PAPAL DIPLOMACY

ESTABLISHMENT: POSTING

The nuncios’ posting has usually been decided by the pontifical secretariat. While the

nunciature existed, the German congregation participated as well in the process of

determination when it comes to the matters of Germany. To whom it concerned, the

nomination has been reported in the form of papal official letter or the official authorization.

At the moment of departure the nuncio has been receiving a number of the papal

official letters. The most important one has been the credential letter in the ceremonial form,

which has been addressed to the regent to whom the nuncio has been coming to introduce the

Pope. It contained the reason of the mission, the nuncio’s name, his titles and services, his

virtues, the eventual name of the nuncio he has been replacing and the professional sentence

such as: “on dubitamus nobilitatem tuam omnibus in rebus, de quibis et in adventu ipso et in

posterum tecum aget nostris verbis, omnem ei fidem tributuram”1, or “cui integra fide

adhibebis in omnibus non secus ac si nos loquentes audires”2, or resembling expressions. The

other introduction letters have been addressed to the regent’s wife, the eventual heir to the

throne, other court clerks, the bishops and the prelates. Some of the official letters have been

left untitled (brevia in albis), so the nuncio could add an addressee who has not been

anticipated earlier. The passport (passus) as well has been added in addition to these

documents.

1 "Diplomatic Academy Year-Book." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, International Symposium entitled “Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija”, 9-11 Sept. 1998, Dubrovnik. Diplomatic Academy Year-Book: Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija. Zagreb: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 1999., extracted from the article of dr. Silvano Giordano “ Papinska diplomacija između 15. i 16. stoljeća” with the reference to Cf. L. van der Essen a. Louant, Correspondance d Ottavio Mirto Frangipani, premier nonce in Flandre, 1596-1606 Analecta Vaticano Belgica. 2eme Serie. Nonciature de Flandre 1-3, Rome, Bruxelles, Paris 1924,1932,1942.2 "Diplomatic Academy Year-Book." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, International Symposium entitled “Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija”, 9-11 Sept. 1998, Dubrovnik. Diplomatic Academy Year-Book: Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija. Zagreb: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 1999., extracted from the article of dr. Silvano Giordano “ Papinska diplomacija između 15. i 16. stoljeća” with the reference to J. Rainer, Nuntiatur des Germanico Malaspina, Publikationen des Osterreichischen Kulturinstituts in Rom. Abt II Quelen. 2 Reihe, Wien 1973.

The pontifical secretariat has been preparing an instruction which has been supposed

to introduce the nuncio to the situation in the country he has been going to. The instruction

has been composed by the clerk of the secretariat, and, after the second half of the XVI

century, it has been signed by the cardinal-nephew. During the pontificate of Clement VIII

(1592-1605), the instructions have usually started with the preamble within which the

nuncio’s competence to the service has been introduced, the reliance the pope attends towards

him and the general purpose of the mission. The main part of the letter followed, with the

description of the political and the church problems with which he has been about to face, and

which has been often divided into several sections. At the end there have been series of

professional instructions regarding codes, postal service, credential letters and the letters of

the authorizations and the rules of greetings and blessings, the date, the signature and the seal.

The sources of the instructions have been various: the newest correspondence or the final

predecessor’s report have been the most important ones among them. In case of the mission

being timely close, the instructions given to the predecessor have been completely

undertaken. As regards to the composer, from 23 preserved sketches of the letters, five of

them belong to Minuccio Minucci, and ten to Lanfranco Margotti who have been working in

the service of Cinzi Aldobrandi. Clement VIII has actively participated in the composing, as

is demonstrated by the many corrections registered by the hand. The instruction has been

handed to the addressee by the cardinal-nephew in the presence of the public secretary, or the

pope himself. On that occasion, the verbal instructions could have been given and various

problems could have been solved; in some cases the instructions and the official papal letters

have been handed to the nuncio in case of the travel.

THE AUTHORIZATIONS

The nuncio’s action has been determined by the jurisdiction territory and the

authorities which have been active only during the mission and on the regent’s territory to

whom the nuncio has been sent to.3 The authorities have been related to the jurisdiction: the

nuncio, as the pope’s representative, has had the authorities given by the Christian superior.

