  slaughter. 

"The  Dutch  have  received  a  heavy  blow.     They 


have  spent  more  in  two  years'  war  with  England  than 
in  one  hundred  with  Spain.  Their  disadvantages  fall 
under  three  heads. 

"  First,  their  merchant  navy  is  out  of  all  proportion 
to  their  fleet.  Secondly,  they  have  no  bronze  cannon, 
in  which  the  English  are  well  found.  The  English 
range  and  weight  being  superior,  they  disable  the 
enemy  before  coming  to  close  quarters. 

"The  third  and  most  notable  disadvantage  is  that 
the  English  intelligences  are  so  good,  that  at  the  very 
outbreak  of  the  war  they  were  able  to  seize  Dutch 
shipping  in  various  waters ;  and  in  this  way  one  may 
say  that  the  Dutch  have  indemnified  England  for  the 
expenses  of  the  war. 

"  Parliament  taxed  the  nation  heavily  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  fleet.  This  rendered  it  odious  to  the 
people.  Cromwell  fomented  the  disgust.  Questions 
between  the  Parliament  and  the  army  began  to  arise. 
The  army  refused  to  submit  to  reforms  which  would 
weaken  its  power.  Cromwell,  foreseeing  an  attack 
on  himself,  with  masculine  resolution,  placed  guards 
at  the  strategical  points  of  the  city,  and  entering 
Parliament,  accompanied  by  a  few  officers,  said,  '  You 
have  too  long  sucked  the  purest  blood  from  English 
veins ;  the  nation  is  weary  of  suffering  the  ruinous 
consequences  of  your  misgovernment ;  you  have  over- 
played the  prince,  a  role  that  does  not  belong  to 
you ;  now,  stripped  of  the  royal  mantle  and  kingly 
authority,  get  you  about  your  business ;  the  comedy 
is  over.' 

"  The  members,  in  amazement,  kept  silence ;  but 
the  Speaker  demanded  by  what  authority  Cromwell 
dared  to  sack  Parliament.  Then  Cromwell,  showing 
his  sword,  replied  that  his  authority  lay  there.  He 
drove  the  Speaker  from  his  seat,  removed  the  mace, 
and  the  other  members,  in  terror  and  confusion,  went 
their  ways. 

"  This  change  of  government  took  place  without 
any  rising.  Those  who  pitied  the  king  rejoiced  to 


CROMWELL  PROTECTOR  31 3 

see  the  authors  of  his  disasters  humiliated.  The 
people  applauded  the  vigour  of  Cromwell,  whose 
authority  and  prestige  served  to  justify  his  acts. 

"The  Dutch  war  continued;  but  after  the  fierce 
battle  in  which  Tromp  was  killed,  peace  was  con- 
cluded upon  terms  most  advantageous  to  England. 
By  this  peace  Cromwell  became  yet  more  respected 
and  feared.  He  summoned  two  other  Parliaments, 
but  these  proving  restive  under  his  orders  were 
presently  dissolved.  Cromwell  was  unwilling  any 
longer  to  submit  his  towering  and  dominating  pros- 
perity to  public  criticism.  He  accordingly  established 
the  military  government  which  now  exists.  He  caused 
himself  to  be  proclaimed  protector  of  the  three  king- 
doms, with  the  council,  which  he  retained  in  order  to 
preserve  the  fiction  of  a  republic,  and  to  lessen  the 
odium  which  his  despotic  government  creates.  He 
has  declined  the  crown ;  for,  after  overthrowing  the 
royal  dignity,  it  would  have  been  a  too  naked  dis- 
play of  hypocrisy  to  place  the  crown  on  his  own 
head.  Cromwell  cares  nothing  for  a  name.  He  is 
content  with  his  authority  and  power,  beyond  all 
comparison  greater,  not  only  than  that  of  any 
king  who  ever  reigned  in  England,  but  than  that 
of  any  monarch  who  wields  a  sceptre  in  the  world 
just  now. 

"The  fundamental  laws  of  the  nation  are  upset, 
and  Cromwell  is  the  sole  legislator.  His  laws  are 
dictated  by  his  own  judgment  and  his  own  desires. 
All  offices  issue  from  his  hands.  The  members  of  the 
council  must  be  nominated  by  him  ;  nor  can  they  rise 
to  power  except  through  him ;  and,  that  no  one  may 
become  master  of  the  army,  he  has  left  the  office  of 
lieutenant-general  vacant. 

"  As  for  his  wealth,  no  king  ever  raised  so  much 
from  his  subjects.  England  pays  at  present  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  pounds  sterling  a 
month  in  burdens ;  besides  this,  the  duty  of  five  per 
cent,  on  all  merchandise  sold  or  bought  in  a  city  of 


314  CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN    REPUBLIC 

such  flourishing  commerce  as  London  amounts  to 
three  million  two  hundred  thousand  crowns  a  year ; 
add  to  this  the  dues  on  export  and  import  for  the 
whole  kingdom,  and  the  confiscations  of  private 
fortunes,  such  as  the  Duke  of  Buckingham's,  which 
amount  to  an  enormous  sum — for  the  revenue  of  the 
English  nobility  exceeds  that  of  any  other  nobility. 
The  Catholics,  on  a  payment  of  two-thirds  of  their 
income,  are  permitted  to  continue  in  the  exercise  of 
their  creed.  In  spite  of  all  this  wealth  the  protector 
is  not  rich.  His  expenditure  exceeds  his  income. 
There  are  twelve  millions  a  year  for  the  armament ; 
for  Cromwell  is  obliged  to  support  those  who  sup- 
ported him.  At  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war  the 
pay  of  the  Parliamentary  troops  and  sailors  was  in- 
creased, in  order  to  entice  the  king's  forces  away  from 
him.  But  the  durability  of  a  government  founded  on 
force  depends  upon  the  troops ;  it  is  therefore  neces- 
sary to  pay  the  soldiers  punctually  to  avoid  revolt. 
The  army  is  well  fed  and  clad,  but  rigorously  disci- 
plined. Neglect  of  duty  is  punished  by  the  rod ;  for 
an  ordinary  oath,  instant  cashiering ;  for  excesses,  im- 
prisonment, and  sometimes  hanging.  Promotion  by 
merit,  not  by  seniority,  causes  complaints  against  the 
government.  These  are  reported  to  the  protector  by 
his  numerous  spies.  He  purifies  the  army  by  sending 
mutinous  troops  to  the  Indies,  or  to  the  extreme  parts 
of  the  kingdom ;  by  these  purgatives  he  cures  the 
disease,  and  prevents  it  from  increasing  and  infecting 
the  principal  members. 

"  It  is  a  remarkable  point  among  the  maxims  of 
his  supersubtle  policy,  that,  knowing  he  could  not 
rely  on  the  aristocracy,  he  began  to  raise  to  the 
highest  commands  in  the  army  people  of  low  degree, 
on  purpose  that  they,  seeing  their  whole  fortunes 
to  depend  on  him,  might  be  bound  to  support  his 
pre-eminence.  This  policy,  which  has  welded  the 
existence  of  the  protector  and  of  the  army  in  indis- 
soluble bonds,  leaves  but  faint  hopes  that  the  King 


CROMWELL'S  RELIGION  315 

of  Scotland  will  ever  be  able  to  untie  and  dissolve 
a  union  based  upon  such  reciprocal  interests.  It  is 
certain  that  the  troops  live  with  as  much  regularity 
as  a  religious  body.  It  was  observed  during  the 
late  war  that  when  the  king's  soldiers  gained  a  victory, 
they  abandoned  themselves  to  wine  and  debauchery ; 
those  commanded  by  Cromwell  were  compelled,  after 
their  greatest  successes,  to  pray  and  fast. 

"  And  here  I  must  touch  upon  Cromwell's  religion. 
He  makes  no  regular  external  professions,  and  so  it 
is  impossible  to  know  what  rite  he  follows.  In  the 
late  civil  war  he  professed  himself  an  Anabaptist. 
This  is  a  sect  which  abhors  princedom  and  pretends 
to  hold  off  God  alone.  Cromwell,  immediately  on  his 
elevation  to  the  command,  not  only  separated  from 
the  Anabaptists,  or  Independents,  but  disavowed  and 
persecuted  them.  Guided  by  interests  of  state  he 
changes  his  religion.  He  hold  that  it  comports  with 
his  policy  that  in  London  they  profess  two  hundred 
and  forty-six  religions,  all  united  in  alienation  from 
the  pontiff,  but  among  themselves  very  dissimilar  and 
antagonistic.  The  disunion  of  so  many  various  sects 
renders  them  all  weak,  and  none  can  waken  his 
apprehension. 

"  If  at  this  point  I  were  to  represent  to  your 
Excellencies  the  dissonance  and  variation  of  these 
sects,  I  should  waste  much  time  and  merely  stir  your 
pity  and  your  smiles.  Near  my  house  there  lived  a 
noble  lord  with  six  grown  sons,  all  of  different  re- 
ligions; they  were  always  in  disputes  perpetual  and 
infinite,  and  sometimes  camf  to  blows,  so  that  their 
father's  whole  time  was  employed  and  embarrassed 
in  separating  and  pacifying  them. 

"  Cromwell,  in  short,  is  master  of  the  most  beautiful 
island  in  the  world,  of  great  circumference  and  width, 
abounding  in  men,  and  so  happy  in  its  fertility  that 
in  the  most  rigid  winter  season  the  animals  always 
find  green  pastures ;  where,  though  the  land  produce 
no  wine,  one  drinks  better  than  in  viniferous  coun- 


316  CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN   REPUBLIC 

tries ;  for  the  wine  acquires  strength  and  flavour  on 
its  journey,  and  by  its  passage  over  sea. 

"What  the  land  produces  not  is  nevertheless 
abundant;  it  is  drawn  thither  by  the  copious  and 
flourishing  commerce  of  London — a  city  which  yields 
not  to  Paris  in  population,  in  the  wealth  of  its  mer- 
chants, in  extent,  and,  above  all,  in  its  convenience  to 
the  sea,  which  wafts  in  such  abundance  of  shipping 
that,  on  my  arrival,  I  counted  more  than  two  thousand 
sail  upon  the  famous  river  Thames. 

"  And  yet  it  is  true  that,  after  the  change  of  govern- 
ment, the  glory  and  the  grandeur  of  London  have 
altered  much.  For  the  most  illustrious  nobility  which 
gathered  there  and  made  it  brilliant  is  now  crushed 
and  mortified  and  scattered  over  the  country.  And 
the  delights  of  the  court,  the  gayest  and  most 
sumptuous  in  the  world,  is  changed  now  to  a  per- 
petual marching  and  countermarching  of  troops,  an 
incessant  noise  of  drums  and  trumpets,  and  a  long 
train  of  officers  and  soldiers  at  their  posts. 

"  The  government  knows  that  it  possesses  a  king- 
dom separated  from  the  rest  of  the  world — a  kingdom 
that  fears  not  invasion,  and  needs  no  foreign  support, 
for  it  has  abundant  forces  to  protect  itself  and  to 
cause  alarm  in  others  with  its  fleet  of  choice  ships 
that  hold  the  sea  in  obedience  and  give  the  law 
wherever  they  pass. 

"  And  foreign  powers  are  held  of  so  much  the  less 
account  that  they  have  vied  with  one  another  in  open 
demonstrations  of  respect  and  esteem  for  the  man 
who  now  rules  England. 

41  In  short,  I  can  assure  your  Serenity  that  England 
fears  no  other  power ;  nay,  she  claims  to  waken  fear 
in  them.  And  therefore  they  receive  without  re- 
turning embassies,  as  do  the  Turks ;  nor  do  they 
seek  alliances,  but  expect  to  be  sought. 

"As  regards  your  Serenity,  I  am  bound  to  report 
with  frankness  events  as  they  occurred;  and  I  say 
that  the  despatch  of  Pauluzzi  without  credentials  was 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  SAGREDO'S  MISSION    317 

taken  ill.  For  this  reason  they  refused  him  audience 
for  seven  months,  nor  would  they  ever  have  granted 
it  had  not  credentials  been  given  him  in  quality  of 
resident. 

"Then  the  tardy  despatch  of  an  ambassador  extra- 
ordinary was  taken  in  bad  part ;  for  Venice  was  the 
last  of  all  the  powers  to  send  one.  It  was  openly 
said  that  the  Senate  entertained  an  aversion  to  this 
form  of  government,  and  stigmatized  it  as  illegiti- 
mate. It  cost  me  some  pains,  before  my  arrival,  to 
remove  this  suspicion.  I  succeeded  in  convincing 
his  Highness  that  the  despatch  of  an  embassy  to 
him,  when  none  had  been  sent  to  Parliament,  was 
a  sign  of  peculiar  respect  for  his  person  and  rank. 
This  argument  made  a  breach  in  his  mind.  He 
sent  a  man-of-war  to  France  for  me,  and  I  was 
received  with  all  the  distinctions  and  prerogatives 
in  use  towards  other  ambassadors.  When  the 
French  and  Spanish  ambassadors  left  London  my 
chapel  was  crowded  with  Catholics.  The  ministers 
objected,  but  Cromwell  refused  to  interfere  with  my 
liberty. 

"  I  reached  England  at  a  moment  unfortunate  for 
the  object  of  my  mission,  when  the  West  Indian  cam- 
paign was  already  resolved  upon.  It  is  true,  more- 
over, that  the  Levant  Company — that  is  to  say,  the 
wealthiest  Turkey  merchants — watched  my  negotia- 
tions jealously.  They  insisted  that,  as  the  company 
had  four  millions  of  capital  in  Turkish  ports,  the 
slightest  suspicion  would  suffice  to  induce  the  Turk 
to  confiscate  it,  as  had  lately  happened  in  Spain. 

"  Having  now  succinctly  reported  the  changes,  the 
forces,  alliances,  designs,  and  form  of  the  English 
government,  I  must  return  to  certain  particulars  about 
Cromwell,  who  has  become  so  conspicuous  and  so 
famous  throughout  the  world. 

"Certain  it  is  that  history  will  have  to  dwell  at 
length  on  all  that  I  have  compressed  into  this  com- 
pendium, and  that  Cromwell  must  be  considered  as 


318   CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN   REPUBLIC 

a  pet  of  Fortune's  partiality.  It  is  impossible  to 
deny  that  by  his  genius  and  activity  he  has  contri- 
buted to  his  own  glory.  But  although  he  is  rich  in 
courage,  wit,  and  natural  prudence,  all  those  parts 
would  have  served  him  nothing  had  he  lacked  the 
opportunity  to  become  great.  He  made  use  of  his 
talents  and  he  seized  the  occasion. 

"  Born  at  Huntingdon  of  a  father  whose  blood  was 
noble,  but  whose  fortune  was  less  than  moderate, 
Cromwell  was  first  a  cornet,  then  a  captain  in  the 
cavalry.  Cambridge  elected  him  as  its  member  and 
sent  him  to  Parliament. 

"  He  is  a  man  of  the  sword  as  well  as  of  the  tongue, 
and  hence  it  is  that  he  has  climbed  by  such  great 
strides.  He  rose  to  be  colonel,  sergeant-general, 
lieutenant-general,  and  finally  general  of  the  whole 
army.  Favoured  by  Fortune  in  many  a  battle,  he 
proved  himself  a  man  of  iron  courage  and  fearless  in 
the  sharpest  and  most  dangerous  encounters. 

"  When  he  was  general,  two  thousand  sailors 
mutinied  and  betook  themselves  to  his  house,  de- 
manding their  pay.  He  heard  the  noise,  and  went 
downstairs  with  four  officers  who  were  dining  with 
him.  He  thrust  himself  into  the  crowd,  sword  in 
hand,  killed  one  and  mortally  wounded  another,  with 
such  speed  and  dexterity  that  the  rest,  terrified  at 
this  example  and  overawed  by  their  veneration  for 
his  person,  fled  to  their  ships. 

"  Outwardly  religious  in  the  extreme,  he  preaches 
with  eloquence  to  the  soldiers,  exhorting  them  to  live 
according  to  the  law  of  God ;  and,  to  render  his  per- 
suasions more  efficacious,  he  often  makes  use  of  tears, 
weeping  more  for  the  sins  of  others  than  for  his  own. 
He  is  a  man  of  a  solid  and  massive  judgment ;  and 
he  knows  the  character  of  the  English  as  a  horseman 
knows  the  horses  of  his  manege,  and  so  with  the 
lightest  touch  of  his  whip  he  guides  them  whither 
he  will. 

