Details

Subjects:

Paul III, Pope, 1468-1549.
Popes -- Temporal power -- Early works to 1800.
Popes -- Temporal power.
Papal States -- Politics and government -- Early works to 1800.
Italy -- History -- 16th century.
Italy.
History.
Capranica (Italy).

Form/Genre:

Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

In Italian.

Biography/History:

Also known as Gran Cardinale (big cardinal), to distinguish him from his brother Ranuccio Farnese, also cardinal, and known as Cardinalino di Sant'Angelo (small cardinal of Sant'Angelo).

Summary:

Five letters on paper signed by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. The first four, one dated 1539, one 1541, and two 1543, are all letters addressed to the governor of Rome. The last one, dated 1549, is a letter addressed to Cristofano Paulo Stati and to the guardians of Capranica. The first, written in Nepi, reports on the capture of two priests, to be brought to Rome for questioning, and is dated September 10, 1539. In the second, dated May 6, 1541, Farnese instructs the governor to release Giovanbattista Giglio and Vincenzo de' Vittorini, arrested by the local police the previous night after a fight concerning a horse. The third and fourth letters are both written in 1543. One, dated July 30, concerns the trial of the archpriest of Colorno. Following the preliminary hearings, Farnese orders the imprisonment of the witnesses sent to Rome by the governor of Parma and Piacenza. In the other, written on September 17, Farnese notifies the governor of Rome of an order issued by Pope Paul III, to send the governor of Romagna all proceedings of the lawsuit of the friars of Ravenna. With the last document, written on March 19, 1549, Farnese advises Cristofano Paulo Stati and the guardians of Capranica to ensure that Francesco Irvichini de Mariis, a candidate running for a local office with the support of the Pope, wins the election.

Penn Provenance:

Letter dated July 30, 1543, sold by Libreria Antiquaria Docet (Bologna), cat. 57 (March 1959), no. 199.
Letter dated 1539 sold by Renzo Rizzi (Milan), 1961.

Cited in:

Letter dated 1539 described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 128 (Ms. Italian 173).
Letters dated 1541, 1543, and 1549 described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 187 (Ms. Lea 196).

Contributor:

Stati, Cristofano Paulo, addressee.
Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

OCLC:

63585311