Except with the local church authorities, their volume has provoked as well conflicts with the

civil authorities who have been trying to reduce their range. After the Vienna concordat

(1448), the princes in Germany have often complained about their implication: Gravamina

from 1522 have been complaining about their determination of their rights, for they have had

the possibility to acknowledge the illegimate sons, to dissolve the obligations contracted by

the oath and to share the benefices which have been intended for the pope. In the contract

with the Roman court from 1528, Spain has regulated the limits of the authorities, while in

France they had to be approved by the assembly.

The orderly nuncio’s authorities have been extending continually, at first in the

exceptional occasions, and more often afterwards, until the nuncio hasn’t gained the

authorities legata de latere; although he has never been equalized with the real and genuine

legate. For instance, Carl von Miltitz, the nuncio in the Habsburg empire, could have in 1518

canceled the barrier of the blood relationship regarding marriage three times, and release the

barriers of illegalities regarding the ordainment six times. Pietro Paolo Vergerio, who has

been sent to Germany in 1533, has had the authorities to legalize the illegimates, to use the

transferable altar, to serve or to give serve the mass during the prohibited time and before the

dawn, to select the confessor for himself, to dissolve from irregularities ex defectu corporis et

natalium, to change the vows, to release from the barriers of the third and fourth degree blood

relationships for the marriage, to read the forbidden books, which authorities, however, he

could not have been transmitted. Pietro Bertrano, the nuncio to whom the general authorities

have been adjudged by the bull from 27. of April 1551. and the papal letter from 4. of July

1551, has gained increased authorities which anticipated the ability of exemption of the

3 "Diplomatic Academy Year-Book." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, International Symposium entitled “Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija”, 9-11 Sept. 1998, Dubrovnik. Diplomatic Academy Year-Book: Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija. Zagreb: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 1999., extracted from the article of dr. Silvano Giordano “ Papinska diplomacija između 15. i 16. stoljeća” with the reference to Arhivio Stato Vaticano, Sec. Brev. Reg. 341, f352r 353r.

heresy. This fact has a double significance: the authority, as regards to the way it has been

given, could be considered exceptional, and at the same time the nature of the authority

defines for the nuncios the beginning of the counterreformation’s activity. This last

characteristic has been distressed and has obtained the final form in the nunciatures

established during the pontificate of Gregory XIII, and whose purpose has been to reintroduce

the territories exposed to danger to the catholism, so they could be finally pulled off from the

influence of the ancient religion: those have been the nunciatures of Casper Gropper and

Bartolomeo Prozi who has been succeeded by dominican Feliciano Ninguarda. The papal

official letter that has been addressed to the latter defines him as: ”nuntius cum facultate legati

de latere ad Dei laudem et catholicae Ecclesiae exaltationem haeresumque extirpationem”.

His authorities have been adjudged to Gropper by the bull “Romanum decet

pontificem” from 1 July 1573 giving him the capability of review and reform in order to

restore the church discipline and carry through the conclusions of the Trident council. Among

the juridical authorities there has been the right to cancel the oaths, to release in any cases -

except for those mentioned in the bull “In coena Domini” - of the apostasy (the priest’s escape

from the monastery); he could have released of all the illegalities, except of those descended

from the murders, the heresy, lesae maiestatis and the bigamy; he could have given the release

to those who are to be ordained as clericos arctatos, the clerics without their own bishop, even

extra tempora: thereby the nuncio performs the function of the bishop’s jurisdiction

substitution, which has been disabled in many bishoprics which have been progressed by the

protestant reform. Gropper has had the ability to absolve the blood relationship, to remove

public prohibition regarding already connected marriages, and those which are to be

connected, and those “impedimentum criminis, dummodo in mortem defuncti coniugis

quicquam machinati non fuerint”. He could erect monasteries and churches, establish

fraternities, approve cleric’s testaments, allow the mass to be served during the prohibited

time, give the absolution, dissolve the vows, except the pilgrimage’s vows, the purity and

church vows.