"  He  is  not  severe  except  with  those  of  the  opposite 


CROMWELL'S  HABITS  3'9 

party ;  courteous  and  civil  to  his  own,  and  liberal 
in  rewards  to  those  who  have  served  him  well. 

"  For  the  rest,  in  general  he  is  more  feared  than 
loved — mortally  hated  by  the  Royalists,  who  are  no 
small  body,  but  who  are  powerless,  being  spoiled  of 
wealth  and  arms. 

"  His  pleasure  is  to  ride  often  in  his  coach  to 
Hampton  Court,  a  country  house  of  the  late  king. 
He  never  shows  himself  in  London  because  of  the 
accident  which  happened  to  him  there  when  he 
was  going  to  the  city  to  take  the  protectorate.  A 
large  stone  was  thrown  from  a  window  and  fell  on 
the  top  of  his  carriage,  breaking  it  in  and  passing  close 
to  his  head.  In  spite  of  every  effort  the  author  was 
never  discovered. 

"  He  lives  in  perpetual  suspicion.  The  smallest 
gathering  of  men  rouses  his  apprehension ;  and  there- 
fore plays,  horse-races,  and  all  recreations  which 
might  collect  a  crowd,  are  forbidden.  At  the  public 
audience,  which  is  open  to  all,  I  have  seen,  at  various 
doors,  officers  of  the  guard  with  drawn  swords  in 
their  hands. 

"  They  say  he  never  sleeps  twice  in  the  same  room, 
and  often  changes  his  bed  for  fear  of  some  mine. 
Some  have  even  been  discovered.  It  is  true,  however, 
that  the  government  often  invents  conspiracies  to 
afford  a  pretext  against  the  Royalists,  and  therefore 
to  increase  the  army  and  the  guards. 

"  Cromwell  is  deeply  mortified  that  he  has  no 
children  of  spirit  and  intelligence.  His  two  sons 
lack  the  vigour  of  their  father,  and  therefore  he  takes 
no  pains  to  make  his  greatness  hereditary ;  being 
sure  the  edifice  must  fall  when  it  has  such  weak 
supports  as  these  two  sons  of  tardy  and  heavy 
intellect. 

"The  first  man  in  the  army  is  Sergeant-General 
Lambert.  They  say  that  in  his  heart  he  does  not 
love  Cromwell,  though  outwardly  he  professes  the 
closest  union  with  him.  In  any  case,  no  one  is  more 


320  CROMWELL  AND  VENETIAN   REPUBLIC 

able  than  Lambert  to    cause  a  change  and  form  a 
party. 

"  Whether  the  present  government  will  last  long  is 
a  difficult  question.  It  is  likely,  however,  that  after 
the  death  of  Cromwell  we  may  see  some  change  of 
scene,  in  accordance  with  the  universal  law  that 
violence  can  never  endure." 

Giavarina,  late  secretary  to  the  embassy,  remained 
in  London  as  Venetian  resident  at  the  protector's 
court.  His  instructions  were  to  urge,  upon  every 
possible  occasion,  the  advisability  of  assisting  the 
Venetians  against  the  Turks.  This  he  did,  but  with- 
out success.  On  the  death  of  Cromwell,  Giavarina 
conveyed  the  condolences  of  the  Senate  to  his  son 
Richard.  Giavarina  was  treated  with  all  ceremonious 
respect.  Five  court  carriages,  drawn  by  six  horses 
each,  were  sent  to  take  him  to  Whitehall.  Richard 
Cromwell  held  out  every  prospect  of  being  willing 
to  satisfy  the  Venetians'  request.  But  Giavarina 
warned  his  government  not  to  place  much  reliance  on 
these  promises,  which  he  considered  were  made  more 
with  a  view  to  induce  the  Republic  to  acknowledge 
Cromwell  by  the  despatch  of  a  special  envoy,  than 
with  any  idea  of  their  actual  fulfilment.  Giavarina's 
residence  in  London  was  not  more  pleasant  than  it 
was  profitable.  He  found  himself  in  difficulties  on 
account  of  the  asylum  and  shelter  which  he  gave  at 
the  residency  to  twenty  Catholic  priests,  whom  the 
Spanish  ambassador  had  left  behind  him  when  he  was 
recalled.  Giavarina  was  still  further  embarrassed  by 
the  superior  place  assigned  to  the  legate  of  Branden- 
burg at  court  ceremonies.  He  considered  it  his  duty 
to  absent  himself  on  this  ground  from  the  festivities 
attending  the  confirmation  of  Richard  Cromwell  as 
protector.  The  Senate,  however,  disapproved  his 
conduct,  and  even  proposed  to  recall  him  from  his 
post.  Nor  were  these  the  only  troubles  which 
Giavarina  had  to  endure.  The  Senate  paid  him  very 


THE  RETURN  OF  CHARLES  321 

poorly  and  very  irregularly;  the  expenses  of  the 
residency  were  heavy  ;  he  found  himself  overwhelmed 
with  debt ;  and,  to  put  a  crown  to  his  misfortunes,  on 
the  night  of  October  18,  1657,  the  residency  was 
broken  into  by  twelve  thieves,  who  bound  and  beat 
the  resident,  and,  as  he  says  himself,!  "  robbed  me  of 
everything,  even  my  hat ;  the  public  ciphers  and 
despatches  alone  escaping  by  a  miracle." 

But  better  days  were  in  store  for  Giavarina.  The 
protectorate  fell,  the  Stuarts  were  restored,  and  the 
Venetian  resident  had  the  honour  to  be  the  first 
foreign  representative  to  welcome  Charles  at  Canter- 
bury the  day  after  his  landing  in  England. 


VOL.   II  21 


INDEX 


Aali,  the  historian,  ii.  135 
Abano,  baths  of,  i.  1 86 
Adda  river,  i.  2  note,  187 
Adrian,  Pope,  i.  15 
Adrianople,  ii.  9  ;  treaty  at,  3 
Agna,  castle  of,  i.  1 16 
Agostino,  Church  of  Sant',  i.  48 

note 

—  Girolamo,  i.  323 
Albergati,  Niccolo,  Cardinal  of 

Santa  Croce,  i.  184 
Alberi,  Signer,   Relazioni  degli 

Ambasciatori   Veneti,  i.   321, 

ii.  2  note 
Albiola,  i.  40 
Alen9on,  Philip  d',  Patriarch  of 

Aquileia,  i.  132 
Alessio,  ii.  9 
"  Alethophilus,        Cristianus," 

Artes  Jesuitic^,  i.  219 
Alexander  VI.,  Pope,  account 

of  his  death  by  poison,  i.  244  ; 

attempt    on    his    life,    250 ; 

extract  from  his  Bull  Inter 

Multiplices,  ii.  41,  45,  59 
Aliprandi,  Giovanni  degli,  i.  177 
Almeda,  castle  of,  ii.  253 
Altichiero,  48  note 
Amalfi,  i.  1 1 
Ambassadors,  their  reception  in 

Venice,  i.  329 ;    ceremonies, 

330-2  ;   privileges,  332 
Anafesto,  Luccio  Paolo,  elected 

the  first  Doge  of  Venice,  i. 

20 
Andosiglia,    the   legation   spy, 

ii.  278,  280 
Andrea,  or  "  the  Cripple,"  ii. 


279  ;  employed  to  strangle 
Spinosa,  280 

Andros,  i.  50 

Angeli,  ii.  136 

Anghiari,  victory  of,  i.  177 

Anima  d'oro,  supposed  dis- 
covery of,  ii.  187 

Anjou,  Louis  of,  i.  172 

Antonino,  castle  of  S.,  siege, 
i.  165 

Anzoli,  Alvise  de',  ii.  106 

—  Francesco  de',  ii.  106 
Apennines,  crossing  the,  ii.  123 
Apulia,  ii.  27  ;    expedition  to, 

i.  171 
Aquileia,  i.  18  ;  patriarchate  of , 

132 

Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  extract 
from  his  Sunima  on  assassina- 
tions, i.  218  ;  on  the  supre- 
macy of  the  Church  over  the 
State,  ii.  227 

Aragon,  Alfonso  of,  i.  171 
Arbedo,  victory  of,  i.  170 
Arcelli,  Filippo  of  Piacenza,  i. 
164  ;    attack  on,   165  ;    sur- 
renders, 165 

—  Margherita,  i.  167 
Archipelago,    islands    of    the, 

conceded  to  Venice,  i.  50 
Archive  or   Record   Office,   ii. 

147  ;  characteristics  of  study 

in,  149-51 
Arcimboldi,      Archbishop      of 

Milan,  his  Catalogue,  ii.  67 
Aretino,  Pietro,  i.  257,  ii.  93, 

100 

Armada,  defeat  of,  i.  352,  ii.  53 


323 


324 


INDEX 


Anningaud,  Venise  et  le  Bus 
Empire,  i.  10  note 

Arqua,  i.  129 

Arso  (Larissa),  ii.  10 

Arundel,  Lady,  ii.  262 

Ascoli,  Cardinal  of,  ii.  75 

Asolo,  i.  271,  285  ;  occupied, 
292 

Assassinations  in  Italy,  i.  217  ; 
views  on,  218;  executionary, 
219  ;  private,  220  ;  tyranni- 
cide, 220-3  ;  political,  223- 
33  ;  tenders  for,  235-7  ; 
typical  cases  in  Venice,  234  ; 
quality  and  number  of  assas- 
sins, 237 

Asti,  i.  136 

Astolfo,  King  of  the  Lombards, 
i.  14 

Attila,  his  invasion  of  Venice, 
i.  i 

Austria,  Leopold,  Duke  of,  i. 
131,  143  ;  taken  prisoner,  144 

—  Rudolf,  Duke  of,  war  with 
Francesco  Carrara,  i.  125  ; 
repulsed  at  Trieste,  126 

Aversa,  ii.  276 

Avignon,  i.  137  ;  embassy  to, 
86 

Avogadro,  Pietro,  i.  180 

Azzari,  Sioria  di  Milano,  i.  109 
note 

Azzoni,  Count  Avogadro  degli, 
i.  272 

Bacchiglione,  i.  19,  126 
Bacon,  Sir  Francis,  his  view  on 
censorship  of  the  press,  ii.  42, 

49 

Badoer,  Badoer,  i.  71 

Bailo,  or  agent-in-ordinary  at 
Constantinople,  ii.  2  ;  his 
position,  4  ;  election,  6  ; 
salary,  6  ;  instructions,  7  ; 
staff,  7 ;  household,  7  ; 
suite,  8  ;  choice  of  a  route, 
8  ;  official  robes,  15  ;  cere- 
monial, 15  ;  banquet,  16,  19  ; 
attends  the  divan,  17-9 ; 
received  by  the  Sultan,  20  ; 
his  duties,  21  ;  consular 


duties,    24  ;     judicial,    28  ; 
acts  as  postmaster,  32  ;  diffi- 
culties of  his  position,  34-7 
Bajazet  II.,  Sultan,  i.  281 
Baldus,  his  view  of  assassina- 
tion, i.  218 
Barbarigo,  Jacopo,  i.  189 

—  Ottavio,  ii.  1 56 

Barbaro,  Daniele,  i.  84  ;  on  the 
censorship  of  the  press,  ii. 
44 ;  his  opinion  of  the 
Pauline  Index,  72 

—  Francesco,  ii.  17 

—  Giosafat,  i.  274  note 
Barberius,  John,  of  Padua,  i. 

235 
Barbiano,  Alberico  da,  i.  1 56 

—  General,  i.  147 
Bari,  i.  1 1 

Baronius,  Cardinal,  ii.  49 

—  Annales  Eccles.,  i.   28  note, 
29  note 

Barozzi,  Signor,  i.  321 

Barton,  Edward,  case  of,  ii.  5 
note,  29 

Baschet,  M.,  Les  Archives  de 
Venise,  i.  77  note,  293  note, 
296 ;  on  the  receptions  of 
the  French  ambassadors  in 
Venice,  328 

Basil  I.,  Emperor,  i.  5  ;  legend 
of,  9  ;  founds  the  dynasty,  10 

Bassano,  i.  115,  119,  285,  ii.  117 

Basso,  San,  i.  149 

Battistella,  Signor,  //  Conte 
Carmagnola,  158  note,  209, 
212  et  seq. 

Bavaria,  Duke  of,  receives 
Bragadin,  ii.  203  ;  his  treat- 
ment of  him,  204-6 

—  Stephen,    Elector   of,   joins 
the  league  against  Visconti, 
i.  140 

Beato,  taken  hostage,  i.  36 
Beccadello,  Padre,  ii.  117,  123 
Beccaria,  Castellino,  slaughter 

of,  i.  167 

Bedmar,  Alfonso  della  Queva, 
Marquis  of,  Spanish  am- 
bassador in  Venice,  ii.  247  ; 
his  relations  with  Osuna,  274 


INDEX 


325 


Bellarmine,  Cardinal,  his  re- 
lations with  Sarpi,  ii.  211 

Bellini,  Gentile,  his  portraits 
of  Caterina  Cornaro,  i.  270, 
271 

Bellinzona,  i.  169 

Bellona,  Madalena,  ii.  269,  275  ; 
arrested,  276 

Belluno,  i.  115,  119,  125,  131 

—  John,  Bishop  of,  i.  340 
Bembo,    Doge    Giovanni,    his 

death,  ii.  246  note 

—  Marco,   murdered,  i.  274 

—  Pietro,  on  the  court  of  Cat- 
erina Cornaro  at  Asolo,  i.  287 

Beneventum,  i.  ii,  16 
Benveniste,  the  Jew,  ii.  136 
Berchet,  Signer,  i.  321  ;  Crom- 
well e  la  Republica  di  Venezia, 
ii.  297  note 

Bergamo,  i.  163 ;  bombard- 
ment of,  166 

Bernardo,  Lorenzo,  ii.  22,  35  ; 
his  despatch  to  the  doge, 
152-4 

Bernerio,  Fra  Girolamo,  ii.  210 
Bevilaqua,  Matteo,  i.  240 
Bibiones,  i.  18  note 
Binde,  Antonio  dalle,  i.  94 
Bini,  Alvise,  ii.  106 

—  Benedetto,  ii.  106 

—  Giovanni  Pietro,  ii.  106 

—  Lucrezia,   her   marriage,   ii. 
106 ;  will,  106.     See  Gioliti 

Bobbio,  occupied,  i.  163 
Bocconio,   Marco,   organizes  a 
revolt,    i.    66 ;     seized    and 
executed,  67 

Boemond  of  Brienne,  i.  69 
Bohemia,  John  of,  i.  1 14 
Bolani,  Pietro,  arrested,  i.  91 
Boldrino,  Bishop,  ii.  210 
Bollani,  Marco,  ii.  291 
Bologna,  i.    140,  ii.    119,    123, 
124  ;  siege  of,  i.  144  ;  settle- 
ment at,  ii.  34 
Bon,  Ambassador,  ii.  269 

—  Filippo,  ii.  33 

—  Jerome,    on    the    death    of 
Leo  X.,  i.  247 

Bongi,  Signer  Salvatore,  Annali 


di  Gabriele  Gioliti  de  Ferrari, 
ii.  88  note,  106 

Boniface  VIII.,  Pope,  ii.  229 

Book  trade  of  Venice,  ii.  39  ; 
erected  into  a  guild,  78  ; 
result  of  the  Tridentine  In- 
dex, 8 1  ;  protest,  83 

Bordelano,  i.  200 

Borghese,  Camillo,  ii.  235.  See 
Paul  V. 

Borgia,  Cardinal,  ii.  280 

—  Lucrezia,  Duchess  of  Ferra- 
ra,  i.  285 

Borromeo,  Carlo,  ii.  210 
Bosco,  Villa  del,  i.  1 16 
Boselli,  Storia  Piacentina,  i.  168 

note 

Bosphorus,  ii.  15 
Bossio,  Donato,  i.  212 
Bottis,  Giovanni  de,  ii.  101 
Bragadin,  Giorgio,  i.  238 

—  Marcantonio,    ii.    183;     his 
birth,  183  ;   visits  to  France, 
184,  185  ;  practises  alchemy, 
184 ;     joins   the   Capuchins, 
185  ;      at     Torbiato,      185  ; 
Lovere,    186 ;     pursued    by 
the  police,  186  ;  escape,  186  ; 
change  in  his  prospects,  1 86  ; 
discovery  of  the  anitna  d'oro, 
187 ;  experiments,  189, 200-2; 
offers  to   manufacture  gold, 
191  ;   conditions,    192,    194  ; 
journey     to    Venice,     192 ; 
his  jars  placed  in  the  Mint, 
193-5  J    nugget  tested,  195  ; 
fame,    196 ;     his   palace   on 
the    Giudecca,     197 ;     gift?, 
197  ;  success,  197  ;  letter  to 
the  doge,    198 ;    escapes    to 
Padua,    202  ;     debts,    202  ; 
seeks  refuge  in  Bavaria,  203  ; 
reception  at  the  court,  204  ; 
relations   with   Rome,   205  ; 
beheaded,  206 

Braxneld,  Lord,  ii.  47 
Brazza,  i.  85 

Brazzaduro,  Nicold,  i.  96 
Brendola,  John,  of  Este,  i.  235 
Brenta,  the,  i.   3  note,  19,  88, 
126 


326 


INDEX 


Brescia,  i.  119,  163  ;  attack  on, 
1 66,  1 80,  183  ;  surrenders, 
166,  184 

Bresse,  La,  ii.  250 

Brienne,  Boemond  of,  i.  69 

—  John  of,  i.  69 

Brindisi,  port  of,  i.  339,  ii.  265, 

283 
British  Museum,  reading-room 

of  the,  ii.  148 
Brondolo,  i.  40 
Brouillard,  Robert,  ii.  277 
Brown,  Edward,  his  translation 

of  Sarpi's  Letters,  ii.  233  note 

—  Rawdon,  i.  326  ;   his  theory 
on   the   origin   of   the   play 
Othello,  ii.  171-4 

— ,The  Venetian  Printing  Press, 

ii.  44  note 
Bruccioli,  Antonio,  ii.  94 

—  Francesco,  ii.  71 

Bruslart,  Leon,  French  am- 
bassador in  Venice,  ii.  248, 
274 

Brutti,  Cristoforo,  ii.  30 
Bruzoni,  Alvise,  ii.  n 
Bryas,  palace  of,  i.  6 
Buccari,  Fiammetta,  i.  272 
Burgess,    Elizeus,    ambassador 

to  Venice,  i.  329 
Burlamachi,    his    view    of   as- 
sassination, i.  218,  221 
Bury,  Professor,  History  of  the 

Later   Roman   Empire,    i.   4 

note,  22  note 
Busenello,  i.  333 
Bussone,    Francesco,     i.     161. 

See  Carmagnola 
Bustron,  Giorgio,  i.  265  note 
Byng,  Admiral,  i.  208  note 
Byron,  Lord,  on  the  statue  of 

Bartolomeo    Colleoni,    i.    79 

note 

Cadileskiers,   or  chief   justices, 

ii.  1 8 

Cairo,  ii.  137 

Caldogno  of  Vicenza,  ii.  184 
Calendario,     Filippo,     i.     94 ; 

arrested,  96  ;   executed,  97 
Calichiopolo,  John,  i.  362 


Cambray,  League  of,  wars,  i. 
291  ;  result,  352 

Campalto,  i.  32 

Campiello  del  Remer,  i.  48  note 

Canal,  Martin  de,  Cronaca 
Veneta,  i.  58  note 

Candia,  war  of,  ii.  296 

Cane,  Facino,  i.  144 

Cape  of  Good  Hope  route,  dis- 
covery of  the,  i.  351,  353,  ii. 

34 

Capella,  Gian  Maria,  ii.  209 
Capello,     Giovanni     Battista, 

memorandum  from  Giolito,ii. 

101  ;  sent  to  Naples,  101,  103 
—  Pier   Giovanni,  his  treatise 

on  the  economic   principles 

of  Venetian  fiscal  legislation, 

i-  335.  337.  35O 
Cappella.La,  fort,  i.  166 
Caprulas  or  Caorle,  i.  18  note 
Caraffa,  Giovanni  Pietro,  Bis- 
hop   of   Chieti,    ii.    69 ;    his 
scheme  for  establishing  the 
Inquisition  for  censorship  of 
books,   69  ;    his  Index,   70  ; 
member  of  the  "  Oratory  of 
Divine  Love,"  113 
Caresini,  Rafaino,  i.  83 
Carmagnola,  date  of  his  birth, 
i.   161  ;  characteristics,   162  ; 
becomes     a     soldier,     162 ; 
enters  Filippo  Visconti's  ser- 
vice, 163  ;  in  command  of  the 
troops,     163  ;     his    military 
successes,     163,     165,     166 ; 
honours   and   rewards,    164, 
167, 191  ;  bombards  Bergamo, 

1 66  ;  besieges  Cremona,  166  ; 
attack     on     Brescia,      166 ; 
wounded,     166 ;      marriage, 

167  ;   palace,    168  ;    income, 

1 68  ;  his  victory  over  Genoa, 

169  ;    Swiss  campaign,   170  ; 
victory  of  Arbedo,  170  ;  ap- 
pointed Governor  of  Genoa, 

1 70  ;  relations  with  Visconti, 
171-4,      177;     ambitious 
schemes,  172-4,  195  ;   offers 
his  services  to  Venice,  174  ; 
terms,  176  ;  contract  signed, 


INDEX 


327 


177 ;  plot  against,  177 ; 
relations  with  Venice,  178  ; 
speech  before  the  Senate, 
179 ;  appointed  commander- 
in-chief,  179  ;  lays  siege  to 
Brescia,  180;  ill-health,  180, 
183,  207  ;  appearance,  181  ; 
elected  a  noble  of  Venice, 
182  ;  communications  with 
Visconti,  182,  185,  189,  192, 
194,  200  ;  his  conduct  of  the 
campaigns,  186-91,  196; 
dissatisfaction  of  the  Re- 
public, 1 89  ;  his  victory  of 
Maclodio,  191  ;  reappointed 
Commander-in-chief,  194 ; 
failure  to  capture  Cremona, 
199  ;  Soncino,  200  ;  orders 
for  his  arrest,  201-3  '>  trial, 
203  ;  execution,  205  ;  charges 
against,  206-15 
Carnesechi,  Messer,  ii.  131 
Carpentras,  see  of,  ii.  125 
Carrara,  i.  116 

—  Francesco,  lord  of  Padua,  i. 
109,    in,    123;  his  alliance 
with    Hungary,    123  ;     rela- 
tions   with    Venice,    1 24-7  ; 
his  hatred  of  the  Visconti, 
125  ;  war  with  Austria,  125  ; 
with  Venice,  127  ;  defeated  at 
Lova,  128  ;  attempts  on  his 
life,    128  ;    at   the    siege   of 
Chioggia,  1 30  ;  his  hatred  of 
Venice,    131  ;    at   the   siege 
of  Treviso,  131  ;  increase  of 
territory,  131  ;   alliance  with 
Visconti,  133  ;  league  against, 
1 34  ;  resigns  the  government, 
134;     made   prisoner,    135; 
death,  135 

—  Francesco  III.  at  the  siege 
of    Bologna,    i.    144 ;    taken 
prisoner,   144,   148  ;    escape, 
144  ;   executed,  149 

—  Jacopino,  i.  123 

—  Jacopo,  i.  1 16  ;  his  character, 
117    note;    at   the    siege    of 
Bologna,  144 ;  taken  prisoner, 
144,      147  ;      escape,     144 ; 
executed,  149 


Carrara,  Marsiglio,  i.  118;  his 
hatred  of  the  house  of  Scala, 
1 1 8;  embassy  to  Venice,  1 18; 
seizes  Padua,  119;  attempt 
on  his  life,  119-21,  235  ; 
death,  121 

—  Nicold,  i.  1 1 8 

—  Novello,     i.     128 ;      yields 
Padua,  135,  148  ;   his  efforts 
to  conciliate  Visconti,   1 36  ; 
plot  against,    1 36  ;    sent  to 
Cortusone,  1 36  ;  his  wander- 
ings*   137~9  •     m    Florence, 
1 39 ;     mission    to    Bavaria, 
140  ;   march  to  Padua,  141  ; 
recovers  the  city,  142  ;  pro- 
claims himself  lord  of  Verona, 
146  ;   war  with  Venice,  147  ; 
made    prisoner,    148  ;     exe- 
cuted, 149;  burial,  150 

—  Ubertino,  i.    in,    119;  at- 
tempt on    his   life,    119-21  ; 
his    relations    with    Venice, 
122  ;  revenge  on  a  Venetian 
noble,  122 

Casa,  Giovanni  della,  Arch- 
bishop of  Benevento,  his 
catalogue  of  prohibited  books, 
ii.  64 ;  sources,  66 ;  docu- 
ments issued  with,  85-7 

Casalbutano,  i.  200 

Casale,  i.  162 

Casalmaggiore,  i.  200 ;  attack 
on,  1 86  ;  fall,  187  ;  recovery, 
187 

Casanis,  John  de,  i.  240 

Cassalis,  Sir  Gregory,  ambas- 
sador to  Venice,  i.  329 

Cassiodorus,  secretary  of  Theo- 
doric  the  Great,  his  epistle 
to  the  Venetians,  i.  i 

Castagnaro,  battle  of,  i.  133 

Castelazzo,  i.  167 

Castelbaldo,  i.  1 19 

Castellesi,  Adrian,  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  attempt  on 
his  life,  i.  244 

Castelnovo,  i.  167 

Castelvetri,  the  excommuni- 
cated outlaw,  ii.  1 1 5 

Castiglione,  Bernardo,  ii.  8j 


328 


INDEX 


Cateau-Cambresis,  Peace  of,  ii. 
258 

Cattaro,  ii.  9,  32 

Cavalcab6,  his  attempt  to  seize 
Cremona,  i.  198 

Cavalli,  Marin,  ii.  23 

Caznd,  or  treasury,  ii.  19 

Celidon,  Cape,  victory  of,  ii. 
265,  267 

Celsi,  Lorenzo,  i.  101 

Ceneda,  Count-Bishop  of,  i  86 

Cenis,  Mont,  i.  137 

Cerigo,  i.  50 

Cerines,  castle  of,  i.  267 

Cesena,  i.  133 

Chancelleries,  or  collections  of 
state  papers,  i.  313  ;  the 
files  or  filze,  313  ;  "  Registri," 
314  ;  "  Rubrics,"  314 ;  preser- 
vation of  the  inferiore,  316  ; 
the  ducal,  317  ;  the  secret, 
3i8 

Chancellor,  office  of  the  Grand, 
i.  3 1 5  ;  his  duties,  315;  cus- 
tody of  the  state  papers,  315 

Charles  the  Great,  captures 
Pavia,  i.  15  ;  crowned  em- 
peror, 1 6,  ii.  225  ;  at  Selz, 
i.  27  ;  receives  Fortunatus, 
28 ;  gifts  from  him,  29 ; 
death,  46 

Charles  I.,  King  of  England,  i. 
324 ;  his  policy,  ii.  307  ; 
execution,  309 

—  II.,  King  of  England,  i.  324  ; 
his  restoration,  325,  ii.  321 

—  IV.,  Emperor,  i.  86,  in 

—  V.,   Emperor,   ii.   61,    119; 
proposes  the  Diet  of  Ratis- 
bon,  122 

Charlotte,  i.  264  ;  her  marriages, 
265  ;  proclaimed  Queen  of 
Cyprus,  265  ;  renews  her 
claim  to  the  throne,  276 ; 
character,  276  ;  at  the  court 
of  the  Soldan  of  Egypt,  276  ; 
return  to  Italy,  276 

Chaushes,  or  messengers,  ii.  18 

Checchetti,  //  Doge  di  Venezia, 
i.  303  note 

Chiara,  i.  195 


Chiavenna,  ii.  115 
Chieraggia,  the  Jewess,  ii.  136 
Chiodo,   Jacopo,   first  director 

of  the  archives,  i.  296 
Chioggia,  i.  40,  85,  140,  ii.  273  ; 

war  of,  130 
Christopher,  appointed  to  the 

bishopric  of  Olivolo,  i.  25 
Cicogna,  Pasquale,  ii.  200 
Cittadella,  i.  119 

—  Storia     della     Dominazione 
Carrarese  in  Padova,  i.   in 
note,  116  note,  125  note 

Cividale,  i.  119,  125 

Civil  War  of  1642,  outbreak  of, 
i.  323  ;  causes  of  the,  ii.  306 

Civita  Vecchia,  made  a  free 
port,  i.  352 

Civran,  General,  his  victory 
over  the  King  of  Hungary,  i. 
86 

Clement  VIII.,  Pope,  his  Index, 
ii.  75,  76,  82 

Clugies  Major  or  Chioggia,  i. 
1 8  note 

Cocceius,  his  view  of  assassina- 
tion, i.  218 

Codex  Carolinus,  i.  23  note,  et  seq, 

Colbertaldi,  Vita  di  Caterina,  i. 
287  note 

Collegio  or  Cabinet  of  Ministers, 
i.  300  ;  members,  300-2  ;  the 
ducal  councillors,  302  ;  right 
of  initiating,  302  ;  series  of 
documents,  325  ;  the  "  Let- 
tere  Principi,"  326  ;  "  Espo- 
sizioni  Principi,"  328  ; 
"  Libri  Ceremoniali,"  328 

Colleoni,  Bartolomeo,  i.  79  note 

—  Paolo,  i.  165 

Cologne  University,  censorship 
of  books,  ii.  57 

Colombano,  San,  i.  135 

Colonna,  Egidio,  his  view  on 
equality  of  Church  and  State, 
ii.  227 

Comacchio,  i.  15  ;  defeat  at,  38 

Commercial  policy  of  Venice,  i. 
338  ;  treaty  proposals  be- 
tween England  and  Venice, 
361-4 


INDEX 


329 


Comnenc,    John,    Emperor    of 

Trebizond,  i.  261 
Como,  i.  135  ;  assault  on,  165 

—  Lake  of,  i.  48  note 
Compostelli,  Piero  de,  i.  98 
Concha,  Francesco,  i.  237 
Concini,  Marshal  of  France,  ii. 

256 
Concordat  or  Declaratio,  result 

of  the,  ii.  83 
Consiglio,  Maggiore,  i.  54.    See 

Council 

Constance,  Lake  of,  i.  140 
Constantino   IV.,    Emperor,  i. 

7 

—  V.,  Emperor,  i.  5,  7 
Constantinople,  i.  4,  10,  14,  46  ; 

result  of  the  union  between 
the  Church  and  the  Franks, 
23  ;  fall,  351  ;  the  Bailo  or 
agent-in-ordinary,  ii.  2  ;  re- 
venue of  the  embassy,  23 
Contarini,  Aloise,  i.  358 

—  Andrea,  i.  176 

—  Gasparo,  Cardinal,  member 
of  the   "  Oratory  of  Divine 
Love,"   ii.    114;    his    birth, 
116;  interest  in  philosophy, 
117;  passion  for  writing,  1 1 8  ; 
insomnia,     1 1 8  ;     character, 
119  ;    raised  to  the  cardinal- 
ate,  1 20  ;   proposed  reforms 
in  Rome,  121  ;  his  document 
the  Advice  of  the  Select  Car- 
dinals, 122  ;    at  the  Diet  of 
Ratisbon,  123,  ii.  233  ;  sent 
as  legate  to  Bologna,    1 24  ; 
illness  and  death,   124;    De 
Republica  Venetorum,  i.   293 
note  , 

—  Frederico,  i.  202 

— Venetian  ambassador  in 
Rome,  ii.  269  ;  his  opinion  of 
Pierre,  270-2 

—  Vincenzo,  i.  323 

Conti,  Lothario,  ii.  266.  See 
Innocent  III. 

Copronymus,  Constantino,  i.  5 

Corbett,  England  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, ii.  263  note,  et  seq. 

Coriolan,     Ceppio,     De     Petri 


Mocenici  gestis,  i.  273  note, 

275  note 
Corn,  supply  of,  for  Venice,  ii. 