These jurisdictions, which have been typical for the post-trident time, have been

missing two authorizations which have been significant for the counterreformation: “facultas

absolvendi ab haeresi i licentia legendi libros prohibitos”. Gropper has requested those on 12

December 1573, as well as “facultas subdelegandi”. The German congregation has

contemplated the requests on 2 March 1574 and the permission has been notified to the

nuncio on 12 March 1574 by the official papal letter composed explicitly as the enlargement

of the general authorities which have already been given him. Gropper has gained the

authorities to dissolve in utroque foro all the heretics, schismatics, the founders of heresies

and similar “etiamsi ipsi in huiusmodi errors atque haereses post illarum abiurationem relapse

sint”; gaining the absolution has been stipulated even if with the secret oath. The authority of

the exemption of illegality which has descended from crimes has been related to it, and for

those to whom it has been forgiven to regain their rights, the authority could have been

transmitted either to the secular or the orderly clergy, but not longer than a year. Beside that,

he could give the permission to read the prohibited books to those whose integrity has been

investigated and with strenuous catholic religion, so they could endeavor on their refutation.

The bull “Romanum decet Pontifecem”, which has been given to Gropper, is used as

the sample for the following bulls with the authorities distributed to the nuncios; but it has

also been submitted to the changes. If we compare the authorities given to Gropper to those

given to Giovanni Francesco Bonomi, who has been sent to Germany in 1585, and Giovanni

Stefano Ferreri, who has been sent to the emperor in 1604, we shall discover a significant

reduction of the authorities, particularly regarding the absolution. For instance, relating to

Gropper, Ferreri has had no authorities to give the absolution to the ordained priests in case of

murder;4 Gropper could give the absolution all to the second blood relationship regarding

marriage, Bonomi only to the third, whereas Ferreri has had no rights regarding that matter

and he had to turn to Rome about that. As regards to the benefices, for Gropper there have

been no limitations (cuiuscumque annui valoris), whereas Ferreri could distribute up to the

value of 24 golden ducats of the annual income: in Bonomi’s case, the question hasn’t been

even taken in consideration. Such development of the situation could be comprehended in two

complementary ways: in one way it means gradual normalization of the church circumstances

which did not require the need of using the exceptional authorizations, and in the other way it

has been a sign of the pontifical centralization with which the court has been retaining the

right of executing certain authorities. The custom of giving the nuncio the similar authorities

as to his predecessor has been acknowledged by the chancery usage of the official letters: in

the sketches of the letters, the phrase: “sunt similes concesse” has been frequent, the

4 "Diplomatic Academy Year-Book." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, International Symposium entitled “Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija”, 9-11 Sept. 1998, Dubrovnik. Diplomatic Academy Year-Book: Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija. Zagreb: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 1999., extracted from the article of dr. Silvano Giordano “ Papinska diplomacija između 15. i 16. stoljeća” with the reference to Arhivio Stato Vaticano, Sec. Brev. Reg. 341v

predecessor’s name, along with the designation of the document which contains the letter. For

instance, when Giovanni Stefano Ferreri has been sent to the emperor at the beginning of

1604, a certain secretary notes: “Pro ep(iscop)o Vercellen. Nuntio ad imp(erato)rem.

Facultates solitae. Sunt similes concesse Philippo arciep(isop)o Rhodien”. And more: “ Sunt

similes expedetis ult(im)o loco pro R.mo Spinello”.5 The custom that some exceptional

authorities are given by the special official papal letters has been retained: Ferreri has gained

the permission: “conversandi cum haeretics et legendi libros prohibitos”, that is, the

permission to maintain the contacts with the heretics and schismatics, to eat with them, and to

posses, read and refute in writing the books which have been inserted into the index of the

competent congregation. Beside that, he has had the facultas absolvendi haereticos, among

which the relapses belonged.6

According to Michael F. Feldkamp, the papal official letter with the authorities given

to the orderly nuncios “Decet romanum Pontificem” from 1573, has been upheld to the

version prepared for Giovanni Francesco Bonomi, the nuncio in Köln from 1584. to 1587.