26 
Cornaro,  Alvise,  La  Vita  Sobria, 

ii.  215  note 

—  Andrea,   i.    264,    267,    273  ; 
murdered,  274 

—  Caterina,  Queen  of  Cyprus, 
i.  255  ;  her  birth,  261  ;  ap- 
pearance,    262  ;     betrothal, 
268  ;  remains  in  Venice,  269  ; 
portraits,     270-2  ;     reaches 
Cyprus,   272  ;   death  of  her 
husband,  272  ;  birth  of  a  son, 

273  ;     relatives     murdered, 

274  ;    made  a  prisoner,  274  ; 
death  of  her  son,  275  ;  cruel 
treatment    by     Venice, 
278-80  ;  conspiracies  against 
her  life,  279  ;    compelled  to 
resign,  282  ;  abdication,  283, 
285  ;    reaches   Venice,    284 ; 
her  life  at  the  castle  of  Asolo, 
285-90;  last  royal  ceremony, 
291  ;  death  and  funeral,  292  ; 
oration,  292 

—  Fiorenza,  i.  261 

—  Giorgio,     i.    215;    sent    to 
compel   his    sister   Caterina 
to  resign,   i.   282  ;     receives 
the    honour    of  knighthood, 
285  ;     podesta     in    Brescia, 
291  ;   recalled,  291 

—  Marco,     i.     261  ;      sent    to 
Cyprus,  276  ;    on  the  treat- 
ment sustained  by  bis  daugh- 
ter Caterina,  280  ;    attempt 
on  his  life,  280 

Coronelli,  Blazone  Veneto,  i.  75 

note 
Correr,  Paolo,  i.  197,  203 

—  Signor  Zuannc,  ii.  1 2 
Correttori     delta     Promissione 

ducale,  election  of  the  five,  i. 
57,  87  ;  proposed  modifica- 
tions, 87 

Corsini,  Stefano,  ii.  101 

Corso,  Zuan  da,  arrested  and 
tortured,  i.  96 

Cortusone,  castle  of,  i.  136 


330 


INDEX 


Corvini,  i.  184 
Cottimo,  or  duty,  ii.  23 
Council,  the  Great,  i.  54,  61  ; 
mode  of  election,  54  note ; 
decrees,  56 ;  election  by 
the  Forty -one,  58  note  ;  re- 
form in  the  system,  58-62  ; 
terms  of  the  measure  Serrata 
del  Maggior  Consiglio,  63  ; 
result  of  the  statute,  65  ; 
closing  of  the,  297  ;  elections 
to  the  magistracies,  298  ; 
judicial  functions,  299  ;  series 
of  registers,  318 

—  of  Ten,  i.  307.     See  Ten 
Craverio,  Pre  Antonio,  proof- 
reader, ii.  91 

Crema,  plot  against,  ii.  288, 
292 

Cremona,  i.  135  ;  attack  on, 
1 66,  198  ;  sold,  1 66  ;  action 
near,  188 

Crete,  colonization  of,  i.  50 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  his  relations 
with  Venice,  i.  324  ;  created 
protector,  ii.  300,  313  ;  re- 
ceives Pauluzzi,  301,  302  ; 
Sagredo,  304,  305  ;  appear- 
ance, 304  ;  policy,  310,  314  ; 
treatment  of  the  Parliament, 
312;  expenditure,  314;  re- 
ligion, 315  ;  career,  318 ; 
character  of  his  preaching, 
318  ;  habits,  319  ;  sons,  319 

—  Richard,  ii.  320 
Crusade,  the  Fourth,  close  of, 

i.  50 
Currants,   export   duty   on,   i. 

357 

Curzola,  battle  of,  ii.  26 
Cyprus,    under    the    Venetian 

empire,  i.  283 

—  Caterina  Cornaro,  Queen  of, 
i.  255.     See  Cornaro 

—  Pierino  Lusignan,  King   of, 
his  coronation,  i.  130 

Dalmatia,  attitude  of  towns,  i. 
33,  36  ;  surrenders  to  Hun- 
gary, 114, 125; occupied,  124  ; 
administration  of  justice,  309 


Dandolo,  Andrea,  his  Chronicon, 
1 8  note,  26  et  seq.  ;  his  death, 

87 

—  Giovanni,  doge,  his  death,  i. 
62  ;  quarrel  with  Bertuccio,  93 

—  Marino,  competitor  for  the 
ducal  chair,  i.  57 

Danielis,  i.  9 

Dante,  on  the  rights  of  the 
State  over  the  Church,  ii. 
227,  228 

Daru,  Histoire  de  la  Republique 
de  Venise,  i.  18  note,et  seq. ;  his 
theory  on  the  Spanish  Con- 
spiracy, ii.  249 

Decembrio,  Candido,  Life  of 
Visconti,  i.  161  note 

"  Deliberazioni,"  series  of,  i. 
320 

Deodato,    Doge    of  Venice,    i. 

23 

Desbouleaux,  Charles,  ii.  287  ; 
arrested  and  strangled,  293 

—  Jean,  ii.  287  ;    arrested  and 
strangled,   293 

Desiderius,  the  last  king  in 
Pavia,  i.  15 

Diacono,  Giovanni,  Cronaca 
Veneziana,  17  note,  et  seq. 

Diaconus,  Paulus,  extract  from 
his  History,  i.  2  note 

Diedo,  Ser  Johannes,  President 
of  the  Council  of  Ten,  i.  235 

Dilengen,  ii.   131 

Diodati,  translator  of  the  Bible, 
ii.  221 

Diplomatic  service  of  Venice, 
ii.  i 

Disdier,  St.,  La  Ville  et  Repu- 
blique de  Venise,  i.  293  note  ; 
ii.  179 

"  Dispacci,"  series  of,  i.  321 

Divan,  attending  a,  ii.  17-9 

Doge,  election  of  the  first,  i. 
20  ;  curtailment  of  his  power, 
55,  59 ;  mode  of  election, 
55,  304  ;  restrictions  on  his 
position,  59  ;  duties,  303  ; 
funeral  ceremonies,  303  ; 
takes  the  coronation  oath, 
305  ;  position,  305  ;  per- 


INDEX 


sonal  authority,  306 ;  wit- 
nesses Bragadin's  experi- 
ment on  gold,  ii.  200-2 

Doglioni,  Historia  Veneta,  ii. 
183  note,  206  note 

Dohna,  von,  his  despatches  on 
Sarpi,  ii.  214  note,  221 

Doimo,  Count  of  Veglia,  i.  68 

Donato,  Ermolao,  i.  203,  207 
—  Leonardo,  elected    doge,  ii. 
236  ;    death,  243 

—  Marco,  i.  72  note 

—  Nicold,  doge,  ii.  246  note 
Doni,  Gian  Francesco,  ii.  93 
Donne,  Lago  delle,  i.  116 
Doro,  Nicoleto,  i.  94 
Dorotea,    or   Giulsien,    adven- 
tures of,  ii.  152-8 

Dotto,  Zanibon,  i.  in 
Dragomans,  their  character,  ii. 

21 

Drin,  valley  of  the,  ii.  9 
Drusi,  Bernardo,  ii.  290 
Ducal  i,    establishment    of   the 

college  of  six  Consiglieri,  i.  55 
Dudley,  Charles,  document  on, 

»•  327 

—  Sir  Robert,  i.  327 
Dulcigno,  ii.  9 
Duodo,  Chevalier,  ii.   14 
Dutch,   their  mutiny  crushed, 

in  Venice,  ii.  284,  286 

Eastern  Empire,  its  longevity, 
i.  4  ;  character  of  the  ad- 
ministration, 5  ;  life  of  the 
palace,  6-10  ;  legends  of  Leo 
the  I  saurian,  8  ;  Basil  I.,  9 

Einhard,  Annales,  i.  27  note, 
et  seq. 

El  Basan,  ii.  9 

Elena,  Queen  of  Cyprus,  her 
character,  i.  263  ;  her  treat- 
ment of  James,  264  ;  poisons 
her  son-in-law,  265  ;  death, 
265 

Eliot  (Ally an),  Captain  Robert, 
ii.  265 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England, 
i.  321  ;  her  proficiency  in 
Italian,  ii.  160 


England,  relations  with  Venice, 
i.  321,  323-5,  ii.  297; 
commercial  treaty  proposals, 
i.  361-4 ;  Indices  of  pro- 
hibited books,  ii.  60  ;  devel- 
opment of  sea-power  in  the 
Mediterranean,  296 ;  war 
with  Holland,  311  ;  peace 
concluded,  313 
Episode,  an  International,  ii. 

152-8 

Equilio  or  Jesolo,  i.  18  note 
Eschinasi,  Salomon,  ii.  136 
Espionage,  system  of,  in 

Venice,  ii.  261 
Essex,  Earl  of,  ii.  308 
Este,  Marchese  di,  i.  134,  147 

—  Taddea,  i.  137  ;  her  wander- 
ings and  sufferings,    137-9; 
reaches  Padua,  142 

Estensi,  the,  i.  108 
Estienne,  Robert,  ii.  71 
Euganean  Hills,  i.  285,  287 
Eugenius  IV.,  Pope,  ii.  231 
Eustacchio,  Pasino,  i.  187,  196 
Export  duty,  i.  350 

Fabrice,  John,  i.  273 

—  Lewis,  Archbishop  of  Nicosia, 
i.    269 ;     his   revolt   against 
Caterina  Cornaro,   274 

Fabrizio  of  Acquapendente,  ii. 

215 

Fagguiola,  victory  of,  i.  177 
Fairfax,  defeats  the  royal 

troops,   ii.    308 ;    compelled 

to  resign,  309 
Falconberg,  Lord,  i.  332 
Falier,  Jacopo,  i.  84 

—  Marino,   i.      52 ;     his    con- 
spiracy, 79,   93 ;   insult    to, 
80,  82,  91  ;  paper  relating  to 
his  case,  81-4  ;  his  birth  and 
parents,  84  ;  career,  85,  86  ; 
marriage,  85  ;    Governor  of 
Treviso,  85^  assumes  the  title 
of  Count  of  Val  di  Marena,  86; 
reputation  as   a  diplomatist 
and     soldier,     86 ;      elected 
doge,  88  ;  entry  into  Venice, 
89 ;   his  action  on  the  news 


332 


INDEX 


of  the  defeat  at  Sapienza, 
90  ;  interview  with  Bertuccio, 
93  ;  his  trial,  97  ;  beheaded, 
98  ;  tomb,  99  ;  reasons  for 
the  conspiracy,  101-5  ;  re- 
sult, 1 06 

Falier,  Saray,  i.  92 
—  Ser  Piero,  i.  92 

Famagosta,  i.  130,  267  ;  re- 
bellion in,  274 ;  order  re- 
stored, 275  ;  abdication  of 
the  Queen  of  Cyprus  at, 
283 

Farnese,  Cardinal,  his  despatch 
to  Contarini,  ii.  124 

Felix  V.,  Pope,  ii.  231 

Feltre,  i.  115,  119,  125,  131,  174 

—  Francesco  da,  ii.  30 
Ferdinand,  Archduke,  his  war 

with  Venice,  ii.  250,  263 
Ferrara,   i.    15  ;     congress   at, 

192 
Ferrari,  his  essay  Storia  delle 

Revoluzioni    d' Italia,   i.     ii 

note 

—  Giolito     de',     ii.     88.      See 
Giolito 

Filiasi,  Venete  Primi  e  Secondi, 
24  note,  et  seq. 

Finlay,  History  of  Greece,  i. 
5  note,  36  note 

Florentine,  Remigio,  ii.  94,  97, 
107 

Flaminio,  Antonio,  ii.  131 

Fleming,  Sir  Oliver,  his  re- 
ception of  Pauluzzi,  ii. 
298 

Florence,  i.  139;  war  with 
Visconti,  177  ;  league  with 
Venice,  1 79 

Florentine  Catalogue,  ii.  67 

Fondulo,  Gabrino,  lord  of  Cre- 
mona, i.  164,  165  ;  attack  on, 
1 66  ;  sells  Cremona,  166 

Forli,  i.  133 

Fortunatus,  patriarch  of  Grado, 
i.  26  ;  his  personality,  26  ; 
career,  26 ;  politics,  27 ; 
conspiracy  against  the  doges, 
27 ;  flight  to  Charles  the 
Great,  27,  36,  43  ;  his  views 


on  subduing  Venice,  28 ; 
gifts  to  the  Emperor,  29 ; 
made  abbot  of  Moy  en  Moutier, 
29  ;  return  to  Venice,  32;  at 
Istria,  33  ;  appointed  Bishop 
of  Pola,  33  ;  intrigues  in 
Dalmatia,  33,  36 ;  declared 
outlaw,  36  ;  return  to  Grado, 
43  ;  his  plot  against  Angelo 
Particiaco,  45  ;  expelled, 
45  ;  at  Dalmatia,  46  ;  death, 

47 

Foscari,  Francesco,  i.  52,  175, 
ii.  58  ;  appointed  doge,  176  ; 
on  the  necessity  for  war  with 
Filippo  Visconti,  179 

Foscarini,  Venetian  ambassa- 
dor, i.  354  ;  fate  of,  ii.  262 

Foscolo,  Lunardo,  his  offer  to 
destroy  the  Turkish  army, 
i.  241-4 

France,  censorship  of  the  press, 
ii.  63 ;  withdrawal  from 
Italy,  250 ;  civil  wars  in, 
257 

Francis  I.,  his  decree  on  books, 
ii.  63 

Franck,     Daniel,     Disquisitio 
academica  de  papistarum  In- 
dicibus,  ii.  40  note 

Franco,  Nicold,  Bishop  of 
Treviso,  ii.  93,  95  ;  condemns 
books,  41  ;  constitution 
on  printing  books,  57 

—  Veronica,  i.  257 

Franks,  powers  of  the,  i.  ii  ; 
union  with  the  Church  of 
Rome,  14-7,  23  ;  attack 
on  Venice,  40 ;  forced  to 
retire,  40 

Free  trade,   proposals    for,   i. 

357-9 

Frejus,  i.  137 
Freschot,    La   Nobiltd    Veneta, 

i.  75  note 
Friuli,  i.  39,  141 
Fulgenzio,  Fra,  his  life  of  Paolo 

Sarpi,  ii.  208 
Fulin,  Rinaldo,  Errori   Vecchi 

e  Documenti  Nuovi,  i.  217 
Fusina,  i.  89 


INDEX 


333 


Galata,  ii.  18 

Galbaio,  Giovanni,  his  char- 
acter, i.  24 

—  Maurice,  i.  24 
Galileo,  ii.  205 
Gallipoli,  i.  50 
Gambacorta,  i.  139 

Garda,  Lago  di,  i.  239,  ii.  131 

Garzoni,  Dandolo,  i.  203 

Gattari,  Galeazzo,  Istoria  Pado- 
vana,  i.  109  note,  et  seq. 

Gattaro,  Andrea,  his  descrip- 
tion of  Jacopo  Carrara,  i. 
150  note 

Geneva,  i.  140 

Genoa,    Republic    of,  i.    86 ; 
under  the  protection  of  Vis- 
conti,  89;  victory  at  Sapienza, 
124  ;  surrenders,  169 
—  Adorno,  Doge  of,  i.  138 

Gentile,  Gabriel,  i.  274 

Gfrorer,  Geschichte  Venedigs,  i. 
22  note,  27  note 

Ghilino,  Cristoforo,  i.  185,  195 

Ghislieri,  Inquisitor-General,  on 
the  Pauline  Index,  ii.  71 

Giannotti,  Delia  Republica  di 
Veneziani,  i.  77  note,  293 
note 

Giavarina,  Francesco,  Venetian 
Resident  in  London,  i.  324, 
ii.  306,  320 

Giblet,  Tristan,  i.  281 

Gibraltar,  i.  354 

Gilbert  of  Colchester,  ii.  2 1 5 

Gioliti,  Valle  de',  ii.  88 

Giolito,  Fenice,  ii.  107 

—  Gabriele,  ii.  88  ;    his  birth, 
90  ;   death  of  his  father,  92  ; 
his  printing  press,  93  ;   pub- 
lications, 93,  95  ;    qualifica- 
tions, 93  ;    friends,  93,  97  ; 
scheme  of  an  uniform  series, 
96,      97 ;      the      Ghirlanda 
Spirituale,  97  ;   his  adoption 
of  the  new  type,  99  ;    fame 
and  position,    100 ;     branch 
shops,  100  ;  trouble  with  the 
Naples  branch,   101-6  ;  me- 
morandum for  Capello,  101  ; 
trial  before  the  Holy  Office, 


104-6 ;        marriage,       106 ; 
children,  107  ;   death,  108 
Giolito,  Giampolo,  ii.  109 

—  Giovanni,  his  printing  press 
in  Trino,  ii.  90 ;    in  Venice, 
90,  92  ;  marriages,  92  ;  will, 
92 

—  Lucrezia,    her  marriage,  ii. 

1 06  ;     will,    1 06  ;     children, 

107  ;    death,  108 

Giorgio  Maggiore,   San,  peace 

of,  i.  184 
Giorgione,  his  portrait  of  Ca- 

terina  Cornaro,  i.  271 
Giovanni,  patriarch  of  Grade, 

i.  24  ;    refuses  to  consecrate 

Christopher,  25  ;    murdered, 

25 

—  Ser,  his  Pecorone,  ii.  162 
Giraldi,  Giovanni  Battista,  ii. 

93  ;  the  seventh  novel  of  the 

Ecatommiti,  169-77 
Girardi,  Giacomo,  ii.  ii 
Girls  of  Venice,  their  mode  of 

living,  i.  258-61 
Giron,  Don  Pedro  of,  ii.  251. 

See  Osuna 
Giustinian,  Pietro,  his  chronicle 

of  the  Falier  conspiracy,  i.  83 

—  Sebastian,     Venetian     am- 
bassador in  London,  i.  231 

—  Taddeo,  defeated,  i.  128 

—  Bernardo,    Dell'   Origine  di 
Venetia,  i.  54  note 

Glarenza,  i.  357 

Glover,  Sir  Thomas,  English 
ambassador  at  Constan- 
tinople, ii.  29,  33  ;  recalled, 

37 

Gonzaga,  Luigi,  i.  341 
Gonzaghi,  the,  i.  108 
Gottolengo,  defeat  at,  i.  187 
Gradenigo,  Alvica,  i.  85 

—  Francesco,  ii.  1 1 

—  Piero,  his  characteristics,  i. 
63  ;    elected  doge,  63  ;    his 
measure  the  Serrata  del  Mag- 
gior     Consiglio,     63  ;      plot 
against,  7 1  ;  measures  of  de- 
fence, 72 

—  trial  and  sentence,  i.  149 


334 


INDEX 


Gradenigo,  Vicenzo,  account  of 
his  journey  to  Cpnstanti- 
nople,  ii.  9-14  ;  death,  14 

Grado,  i.  17  note,  44 

Graes,  Jodocus,  on  the  number 
of  books  on  the  Index,  ii.  49 

Grassis,  Paris  de,  i.  247 

Graubiinden,  ii.  65 

Gregory  II.,  Pope,  his  alliance 
with  Liutprand,  i.  13,  21 

—  VII.,    Pope,    ii.    226.      See 
Hildebrand 

-  XIII.,  Pope,  ii.  74 
Gretser,   De  jure,  etc.,    ii.  40 

note 

Grimaldi,  Giovanni,  i.  196 
Grimani,  Antonio,  case  of,  i. 

299 

—  Contessa,  i.  329 

—  Girolamo,  his  friendship  for 
Spinosa,  ii.  277  ;  flight,  280  ; 
obtains  access  to  Osuna,  280  ; 
attempts  on  his  life,  281 

Gronovius,  his  view  of  assas- 
sination, i.  218 

Grotius,  his  view  of  assassina- 
tion, i.  218 

Grumello,  Galeazzo,  i.  148 

Gryllus,  i.  7 

Gubbio,  i.  15 

Guild  system,  in  Venice,  i.  345 

Gussoni,  Agostino,  ii.  10,  ii 

Guyot,  M.  Yves,  i.  365 

Haagen,  Cornelius  van,  i.  352 

Hadrian,  Pope,  i.  23 

Hardy,  Sir  Thomas  Duffus,  his 

Report  on  the  Archives,  i.  293 

note 
Hassan,  the  janizary,  ii.  30 

—  Pasha,  ii.  137 
Hawkwood,  Sir  John,  i.  140 
Hazlitt,  Mr.,  his  History  of  the 

Venetian  Republic,  i.  57  note 
Helian,  Louis,  i.  206 
Helman,  Charles,  case  of,  ii.  5 

note,  29 
Henry  II.,  i.  17  note 

—  III.,    King  of    France,   his 
reception  in  Venice,  ii.  184, 
260 


Henry  IV.,  King  of  France, 
murdered,  ii.  243,  257 

—  VIII.,  King  of   England,  i. 
321 

Heraclea,  i.  3,  18  note  ;  rivalry 
with  Malamocco,  3,  20,  49  ; 
removal  of  government 
from,  23  ;  destruction  of,  31 

Heraclius,  i.  5 

Hildebrand,  Pope,  claims  su- 
premacy over  the  State,  ii. 
226,  229.  See  Gregory  VII. 

Hodgkin,  Italy  and  her  In- 
vaders, i.  1 8  note 

Holdernesse,  Lord,  i.  329 

Holland,  war  with  England,  ii. 
311;  peace  concluded,  313 

Houssaye,  Amelot  de  la,  His- 
toire  du  Gouvernement  de 
Venise,  i.  293  note 

Hungary,  gains  Dalmatia,  i. 
114  ;  war  with  Venice,  124 

—  Lewis,  King    of,   war  with 
Venice,  i.  86,  124 

Hy£res,  i.  137 

"  Hypatos,"  meaning  of  the 
term,  i.  22 

Ibraim,  Pasha,  Governor  of 
Cairo,  ii.  137  ;  his  appear- 
ance, 137  ;  ambition,  137  ; 
wealth,  138  ;  reduces  the 
Druses,  138  ;  presents  to  the 
Sultan,  138  ;  preparations  for 
his  marriage,  138  ;  presents, 
139-41  ;  wedding  cere- 
monies, 140-4 ;  banquets, 
141  ;  procession,  143  ;  treat- 
ment, 144 

Icaria,  i.  50 

Imola,  Daniele  da,  i.  199 

Imperils,  Giovanni  de,  sent  to 
arrest  Carmagnola,  i.  201-3 

Import  duty,  i.  350  ;  repeal  of 
the,  360 

Index  Librorum  Prohibitorum, 
its  history,  ii.  56  ;  creation  of 
the  Congregation,  74 ;  Cle- 
mentine, 76,  82 ;  English, 
60 ;  Florentine,  67  ;  Lou- 
vain,  61,  62  ;  Lucca,  64  ; 


INDEX 


335 


Milanese,  68  ;  Pauline,  70  ; 
Roman,  41  ;  Sixtine,  74 ; 
Sorbonne,  63  ;  Spanish,  62  ; 
Tridentine,  72,  80 ;  Vene- 
tian, 64,  68,  95 

Industries,  protection  of,  in 
Venice,  i.  344 

Innocent  III.,  Pope,  claims 
supremacy  over  the  State,  ii. 
226,  229 

Iseo,  Lago  d',  ii.  186 

Isonzo,  i.  44 

Istria,  i.  1 6,  33  ;  operations 
against,  86 ;  plans  of,  ii. 
265 

Italy,  influence  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  i.  ii  ;  character- 
istics of  the  Signori,  107-12, 
115;  number  of  family  mur- 
ders, no  ;  character  of  poli- 
tics and  treaties,  112-4; 
sufferings  of  the  people,  114; 
the  Carraresi,  116;  inca- 
pacity for  unification,  152  ; 
result  of  the  mercenary 
troops,  153  ;  characteristics 
of  the  native  troops,  1 56-60 ; 
art  of  war,  158  ;  assassina- 
tions, 217  ;  views  on,  218  ; 
executionary,  219;  private, 
220 ;  tyrannicide,  220-3  J 
political,  223-33  !  fir8*  cen" 
sorial  order  relating  to  books, 
ii.  57  ;  withdrawal  of  France, 
250  ;  designs  of  Spain,  for 
securing  supremacy,  236 

Ivrea,  i.  174 

Ixarello,  Bertuccio,  his  quarrel 
with  Dandolo,  i.  93  ;  inter- 
view with  the  doge,  93  ;  con- 
spiracy, 93  ;  arrested  and 
executed,  97 

Jaffa,  Count  of,  i.  274 

James  I.,  King  of  England,  his 

accession,  i.  322 
Jenson,  Nicolas,  ii.  98 
Jerusalem,  Isabella,  Queen  of, 

i.  262 
Jesuits,      their      ecclesiastical 

policy,   ii.    219 ;    hatred   of 


Sarpi,  222  ;  Society  of,  esta- 
blished, 233 

Jews,  their  influence  on  trade 
in  Constantinople,  ii.  25,  136 

John  the  Deacon,  Bishop  of 
Olivolo,  i.  17  note,  33 

—  of     Paris,      his     view     on 
equality  of  Church  and  State, 
ii.  227 

—  XXII.,     Pope,     condemns 

books,  ii.  40  note 
Johnson,  Dr.,  on  the  dangers 

of  a  free  press,  ii.  41,  47 
Jovius,  Paulus,  on  the  death  of 

Leo  X.,  i.  247 
Julian  Alps,  i.  285 
Justice,    administration   of,    i. 

309  ;     special    courts,    309 ; 

courts    of    appeal,    309-12 ; 

method  of  payment,  312 
Juven,  Baldassare,  reveals  the 

conspiracy    against    Venice, 

ii.  291 

Kanischa,  ii.  1 37 
Killigrew,  Mrs.  Anne,  i.  333 

—  Thomas,  i.  329  ;   in  Venice, 
333,    ii.  297 

Kretschmayr,  Geschichte  von 
Venedig,  i.  22  note,  27  note 

Ladies  of  Venice,  their  mode 
of  living,  i.  257  ;  custom  of 
wearing  pattens,  258,  ii.  178 

Lamansky,  Vladimir,  Secrets 
d'Etat  de  Venise,  i.  217,  234  ; 
extract  from  "  Of  the  Right 
that  Princes  have  to  compass 
the  Lives  of  their  Enemies' 
Allies,"  225-9 

Lambert,  Sergeant-General,  ii. 

319 

Lampsacus,  i.  50 

Lando,  Count,  captain  of  the 
mercenary  army,  i.  1 5  5 

Langrand  (sive  Lang  lade),  Cap- 
tain, ii.  269-;  his  share  in  the 
conspiracy  against  Venice, 
269;  in  Venice,  271,  273; 
arrested  and  shot,  293 

Larissa,  ii.  10 


I 


336 


INDEX 


Lateran  Council,  ii.  59 

Latrie,  M.  de  Mas,  Projet 
d' Empoisonnement  de  Ma- 
homet II.,  i.  216,  et  seq. 

Lausanne,  i.  140 

Lazzarini,  Signer  Vittorio, 
Marino  Falievo  la  Congiura, 
i.  8 1,  et  seq. 

Lecco,  fall  of,  i.  165 

Leghorn,  i.  140,  352 

Legrand,  Bibliographic  Helle- 
nique,  ii.  43  note 

Lenthal,  Speaker,  ii.  299 

Leo  III.,  Pope,  his  flight,  i. 
15  ;  receives  temporal  sove- 
reignty, 1 6  ;  advice  to  For- 
tunatus,  27 

—  V.,  Emperor,  i.  7 

—  X.,   Pope,   account    of   his 
death,    i.    246-8  ;    his   Bull 
Inter    Soltcitudines,    ii.    59 ; 
Exurge,  60 

—  the  Isaurian,  i.   5  ;   legend 
of,  8  ;  iconoclasm,  ii.  225 

Lepanto,   ii.    10 ;     victory   at, 

35.  37 

Lerma,  Duke  of,  ii.  251 

Lesdiguierres,  Marshal,  ii.  291 

Lesina,  i.  85,  ii.  283 

Levant,  administration  of  jus- 
tice, i.  309 

Levantina,  Val,  i.  169 

Lewis,  Emperor,  i.  46 

Lezze,  Luca  da,  inquisitor  of 
the  Ten,  i.  97 

Library,  the  ideal,  ii.  146  ;  at- 
tractions, 148  ;  episodes  in, 
149 

Libra  d'  Oro,  meaning  of  the 
term,  i.  64  note 

Lido,  the,  i.  284 

Lion,  Messer  Nicolo,  i.  95 

—  Messer  Pasqualin,  case  of,  ii. 
29-32 

Lione,  Giacomo,  i.  128 

Lionello,  secretary  in  London, 
ii.  274 

Lippomano,  Hieromino,  his 
fate,  ii.  37 

Liutprand,  King  of  the  Lom- 
bards, his  alliance  with  Gre- 


gory II.,  i.  13,  21 ;  conquest 

of  Ravenna,  14,  21 
Lodi,  attack  on,  i.  196 
Lojera,  defeat  of,  i.  89 
Lombards,  power  of  the,  i.  1 1  ; 

reaction  against,  13 
Lombardy,  i.  1 1 
Loredan,  Antonio,  i.  277 
—  Beriola,  i.  84 
Louis  I.,  Emperor,  inscription 

on  the  penny  of,  i.  3  note 
Louvain  Index  or  Catalogues, 

ii.  61,  62 

Lova,  victory  at,  i.  128 
Lovere,  ii.  186 
Lucca,  i.  119;  Catalogue,  ii.  64 

—  Cesare  de,  ii.  105 
Lucerne,  i.  140 

Ludrini,  Pietro,  agent  for 
Giolito  at  Naples,  ii.  101  ;  his 
dishonesty,  101-5  ;  expul- 
sion, 103 

Lugo,  Moccino  da,  i.  204 
Lusignan,  Eugenic,  i.  272 

—  Giovanni,  i.  272 

—  Guy  de,  i.  262 

—  James,  his  parents,  i.  263  ; 
character,  263  ;  appearance, 

264  ;   appointed   Archbishop 
of    Nicosia,    264 ;    arrested, 

265  ;    escape,  265  ;    flight  to 
Alexandria,    266 ;    supposed 
recantation,    266 ;     crowned 
King  of    Cyprus,    267 ;    be- 
trothal,   268  ;    death,    272  ; 
children,  272  ;    will,  272 

—  King  Jan,  i.  262 

—  John  II.,  King  of  Cyprus,  his 
character,  i.  263  ;  death,  265 

—  Pierino,  King  of  Cyprus,  his 
coronation,  i.  130 

—  Zarla,     i.     272 ;      sent     to 
Venice,  277  ;   death,  277 

Luther,  Martin,  ii.  254  ;  on  the 
commination  list,  60 ;  on 
the  Diet  of  Ratisbon,  233 

Lyons,  Peace  of,  result  of  the, 
ii.  250 

Mabillon,  Annales  Benedictini, 
i.  29  note,  46  note 


INDEX 


337 


Maclodio,  victory  of,  i.  191 
Madrid,  Peace  of,  ii.  250,  252 
Magistracies,  elections  to,  i.  298 
Maho named  II.,  Sultan,  ii.  3 
Malamocco,  i.   3,  40  ;    rivalry 

with    Heraclea,    3,    20,    49 ; 

government  removed  to,  23 
Malaspina,  Bernabo,  i.  247 
—  Cello,    his    ofier    to    forge 

handwriting,  i.  248 
Malatesta,  Carlo,  i.  191  ;  taken 

prisoner,  192 

—  Pandolfo,  lord    of    Brescia, 
i.  164  ;  lord  of  Rimini,  290 

Malipiero,  Alessandro,  ii.  241  ; 
death,  243 

—  Annati,  i.  338  et  seq. 

Manchester,  Earl  of,  ambas- 
sador to  Venice,  i.  329  ;  his 
proposals  for  a  commercial 
treaty  between  England  and 
Venice,  361-4 

Manfredi,  Fra,  fate  of,  ii.  223 
Manfredonia,  ii.  288 
Mantua,  i.  16 

—  Duke  of,  his  visits  to  Braga- 
din,  ii.   187,   191  ;    offers  to 
him,  191 

—  Gonzaga,  lord  of,  i.  144 
Manutius,  Paul,  ii.  99 
Marano  fortress,  ii.  290 
Marca  Trevigiana,  i.   86,    124, 

131 

Marcello,  Bartolomeo,  first 
Venetian  bailo  at  Constan- 
tinople, ii.  3 

—  Giovanni,  chief  of  the  Ten, 
i.  97 

—  Pietro,     Governor     of     the 
Mint,  ii.  194 

Marena,  Val  di,  i.  86 

Margherita,  Santa,  i.  138 

Margogliet,  ii.  285 

Mariana,  extract  from  De  Rege 
et  Regis  Institutions,  on  as- 
sassination, i.  219 

Mariani,  Messer  Paulo,  ii.  156 

Marin,  Storia  Civile  e  Politica 
del  Commercio  dei  Venezia, 
i.  44  note,  et  seq. 

Marini,  Fra  Vicenzo,  ii.  29 


Marino,  Fra,  compiles  the 
Venetian  Catalogue,  ii.  66 

—  victory  of,  i.  1 56 
Marioni,    Rizardo,  arrested,  i. 

9i 

Marocco,  villa  of,  i.  70 

Marseilles,  i.  137,  353 

Marsilio,  Defensor  Pacis,  con- 
demned, ii.  40  note,  228  ;  his 
doctrine  of  the  People,  228 

—  della  Croce,  account  of  the 
visit  of  Henry  III.  to  Venice, 
i.  260  note 

Martel,  Charles,  his  victory, 
i.  14 

Martin  V.,  Pope,  ii.  231 

Martinengo,  Marcantonio, 

present  at  the  experiment 
on  anitna  d'  oro,  ii.  188  ;  his 
report,  189  ;  belief  in  Braga- 
din,  190,  202 

Mary,  Queen  of  England,  i. 
321 

Maser,  Villa,  i.  285 

Massaferro,  i.  140 

Mastachelli,  Filippo,  i.  268 

Mastropiero,  Doge  Orio,  i.  57 
note 

Mattei,  Marin,  ii.  294 

Mattheca,  the  dragoman,  case 
of,  ii.  22 

Maultasch,  Margaret,  i.  126 

Medici,  Lorenzino  de',  his 
"  Apology  for  the  Murder  of 
Alessandro,  Duke  of  Flor- 
ence," i.  221 

Melara,  Paolo  della,  i.  189 

Mellini,  Cardinal,  ii.  280 

Melos,  i.  50 

Melzi,  Duca,  i.  48  note 

—  Villa,  i.  48  note 

Memmo,  Aloise,  ii.  156 

Mendham,  Rev.  Joseph,  Liter- 
ary Policy  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  ii.  40  note 

Mercantile  marine,   protection 

of,  i.  348 
Mercenary  troops,  foreign  and 

native,   characteristics,   153- 

60 
Mesih  Pasha,  ii.  137 


VOL.  II. 


22 


338 


INDEX 


Messctaria,  tax  of,  i.  345 

Mestre,  i.  32 

Metamaucus  or  Malamocco,  i. 
1 8  note 

Mezzani,  secret  agents  or  inter- 
mediaries, ii.  22  ;  their  duties, 
22 ;  pay,  22 

Michael,  the  Drunkard,  i.  5,  7 

Michele  II.,  Doge,  assassinated, 

i-  53 
Michiel,  Fantino,  i.  203 

—  Cardinal  Giovanni,  poisoned, 
i.  244 

—  Giovanni,  Venetian  ambas- 
sador in  London,  i.  321 

Migliorati,  Lodovico,  i.  166 
Milanese  Catalogue,  ii.  68 
Milton,   John,   his  view  on  a 

free  press,  ii.  42,  48,  50  ;  on 

moral  censorship,  51 
Minio,  Marco,  ii.  5 
Minor  Clugies  or  Sottomarina, 

i.  1 8  note 
Mirandola,  Pico  della,  Theses, 

condemned,  ii.  41,  58 
Mocenigo,     Admiral,    i.     273  ; 

restores  order  in  Famagosta, 

275 

—  Alvise,  ii.  120 

—  Andrea,  his  history  of  the 
wars  of  the  League  of  Cam- 
bray,  ii.  46 

—  Doge,   his  anti-war   policy, 
i.  175  ;   speech  on  the  trade 
of  Venice,  351 

—  Giovanni,   ducal  councillor, 
i.  97 

—  Lazzaro,  ii.  296 

—  Signer  Ottavio,  ii.  10 
Molica,  Francesco,  ii.  285 
Molin,  Micheleto  de,  arrested, 

i.  91 

Molmenti,  Vita  Private,  i.  74 
note 

Monacis,  Laurentii  de,  Chronica 
de  rebus  Venetis,  i.  69  note, 
72  note,  83  note ;  his  narrative 
of  Falier's  conspiracy,  83,  87, 

9i 

Monaco,  i.  140 
Monastir,  ii.  9 


Moncassin,   Gabriel,   joins  the 

plot  against  Venice,  ii.  287 
Monfalcone,  i.  132 
Monferrat,  ii.  88  ;    truce  with, 

163 

Monselice,  i.  18 
Montagnana,  Sicco  da,  i.  171 
Montalerio,  Lelio,  ii.  106 
Montebelluno,  i.  285 
Montechiari,  battle  of,  i.  166  ; 

fall,  191 
Monticolo,  Giovanni,  Cronache 

Veneziane,  i.  2  note,  et  seq. 
Monumenta  German.  Hist.,  i.  27 

note,  et  seq. 

Monza,  i.  135  ;   siege  of,  163 
Morelli,  Elizabeth,  ii.  209 
Moriale,    Fra,    leader    of    the 

mercenary  army,  1.155 
Morianas  or  Murano,  i.  18  note 
Moris,  Giovanni  de,  i.  204 
Moro,  Cristoforo,  i.  268 

—  Giovanni,    on    the    case    of 
Pasqualin  Lion,  ii.  29-32 

Morosini,  ambassador  in  Paris, 
ii.  298  ;  removed,  299 

—  Andrea,  his    description    of 
Carmagnola,    i.    181  ;    com- 
mission to,  190  note  ;  death, 
ii.  243 

—  Antonio,    his    chronicle    of 
of  the  Falier  conspiracy,  i. 

83»9i 

—  Mafeo,  arrested,  i.  91 

—  Marco,  i.  68 

—  Marin,  his  election  by  the 
Forty-one,  i.  58  note 

—  Paolo,   Historia   della   Cittd 
di  Venetia,  i.  270  note 

Moyen  Moutier,  abbey  of,  i. 
29 

Muda,  Marco,  i.  96 

Mudazzo,  Michelotto,  case  of, 
i.  238-40 

Munich,  i.  140 

Murad  III.,  Sultan,  his  ap- 
pearance, ii.  134  ;  ministers, 
135;  vizirs,  136;  presents 
from  Ibraim,  138  ;  prepara- 
tions for  the  marriage  of  his 
daughter,  138  ;  her  presents, 


INDEX 


339 


139-41  ;        wedding       cere- 
monies,   140-4  ;    procession, 

H3 
Muratori,   Annali    d'  Italia,    i. 

15  note,  et  seq. 
Murray,  John,  i.  330,  332 
Musurus,     Marcus,     appointed 

censor  of  Greek  publications, 

"•  43 

Namfio,  i.  50 

Nani,  Piero,  i.  90 

Naples,  i.  1 1 

— Alfonso  of,  proclaimed  Prince 
of  Galilee,  i.  274  ;  attempted 
marriage,  277  ;  at  Alexan- 
dria, 278 

—  Ferdinand  of,  i.  269 
-Johanna,  Queen  of,  i.   171, 
172 

Narentine  pirates,  suppression 
of,  i.  346 

Narses,  i.  19 

Natitici,  Statuti,  i.  347 

Navagero,  Andrea,  his  oration 
over  Caterina,  i.  292 

—  Bernardo,  ii.  21 

Navarre,  Margaret,  Queen  of, 
ii.  1 20 

Navarro,  Dr.,  ii.  211 

Naxos,  i.  50 

Negro,  Marco,  i.  96 

Negroppnt,  i.  85  ;   loss  of,  273 

Nervi,  i.  138 

Netherlands,  relations  with 
Venice,  i.  360  ;  censorship  of 
the  press,  ii.  63 

Nevers,  Duke  of,  ii.  256 

Nice,  ii.  1 19 

Nicephorus  I.,  i.  5  ;  his  char- 
acter, 36 

Nicetas,  in  command  of  the 
fleet  in  the  Adriatic,  i.  36 

Nicholas,  Pope,  ii.  231 

Nievo,  Michele  del,  i.  239 

Nishanj,  or  chancellor,  ii.  18 

Nolot,  Lorenzo,  ii.  285  note 

Northampton,  Lord,  ambas- 
sador to  Venice,  i.  329 ; 
ceremonies  of  his  entry, 
330-2  ;  illness,  331 


Northumberland,  Charles  Dud- 
ley, Duke  of,  document  on, 
»•  327 

Obelerio,  tribune  of  Malamocco, 
i.  27  ;  elected  doge,  30 ; 
entry  into  Malamocco,  30 ; 
political  views,  31  ;  his 
Prankish  policy,  34 ;  mar- 
riage, 34 ;  deposed  and 
banished,  43 

Occhino,  Bernard,  ii.  64 

Ocham,  William  of,  ii.  227 

Oderzo,  i.  3,  18 

Odoni,  Baldassare  de,  i.  236 

Oglio,  i.  187 

Oliva,  Camillo,  ii.  210 

Olivolo,  bishopric  of,  i.  25 

Oltise,  Maria  de,  i.  74  note 

Oltrepo  occupied,  i.  163 

Orator,  election  of,  to  the 
Porte,  ii.  6 

"  Oratory  of  Divine  Love," 
members  of  the,  ii.  113; 
tendencies,  1 14 

Orimbey,  ii.  17 

Orlandini,  Storia  della  Magis- 
trature  Venete,  i.  293  note, 
345  note 

Orso,  the  doge,  i.  21  ;  receives 
the  honorary  title  of  "  hy- 
patos,"  22  ;  murdered,  22 

Ossola,  Val  d',  i.  169 

Osuna,  Duke  of,  Viceroy  of 
Naples,  ii.  247,  251,  263; 
his  schemes  to  become  King 
of  Naples,  249,  252  ;  char- 
acter, 251  ;  appointed  Vice- 
roy of  SicUy,  251  ;  treason, 

252  ;    army,   252  ;    recalled, 
252 ;      trial,     253  ;      death, 

253  ;  construction  of  a  fleet, 
264 ;       conspiracy      against 
Venice,  264-8  ;  in  the  Adri- 
atic,    283 ;     relations    with 
Pierre,    289 ;     discovery    of 
his  plot,  290 

Otho  III.,  Emperor,  i.  17  note 
Otranto,  i.  273 

Otway,  his  play  Venice  Pre- 
served, ii.  245 


340 


INDEX 


Paderborn,  i.  15 

Padua,  i.  18,  88,  115,  116,  119, 

285  ;  siege  of,  135,  147,  148 
Paleologus,  Andrea,  i.  267 
—  Elena,  her  character,  i.  263. 

See  Elena 

—  Emperor  John,  i.  86 
Panighetti,  Cardinal,  i.  327 
Pannonia,  i.  2  note 

—  Duke  of,  his  rebellion,  i.  46 
Parma,  i.  16,  119 

Paros,  i.  50 

Particiaco,  Angelo,  assumes  the 
lead  against  the  Franks,  i. 
39 ;  elected  doge,  41  ;  plot 
against  his  life,  45 

Paruta,  Paolo,  his  view  on  the 
censorship  of  the  press,  ii.  52  ; 
remonstrance  on  the  Clemen- 
tine Index,  82 

Parvis,  Henry,  case  of,  ii.  33 

Pasqualigo,  Orio,  i.  97 

Passi,  David,  ii.  136 

Patras,  i.  9,  357,  ii.  10 

—  Maria,    i.   263  ;    mutilated, 
264  ;  arrested,  277 

Pattens,  custom  of  wearing, 
j.  258,  ii.  178 

Paul  III.,  Pope,  ii.  120 ;  his 
Bull  Licet  ab  initio,  69  ;  on 
the  Diet  of  Ratisbon,  233 

—  IV.,     Pope,     ii.     70.      See 
Carafia 

—  V.,  Pope,  his  controversies, 
ii.      235  ;      relations      with 
Venice,  236 

—  the  exarch,  i.  13,^21 

—  Admiral,  defeat  of  his   ex- 
pedition, i.  38 

Pauline  Index,  ii.  70-2 

Pauluzzi,  Lorenzo,  his  series  of 
despatches,  i.  324 ;  mission 
to  London,  ii.  298  ;  inter- 
view with  Sir  Oliver  Fleming, 
298  ;  resident  in  London, 
300  ;  audiences  of  Cromwell, 
301,  302 

Pavia,  i.  14  ;  captured,  15,  167 

Peace  of  1373,  i.  129  ;  of  1428, 

193 
Pelegrino,  San,  i.  45 


Pelestrina,  i.  40 

Pencini,  Lorenzo,  ii.  33 

Pera,  ii.  16 

Pergine,  i.  174 

Pergola,  Angelo  della,  i.  170, 171 

Perms,  or  small  boats,  ii.  18 

Petrarch,  i.  83,  86  ;  his  oration 
on  peace,  129  ;  death,  129 

Philip  III.,  King  of  Spain,  ii. 
250 

—  IV.,  King  of  France,  ii.  229^ 

Philippopolis,  ii.  9 

Piacenza,  occupied,  i.  165 

Piccolomini,  Alfonso,  ii.  187 

Pictor,  Bernard,  ii.  98 

Pierlamberti,  Francesco,  i.  235 

Pierre,  Jacques,  ii.  264 ;  his 
career,  264  ;  enters  Osuna's 
service,  265  ;  wish  to  enter 
Venetian  service,  269  ;  secret 
visits  to  SpineUi,  270 ;  in 
Venice,  271,  273  ;  threatens 
Spinelli,  274 ;  denounces 
Spinosa,  277  ;  organizes  the 
mutiny  of  the  Dutch  in 
Venice,  284,  286 ;  secures 
conspirators  for  the  plot 
against  Venice,  286-8  ;  de- 
tails of  his  design,  287  ; 
relations  with  Osuna,  289 : 
discovery  of  his  plot,  291-3  , 
drowned,  293 

Pietro  II.,  Orseolo,  Doge,  i.  17 
note 

Pilot,  Dr.  Antonio,  "  L'al- 
chimista  Marco  Bragadin  a 
Venezia,"  ii.  193  note 

Pindar,  Sir  Paul,  i.  354 

Pipin  I.,  his  coronation,  i.  14, 
ii.  255  ;  attack  on  Venice,  i. 
38-40  ;  forced  to_  retire,  40  ; 
death,  40 

Pirano,  ii.  294 

Pisa,  i.  139 

Pisani,  Fantino,  in  the  siege 
of  Casalmaggiore,  i.  186 

—  Vettor,  case  of,  i.  299 

—  his  trial  and  sentence,  i.  149 
Pius  II.,  Pope,  i.  266,  ii.  231 

—  IV.,    Pope,    his    Moderatio 
Indicts,  ii.  72 


INDEX 


Pius  V.,  Pope,  his  creationof  the 
Congregation  of  the  Index,  ii. 

74 

Pizzeghettone,  i.  187  ;  engage- 
ment at,  1 88 

Platamona,  ii.  1 1 

Po,  i.  174,  1 86,  ii.  88  ;  defeat 
on  the,  i.  196 

Podocataro,  i.  268 

Poisons,  method  of  using,  i.  250; 
inefficiency,  250 ;  receipts, 
251-3  ;  administering,  253 

Pola,  Bishopric  of,  i.  33 

Pole,  Reginald,  member  of  the 
"  Oratory  of  Divine  Love," 
ii.  114;  his  letters,  115; 
character,  128  ;  exile,  129  ; 
delicate  constitution,  129 ; 
friendship  with  Priuli,  1 30 ; 
at  Viterbo,  131  ;  tempera- 
ment, 131;  cardinal,  132; 
death,  132 

Polentani,  the,  i.  108 

Police  system,  development  of, 

1.76 

Political  assassination,  views 
on,  i.  223-33  ;  principle  of 
might  is  right,  223  ;  of  ex- 
pediency, 223-9 ;  typical 
cases,  234  ;  tenders  for,  235- 
7  ;  quality  and  number  of 
assassins,  237 

Polo,  San,  i.  125 

Poole,  R.  L.,  Journal  of  Theo- 
logical Studies,  ii.  65  note 

Popes,  position  of,  i.  12  ; 
policy,  13 

Porcacchi,  Tomaso,  ii.  94,  96, 
107 

Porphyrogenitos,  Constantine, 
De  Adminis.  Imp.,  i.  40  note 

Porro,  Galeazzo,  i.  138 

Porto  Fino,  i.  138 

—  Secco,  i.  40 

—  Venere,  i.  1 38 
Portolungo,  defeat  at,  i.  90 
Portugal,  Prince  John  of,  his 

marriage,  i.  265  ;    poisoned, 

265 

Possevin,  i.  212 
Postal  service,  ii.  32 


Poveglia,  i.  60  not* 

Pralboino,  i.  188 

Prealto,  i.  3  note 

Pregadi,  College  of  the,  estab- 
lished, i.  56 

Press  censorship,  efforts  to 
control,  ii.  39  ;  views  on  a 
free,  41-3  ;  literary  censor- 
ship, 43  ;  religious,  45,  58  ; 
state,  45-50  ;  moral,  50-4  ; 
methods  of  applying,  54-6  ; 
the  Index  Librorum  Pro- 
hibitorum,  56 ;  use  of  the 
Inquisition,  69 

Printing  press,  result  of  the 
introduction,  ii.  39-41  ;  de- 
terioration, 94,  98  ;  type- 
foundry  opened,  99 

Priuli,  Alvise,  his  friendship  for 
Pole,  ii.  130 

—  Antonio,  Doge,  ii.  246  note 

—  Admiral,  i.  281 

—  on  the  discovery  of  the  Cape 
route,  i.  353 

Provveditori  in  campo,  meaning 
of  the  term,  i.  127  note 

Puegnago,  i.  239 

Puffendorff,  his  view  of  assas- 
sination, i.  218 

Pupilia  or  Poveglia,  i.  18  note 

Putnam,  The  Censorship  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  ii.  65  note 

Quast,  Hildebrant,  in  command 

of  the  Dutch  fleet,  ii.  284 
Querini,  Jacopo,  i.  71 

—  Marco,  i.   68  ;    meetings  at 
his  house,  68,  70 

—  Pietro,  i.  68 
Quetta,  i.  188 
Quirini,  Nicold,  i.  90 

—  Villa,  i.  48  note 

Ragozza,  Aloisc,  ii.  242 
Ragusa,  ii.  137 

—  Brother  John  of,  his  offer  to 
assassinate,  i.  236  ;  scale  of 
prices,  236 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  his  dictum 
on  the  command  of  the 
i.  342 


342 


INDEX 


Rambaud,  L'Empire  Grec,  i.  1 1 
note 

Ranke,  von,  History  of  the 
Popes,  i.  244,  247  ;  on  the 
Spanish  Conspiracy,  ii.  245 

Rapallo,  i.  138 

Ratisbon,  Diet  of,  ii.  123  ;  its 
failure,  233 

Ravenna,  i.  n,  39,  140;  con- 
quest of,  14,  21 

Raynaud,  Theophilus,  Erote- 
mata  de  malts  ac  bonis  libris, 
ii.  40  note 

Record  Office  or  Archive,  ii. 
147  ;  characteristics  of  study 
in  149-51 

Reformation,  result  of  the,  ii. 
256 

Reggio,  i.  16 

Regnault,  Nicolas,  ii.  264  ;  his 
career,  268  ;  at  Naples,  269  ; 
conspiracy  against  Venice, 
269  ;  in  Venice,  271,  273  ; 
arrested  and  strangled,  293 

"  Relazioni,"  series  of,  i.  320 

Remo,  San,  i.  138 

Renan,  M.,  his  ideal  of  a 
library,  ii.  146 

Reusch,  Dr.,  Der  Index  der 
Verbotenen  Bucher,  ii.  39  note 

Rezasco,  Vocabolario  Amminis- 
trativo,  ii.  23  note 

Rhone,  the,  i.  137 

Rialto,  i.  3  ;  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, 3,  41  ;  meaning  of  the 
name,  3  note ;  inaccessible 
position,  40  ;  chosen  capital, 

4i 

Riario,  Girolamo,  i.  206 
Ribera,  Francisco,  commander, 

character  of  his  seamanship, 

ii.  265  ;  defeat,  284 
Richard  Cosur  de  Lion,  i.  262 
Ritter,  Die    Union   und   Hein- 

rich  IV.,  ii.  214  note,  219  note, 

221  note 

Rivoaltus  or  Rialto,  i.  1 8  note 
Rizzo,     Marin,     i.     269,     273, 

274  ;   discovery  of  his  plot, 

281     arrested  and  strangled, 

281 


Robert,  Emperor,  i.  143 

Rodosto,  ii.  9 

Roman    Index    of    Prohibited 

Books,  history  of  the,  ii.  41. 

See  Index 
Romanin,  Storia  documentata  di 

Venezia,  i.    18   note,  et  seq.  ; 

on  the  Spanish  Conspiracy, 

ii.  245 

Romano,  Ezzelino  da,  i.  1 16 
Rome,  character  of  society,  ii. 

1 10,  1 12  ;  aims  of  the  papacy, 

in 

—  Church    of,    policy  i.,    1 1  ; 
position   of   the   popes,    12 ; 
union  with  the  Franks,  14-7, 
23;    need  for  reform,    113; 
censorship   of  the  press,   ii. 
40,  45  ;  use  of  the  Index,  54  ; 
development  of  the  temporal 
power,    225  ;     establishment 
of  pope  and  emperor,   225  ; 
conflict  between,  226  ;  views 
on  the  supremacy  in  Church 
and  State,  227  ;  the  conciliar 
movement,    230 ;     character 
of  the  new  papacy,  231  ;   re- 
lations   with    Venice,     234, 
240 ;     rupture,    235-7  ;     re- 
conciliation, 239 

Roselli,  Monarchia  condemned, 

ii.  41,  58 
Rossi,  Giovanni,  ii.  99 

—  Fiero,  i.  1 2 1 
Rovollon,  ii.  131 
Ruberia,  Gerardo  da,  i.  177 
Ruzzini,     Cavaliere,     i.     329 ; 

attends     reception    of    the 
ambassador,  330-2 

—  Ser  Rugerius,  President  of 
the  Council  of  Ten,  i.  235 

Sabellico,  his  De  Vitis  Princi- 
pum,  i.  83  ;  Historia  Veneta, 
275  note 

Sacile,  i.  132 

Sadoleto,  member  of  the  "  Ora- 
tory of  Divine  Love,"  ii. 
114;  his  letters,  115,  126; 
a  man  of  letters,  125  ;  style 
of  writing,  126  ;  characteris- 


INDEX 


343 


tics,  127  ;  affections,  127  ; 
poverty,  128 

Sagredo,  Giovanni,  his  mission 
to  England,  i.  324 ;  am- 
bassador in  Paris,  ii.  299 ; 
in  London,  302 ;  expenses 
of  the  embassy,  302  ;  public 
entry,  303  ;  audiences  of 
Cromwell,  303,  305  ;  on  his 
appearance,  304  ;  demands 
his  recall,  306 ;  return  to 
Venice,  306 ;  account  of  his 
embassy,  306-20 

Salamon,  the  Jew  doctor,  ii.  17 

—  Michiel    Angelo,    his    quin- 
tessence of  plague,  i.  241-4 

Sale,  i.  167,  174 

Salen,    Hector,    story    of,    ii. 

152-8 
Salina,    Giovanni    Ortega    de, 

ii.  103 
Said,  i.  239 
Salonica,  ii.  9,  13  ;    port  of,  i. 

339 

Salt,  monopoly  of,  i.  339,  344 
Saluzzo,  ii.  250 

—  Marquis  of,  i.  174 

Sandi,  Vettor,  /  Principi  di 
Storia  Civile  della  Republica 
di  Venezia,  i.  56  note,  et  seq. 

Sanquirico,  i.  48  note 

Sansovino,  ii.  94 ;  Venezia 
Cittd,  etc.,  i.  55  note 

Santorin,  Paolo,  his  proposal 
on  Free  Trade,  i.  358 

Santorini,  i.  50 

Sanudo,  Giovanni,  his  illness, 
i.  97 

—  Marco,  receives  the  title  of 
Duke  of  the  Archipelago,  i. 
SO 

—  Marino,  Vite  dei  Duchi,  i.  42 
note,  et  seq.  ;   Cronaca  Antica, 
84,  92  ;  his  request  for  access 
to  state  documents,  ii.  45 

Sapienza,  defeat  at,  i.  90,  124  ; 

battle  of,  ii.  26 
Sarpi,  Francesco,  ii.  209 

—  Paolo,  his  objection  to  state 
censorship  of  the  press,  ii.  48, 
55  ;  his  birth,  209 ;  parents, 


209 ;  education,  209 ;  at 
Mantua,  209  ;  Milan,  2 10  ; 
at  the  Servite  monastery  in 
Venice,  210;  provincial  of 
his  Order,  211;  relations  with 
Bellarmine,  211;  appear- 
ance, 212  ;  his  mode  of  doc- 
toring himself,  212  ;  char- 
acteristics, 213,  214;  mem- 
ory, 213  ;  cell,  213  ;  diet,  213  ; 
scientific  mind,  215,  223; 
modesty,  2 1 5  ;  his  treatise  on 
L'arte  di  ben  pensare,  21$  ; 
religious  views,  216-9  5  scep- 
ticism, 217  ;  his  views  on 
ecclesiastical  politics,  2 19-22, 
229 ;  controversy  with  the 
Roman  Curia,  219,  234-40; 
hatred  of  the  Jesuits,  219, 
222 ;  literary  style,  223  ; 
definition  of  the  rights  of 
Church  and  State,  235  ; 
attempts  on  his  life,  241 ,  242  ; 
recovery,  242  ;  death,  244 

Savarese's  La  Scomunica  di' 
un  idea,  prohibition  of,  ii.  73 

Savona,  i.  1 38 

Savoy,  Armedeo  of,  i.  174 ; 
declares  war  on  Milan,  184, 
189 

—  Lewis  of,  i.  265 

Sax,  Albert  von,  of  Misox,  seizes 
Bellinzona,  i.  169 

Scala,  Alberto,  i.  1 19  ;  instruc- 
tions to  execute  the  Carraresi, 
119-21  ;  imprisonment,  121 

—  Antonio  della,  i.   no,   131  ; 
defeated   by   Visconti,    133  ; 
flight,  133  ;  poisoned,  133 

—  Bartholomew,  i.  1 10 

—  Beatrice,  i.  125 

—  Can  Grande  della,  i.  no,  1 16, 
127  ;    his  death,  129 

—  Guglielmo  della,  i.  146 

—  Mastino,   league  against,   i. 
1 19  ;  disbands  his  army,  154 

Scaligeri,  the,  i.  108 

Scemsi  Pasha,  anecdote  of,  ii. 

135 
Schoppius,  Caspar,  ii.  44,  241 

Scipio,  Dr.,  i.  245 


344 


INDEX 


Scrivia,  i.  167 
Scutari,  defence  of,  i.  273 
Secco,  Galeazzo,  ii.  200 
Secretaries,  College  of,  i.  315  ; 

their  duties,  316 
Segna,  i.  141 

Segura,  Adam,  story  of,  ii.  25 
Selim  the  Drunkard,  Sultan,  ii. 

134 

Selz,  i.  27 

Senate,  or  Pregadi,  i.  299  ;  num- 
ber of  members,  299  ;  elec- 
tions, 299  ;  functions,  300  ; 
series  of  documents,  319-21  ; 
number  of  volumes,  320 

Serravalle,  i.  86 

Severina,  Santa,  head  of  the 
Inquisition,  ii.  211 

Sforza,  Attendolo,  i.  171 

—  Caterina,    her    attempt    to 
poison  Alexander  VI.,  i.  250 

Shakspeare,  his  knowledge  of 
Venice,  ii.  159,  177  ;  refer- 
ences to  Italian  towns,  160  ; 
intimacy  with  the  language, 
161  ;  The  Merchant  of  Venice, 
162,  164-9  5  conception  of 
the  country,  163-6  ;  Othello, 
169-79 

Sigismund,  Emperor,  i.  165 
Silk  trade,  decline  in  the,  i.  357 
Simler,  Josias,  on  the  result  of 
the  Tridentine  Index  on  the 
book  trade,  ii.  8 
Sirino,  Girolamo,  Modo  d'  acqui- 
stare  la  Divina  Gratia,  ii.  108 
Sirleto,  Cardinal,  ii.  156 
Sixtine  Index,  ii.  75  ;  severity 

of,  76 

Sixtus  IV.,  Pope,  i.  206  ;  his 
censorship  of  the  press,  ii.  58 

—  V.,  Pope,  his  Index,  ii.  74 
Socino,  reverse  at,  i.  196 
Sokolli,  Grand  Vizir,  ii.  135 
Soncino,  i.  200 

Soranzo,  Giovanni,  i.  275,  276  ; 
Viaggio  da  Venezia  a  Costan- 
tinopoli,  ii.  20  note 

—  Jacopo,  ii.  8 
Sorato,  Zuanne,  ii.  200 
Sorbonne  Catalogue,  ii.  63 


Spain,  censorship  of  the  press, 
ii.  62,  71  ;  policy  of  the  Dia- 
catholicon,  219  ;  designs  for 
securing  supremacy  in  Italy, 
263 

—  Philip  II.  of,  on  censorship 
of  the  press,  ii.  56,  62 

Spanish  Conspiracy,  ii.  245 
Speyer,  John  of,  ii.  94,  98 

—  Wendelin  of,  ii.  98 
Spinelli,  Gasparo,  ii.  262  ;    his 

despatches  from  Naples  on  the 
Spanish  Conspiracy,  263-73  ; 
threat  on  his  life,  275  ;  repri- 
manded by  the  Inquisitor!, 
281  ;  warnings  on  the  rela- 
tions between  Osuna  and 
Pierre,  288-90 

Spino,  Pietro,  his  Life  of 
Colleoni,  i.  204 

Spinola,  Federigo,  ii.  264 

—  Francesco,  ii.  105 
Spinosa,  Captain  Alessandro,  ii. 

270;  in  Venice,  271  ;  ap- 
pointed Governor  of  the 
Castle  of  Chioggia,  273  ;  de- 
nounced by  Pierre,  277  ; 
arrested,  277  ;  examination, 
278  ;  condemned  and  stran- 
gled, 279 

Spoleto,  i.  ii,  1 6 

Ssaffije,  Sultana,  ii.  135 

Stae,  San,  i.  191 

Stagnino,  Bernardino,  ii.  89,  93 

Stalimene,  i.  50 

Stambul,  ii.  16 

Stampalia,  i.  50 

Steno,  episode,  i.  82 

—  Michel,  arrested,  i.  91 

—  Paulo,     action    against,    i. 
92 

Stuart,  James,  letters  from,  i. 

327 
Henry  de  Boveri  Rossano, 

i-  327 

Stukeley,  the  adventurer,  ii. 
256 

Suez  Canal,  proposals  for  cut- 
ting, i.  354  ;  opening  of  the, 

365 
Sugana,  Val,  i.  174 


INDEX 


345 


Sylvius,  iEneas,  Pope,  ii.  231 
Symonds,  J.  A.,  his  Sketches  in 

Greece  and  Italy,  i.  108  note 
Syra,  i.  50 

Tagliamcnto,  i.  44 

Tassini,     Curiosita     Veneriane, 

i.  48  note 
Tasso,   Bernardo,   ii.   93 ;    his 

Amadigi,  99 

Taxation,  system  of,  i.  349 
Tefterdars,  or  treasurers,  ii.  18 
Ten,  Council  of,  appointment,  i. 
77  ;  characteristics,  77  ;  exe- 
cution of  conspirators,  97  ; 
trial  of  Marino  Falier,  97-9  ; 
measures  to  secure  peace, 
loo ;  discoveries  against 
Novello  Carrara,  148 ;  de- 
cision to  arrest  Carmagnola, 
200  ;  use  of  political  assassin- 
ation, 234  ;  tenders  received, 
235-7  ;  quality  and  number 
of  assassins,  237 ;  case  of 
Michelotto  Mudazzo,  238-40 ; 
attempt  to  destroy  the  Turk- 
ish army,  240-4 ;  date  of 
its  creation,  307  ;  position, 
307  ;  establishment  of  sub- 
commissions,  308  ;  series  of 
documents,  325  ;  resolution 
on  the  Index,  ii.  66  ;  censor- 
ship of  the  press,  77  ;  re- 
ceives Bragadin,  193  ;  tests 
his  nugget,  195  ;  condemns 
Spinosa,  279 

Tenda,  Beatrice  di,  her  marri- 
age, i.  161  ;   executed,  163 
Tenedos,  island  of,  i.  86 
TeniveUi,  Biografia  Piemontese, 

i.  162  note 

Theodoric  the  Great,  i.  i 
Theophanes,   extract   from,    i. 

6  note,  et  seq. 
Theophilus,  Emperor,  i.  6 
Thiene,    Gaetano,    member   of 
the     "  Oratory     of     Divine 
Love,"  ii.   114 
Tiepolo,  Antonio,  ii.  16 
—  Bajamonte,  site  of  his  house, 
i.  48  ;  motives  of  his  conspir- 


acy, 49  ;  elected  a  member 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
Quarantia,  69 ;  character, 
70 ;  arrival  in  Venice,  70  ; 
plot  against  the  doge,  71  ; 
defeated,  71  ;  exiled,  75  ; 
death,  76 

Tiepolo,  Jacopo,  competitor  for 
the  ducal  chair,  i.  57  ;  elec- 
tion, 57  ;  withdraws,  62 

—  Doge  Lorenzo,  i.  69 

—  Statuti  Nautici,  i.  347  note 
Titian,  his  portrait  of  Caterina 

Cornaro,  i.  271 

Tolentino,  i.   183 

Torbiato,  ii.   185 

Torcello,  i.   18  note,  32 

Torelli,  Guido,  i.  169,  171 

Toricella,  i.  200 

Tormene,  //  Bailaggio  a  Cos- 
tantinopoli  di  Girolamo 
Hippomano,  ii.  8  note,  et 
seq. 

Trade,  Free,  proposals  for,  i. 
357-9;  decline  of,  351-6 

Treaty  between  Venice  and 
the  Turks,  ii.  3  ;  terms,  4 

Trebizond,  Biagio  Catena,  Arch- 
bishop of,  his  offer  to  assas- 
sinate, i.  235 

Trent,  i.  143,  174 

—  Council  of  the  Ten  Regulee, 

ii-  55 

Trevisan,  Domenico,  on  the 
corn  trade,  ii.  27 

—  Nicold,  his  chronicle  of  the 
Falier  conspiracy,  i.  83,  91 

—  his  defeat,  i.  196 

—  Stefanello,  i.  94 
Treviso,   i.   27,    85,    115,    119, 

174  ;    invested,   124  ;    siege, 

131  ;  occupied,  135 
Trezzo,  siege  of,  i.  165 
Tridentine  Index,  ii.  72,  80 ; 

result  on  the  book  trade,  8 1 
Trieste,  subdued,  i.    126 
Trino,  ii.  88  ;    the  printers  of, 

89 

Tripoli,  Count  of,  i.  274 
Trissino,  Leonardo,  i.  292  note 
Tron,   Andrea,   his   report   on 


346 


INDEX 


the  decline  in  Venetian  in- 
dustries, i.  364 
Turbia,  i.  137 
Turin,  peace  of,  i.  131 
Turkey,    Sultan    of,    presents 

received  by,  ii.  19  ;  reception 

of  the  bailo,  20 
—  treaty   with    Venice,   ii.    3  ; 

amount  of  trade  with  Venice, 

24  ;   relations,  34  ;  wars,  35, 

296 
Turkish     army,     attempt     to 

destroy,   i.   240-4 
Tuscany,       Bianca       Capella, 

Grand  Duchess  of,  ii.  184 
—  Grand  Duke  of,  throws  open 

Leghorn,  i.  352 
Type-foundry,  opening  of  the, 

ii.  99 
Tyrannicide,      views      on,     i. 

220-3 

Udinesi,  the,  i.  132 

Udny,  John,  consul  at  Venice, 

i.  329 
Ughelli,  Italia  Sacra,  i.  27  note, 

29  note 

Unterwald,  canton  of,  i.   169 
Urban  VII.,  Pope,  ii.  211 
Urbino,  i.  15 
Uri,  canton  of,  i.  169 
Uskiup,  ii.  9 
Uzeda,  Duke  of,  ii.  253 

Valdes,   Fernando,   Inquisitor- 
General  in  Spain,  ii.  62 
Valenti,  Michel,  ii.  294 
Valentino,  Duke  of,  i.  245 
Valfenario,  i.  182,  183,  192 
Valgrisi,  Erasmo  di  Vincenzo, 

Catalogo,  etc.,  ii.  65 
Valsugana,  i.  131 
Vecellio,   Cesare,   Habiti  Anti- 

chi  e  Moderni,  i.  259  note 
Velutelli,  Accerbo,  i.  357 
Vendrame,  reveals  the  plot,  i. 

95 

Venecia,  i.  2  note  ;  meaning  of 
the  name,  3  note 

Venice,  its  origin,  i.  i  ;  popula- 
tion, 2  ;  various  uses  of  the 


word,  2  note ;  Rialto,  the 
seat  of  government,  3,  41  ; 
influence  of  the  East,  4,  10, 
36 ;  West,  1 1  ;  evolution, 
4,  10,  17  ;  the  Church,  ii  ; 
position,  17 ;  the  twelve 
confederate  islands,  17  ;  their 
federation,  18  ;  rivalry  for 
the  leadership,  20  ;  election 
of  the  first  doge,  20  :  duke- 
dom abolished,  22  ;  restored, 
23  ;  result  of  the  union 
between  the  Church  and  the 
Franks,  23  ;  revolution,  35, 
66  ;  forced  to  furnish  a  con- 
tingent, 36,  38 ;  result  of 
her  policy,  37  ;  rejects  union 
with  the  Franks,  38 ; 
measures  of  defence,  39 ; 
victory  over  the  Franks,  40  ; 
an  independent  state,  41  ; 
sight  of  Tiepolo's  house,  48  ; 
result  of  peace,  50  ;  islands 
of  the  Archipelago  conceded 
to,  50 ;  new  commercial 
aristocracy,  51  ;  policy  of 
the  party,  52,  60  ;  functions 
and  privileges  of  the  duke- 
dom curtailed,  53,  56,  59 ; 
legislative  council,  the  Mag- 
gior  Consiglio,  54,  61  ;  mode 
of  election,  54  note  ;  estab- 
lishment of  the  college  of 
six  Consiglieri  Ducali,  55  ; 
the  college  of  the  Pregadi, 
56 ;  Correttori  della  Pro- 
missione  Ducali,  appointed, 
57  ;  reform  of  the  system 
of  election,  58  ;  terms  of 
the  Serrata  del  Maggior  Con- 
siglio, 63  ;  result  of  the 
statute,  65  ;  excommunica- 
tion, 67,  ii.  232,  238  ; 
rebellion  of  Bajamonte  Tie- 
polo,  i.  70-4 ;  suppression, 
74  ;  development  of  a  police 
system,  76  ;  Council  of  Ten 
appointed,  77,  106,  307  ; 
conspiracy  of  Falier,  79-106  ; 
surrenders  Dalmatia,  114; 
in  possession  of  Treviso,  119: 


INDEX 


347 


relations  with  the  Carraresi, 
122-7  5  war  with  Hungary, 
124  ;  with  Carrara,  127,  147  ; 
victory  of  Lova,  128 ; 
treachery  towards  Carrara, 
128  ;  peace  concluded,  129  ; 
league  against,  1 34  ;  political 
conditions,  175  ;  appoints 
Carmagnola  commander-in- 
chief,  176,  179,  194  ;  league 
with  Florence,  1 79 ;  con- 
cludes peace  with  the  Vis- 
conti,  194 ;  acquires  the 
Bresciano,  184 ;  dissatis- 
faction with  Carmagnola, 
189,  198 ;  use  of  political 
assassination,  232  ;  typical 
cases,  234  ;  tenders  received, 
235-7  5  quality  and  number 
of  assassins,  237  ;  character- 
istics of  women,  256,  257  ; 
noble  ladies,  257 ;  young 
girls,  258-61  ;  defence  of 
Cyprus,  275,  279  ;  treatment 
of  the  Queen,  276,  278-80  ; 
garrisons  Cyprus,  277  ;  dis- 
covery of  a  plot,  28 1  ;  forces 
Caterina  to  abdicate,  282  ; 
establishes  a  constitution, 
283  ;  unique  position,  293  ; 
character  of  the  archives, 
294  ;  multiplicity  of  offices, 
294  ;  disposition  of  the  state 
papers,  295,  316;  the  four 
departments,  296 ;  the 
Great  Council,  297-9  J  the 
Senate  or  Pregadi,  299 ; 
Collegio,  or  cabinet  of  minis- 
ters, 300-3  ;  the  doge, 
303-6 ;  administration  of 
justice,  309-12 ;  subdivi- 
sion of  government,  312  ; 
political  training,  313;  chan- 
celleries, or  collections  of  state  j 
papers,  313-8 ;  office  of 
Grand  Chancellor,  315  ;  : 
duties  of  the  secretaries, 
3 1 6  ;  relations  with  England, 
321,  323-5,  ii.  297  ;  com- 
mercial and  fiscal  policy,  i. 
335  J  geographical  position, 


338,  343,  365  ;  natural  pro- 
ducts, 339,  344 ;  command 
of  the  markets,  340  ;  of  the 
trade  route,  341;  theory  of 
the  Dominante,  or  ruling 
city,  342 ;  protection  of 
industries,  344  ;  guild  system, 
345  ;  rules  for  the  proper 
manufacture  of  goods,  345  ; 
protection  of  the  mercantile 
marine,  346 ;  obtains  com- 
mand of  the  Gulf,  346  ;  the 
Levant,  347  ;  Statuti  Nautici, 
347  ;  rights  of  citizenship, 
348 ;  system  of  taxation, 
349 ;  export  and  import 
duty,  350  ;  reasons  for  the 
decline  of  her  trade,  351-6  ; 
creation  of  the  board  of 
trade,  356 ;  the  currant 
trade,  357  ;  decline  in  the 
silk  trade,  357  ;  proposals  on 
Free  Trade,  358 ;  repeal  of  the 
import  duty,  360 ;  refuses 
to  grant  freedom  of  transit, 
361  ;  commercial  treaty 
negotiations  with  England, 
361-4 ;  diplomatic  service, 
ii.  i  ;  treaty  with  the  Turks, 
3  ;  trade  with  Turkey,  24  ; 
supply  of  corn,  26  ;  relations 
with  Turkey,  34 ;  loss  of 
Cyprus,  35  ;  censorship  of 
the  press,  39,  76-9 ;  book 
trade,  39,  81  ;  publication 
of  the  first  Index,  64,  95  ; 
deterioration  of  the  printing 
press,  98  ;  opening  of  a  type- 
foundry,  99  ;  relations  with 
Rome,  234-40 ;  rupture, 
235-7  ;  reconciliation,  239; 
episode  of  the  Spanish  Con- 
spiracy, 245  ;  discovery  of 
the  plot,  291-3  ;  decline, 
258  ;  decrease  in  the  popu- 
lation, 258  ;  social  conditions, 
258,261  ;  reception  of  Henry 
III.,  260  ;  trade  of  denounce- 
ment, 261  ;  war  with 
Turkey,  296 
Venier,  Lorenzo,  the  Venetian 


348 


INDEX 


admiral,  victory  over  Ribera, 

ii.  284 

Venier,   Marco,   ii.   22 
Ventimiglia,  i.   137 
Vercelli,  recovery  of,  i.  165 
Verci,     Storia     della      Marca 

Trevigiana,  i.  75  note,  et  seq. 
Vergerio,  Pier  Paolo,  //  Cata- 

logo    de    Libri,    ii.    65  ;     his 

opinion  of  the  Archbishop  of 

Milan's  Catalogue,   67 
Vergerius,  Vita  Carrariensium, 

i.  112  note,  116  note,  117  note, 

118  note,  122  note 
Verme,  Jacopo  dal,  i.  135 
Vermigli,  P.  M.,  ii.  64 
Verona,   i.    88,    115,    ii.    163; 

fall  of,  i.  133,  147 
Veronese,    Paolo,    his   portrait 

of  Caterina  Cornaro,  i.  271 
Vettori,     Francesco,     on     the 

character  of  the  pontiffs,  ii. 

232 
Vianoli,  Hist.  Venet.,  i.  70  note, 

71  note 
Vicenza,  i.  115,  116  ;  occupied, 

133  ;   yields  to  Venice,  146 
Vido,  Berti,  i.  90 
Vienne,  i.  137 
Vignati,  Giovanni,  lord  of  Lodi, 

i.   164  ;    seized  and  hanged, 

165 

Vigne  di  Pera,  ii.  15 
Vilandrino,  i.  250 
Villani,  Matteo,  i.  83,  87 
Villiers,  George,  ii.  256 
Visconti,  Antonia,  her  second 

marriage,  i.  167 

—  Bernab6,    i.     1 1 1  ;     claims 
Verona,   129 

—  Estore,  expelled  from  Milan, 
i.  163 

—  Filippo  Maria,  his  attempts 
to  recover  his  duchy,  i.  160, 
163-6 ;      peculiar    tempera- 
ment,  161  ;    passion  for  in- 
trigue, 161  ;    marriage,  161  ; 
enters  Milan,  163  ;    restora- 
tion   of    the    duchy,     167  ; 
attack  on  Genoa,   169  ;    his 
Swiss    campaign,    170 ;    re- 


lations with  Carmagnola, 
170-4,  177 ;  attempt  to 
poison  him,  177  ;  war  with 
Florence,  177  ;  negotiations 
with  Carmagnola,  182,  185, 
189,  192,  194,  200 ;  con- 
cludes peace,  184  ;  attack 
on  his  camp,  188 
Visconti,  Francesco  Barbavara, 
i.  167 

—  Galeazzo,  i.  109 

—  Giancarlo,     expelled     from 
Milan,  i.  163 

—  Gian        Galeazzo,        seizes 
Verona,  i.  132  ;  alliance  with 
Carrara,   133  ;    occupies  Vi- 
cenza, 133  ;    league  against, 
142  ;       his       policy,       143  ; 
crowned  Duke  of  Milan,  143  ; 
advance    on    Bologna,    144 ; 
death,  145 

—  Giovanni  Maria,  murdered, 
i.  1 60 

—  Marco,  ii.  272 
Viterbo,  i.  15,  ii.  131 
Vitturi,  Messer  Zuanne,  ii.  1 1 

Wislingen,  Werner,  Duke  of, 
elected  Captain  of  the  Grand 
Company,  i.  1 54 

Women  of  Venice,  their  char- 
acteristics, i.  256,  257  ;  life, 
257  ;  dress,  257 

Worms,  Imperial  Edict  of,  ii.  60 

Wotton,  Sir  Henry,  appointed 
ambassador  to  Venice,  i.  322, 
329  ;  on  the  case  of  Henry 
Parvis,  ii.  33  ;  on  Sarpi,  213, 
214 

Yriarte,  La  Vie  d'un  Patricien 
de  Venise,  i.  256  note,  261 
note 

Zaccaria,  Abbess  of  San,  i.  17 
note 

—  Storia    polemica    delle   proi- 
bizioni  de'  Libri,  ii.  40  note 

Zachary,  i.  14 

Zagonara,  defeat  at,  i.  177 

Zancarolo,  i.  84 


INDEX 


349 


Zane,  Hieronimo,  ii.  5  note 

—  Matteo,  ii.  28 
Zanctti,  Bartolomeo,  ii.  93 
Zanino  da  Cremona,  i.  92 
Zante,  sale  of  currants,  i.  357 
Zara,  i.  46  ;  siege  of,  86 
Zeno,  Cairlo,  i.  151 

—  Renier,     i.     59    note ;      his 
Statuta,  347  note 

Ziani,  Pietro,  abdication,  i.  57  ; 
his  creation  of  the  Great 
Council,  297 


Ziani,  Sebastian,  elected  doge, 

i-  53 

Ziera,  Stefano,  i.  88 
Zinkeisen,    Geschichte    des    os- 

manischen  Retches,  ii.  4  note 
Zonta,  or  addition,  i.  299 
Zorzi,  Alexander,  ii.  200 

—  Moreto,  arrested,  {.91 
Zucuol,  Costantino,  i.  90 

—  Nicold,  his  opposition  to  the 
conspiracy,  i.  94 

Zurich,  i.  140 


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