The scientist differentiates different categories of the authorities within it: the right of the visit

and the reform of already existing church institutions, with the expressed instruction to

respect the Trident resolution, the right of the church jurisdiction civil and criminal – except

on the first instance – on the persons who have been subjected to the bishop, with the

authorities of the threats with the church’s penalties and the opening of the process; the right

to dispense and dismiss when it comes to gaining the priestly order; the authority of

distributing the benefices; giving the permission for joining together in marriage; giving the

permission for the rent, or alienation of the church goods; the despatchment of literae

monitoriales et poenales; giving the absolution, performing the ceremony during the

prohibited time; the absolution on the fast and the abstinence; the authority of the execution

and the empowerment. Nevertheless, the nuncios have been, depending on the situation,

requesting the enlargement of the authorities, as did Antonio Albergati, the nuncio in Köln

5 "Diplomatic Academy Year-Book." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, International Symposium entitled “Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija”, 9-11 Sept. 1998, Dubrovnik. Diplomatic Academy Year-Book: Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija. Zagreb: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 1999., extracted from the article of dr. Silvano Giordano “ Papinska diplomacija između 15. i 16. stoljeća” with the reference to Arhivio Stato Vaticano, Sec. Brev. Reg. 341, f363v.6 "Diplomatic Academy Year-Book." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, International Symposium entitled “Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija”, 9-11 Sept. 1998, Dubrovnik. Diplomatic Academy Year-Book: Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija. Zagreb: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 1999., extracted from the article of dr. Silvano Giordano “ Papinska diplomacija između 15. i 16. stoljeća” with the reference to Arhivio Stato Vaticano, Sec. Brev. Reg. 341, f364v, 365v, 366r, 369v.

from 1610 to 1621, especially when it has been about giving the benefices to the non-

Catholics in the expectation of the Roman provision.

THE CORRESPONDENCE

The relations between Rome and the nuncios have been kept by the systematic letter

exchange, within the certain time distances. During the pontificate of Paul III, the nuncio in

France has been writing to Rome at least every four days. That habit has been kept till the end

of the Ancien Régime, while in times of the intensified diplomatic activities the exchange has

been more frequent. The pontifical secretariat has been responding less frequent: when the

nuncio has been dispatching the general references, one letter would be often used as an

answer to a few of the dispatched ones. The nuncio’s letters addressed to the secretariat have

been keeping the routine scheme: right after the address, the eventual letters from Rome have

been mentioned, with the indication of their date and the day they have been received.

Afterwards the description of the work followed: in time a custom has been adopted, which

has become common at the end of XVI century, that every single question is discussed in the

separate letter, so within the same mail more letters have been dispatched to Rome. At the end

came the date and the nuncio’s name. Sometimes, for the different reasons – the respect or the

wish to add some detail in the last moment – the nuncio would finish the letter by his own

hand, which afterwards would be closed and sealed. Some letters have been bringing different

news, so-called “announces”, mentioned one after another and unsigned.

Antonio Albergati, the nuncio in Köln from 1610. to 1614, used to write the ordinary

letter of the general contest in which he has been notifying that he has received the deliveries

from Rome, has been describing the modalities of the answer which was contained in the

delivery and has been mentioning other news of the general character, and he has been adding

the letter with different reports regarding the events in the nunciature. Unlike his predecessor,

he hasn’t been dispatching the unsigned reports, but he has been bringing them forth in the

form of the letter. Beside that there have been letters with the description of different work,

and somewhat code has been used. The requests for the authorities, the supplements to the

particular letters and sometimes the letter written with his own hand followed. The reports of

the highest secrecy have been encoded: at the beginning Albergati used to insert encoded

words or paragraphs and afterwards he has been encoding all the letters.

The letters dispatched to him have been orderly dated on Saturday. Albergati’s

correspondence with Rome has been on weekly basis: the letters written in Köln have been

dated on Sundays, while those written in Liége have been dated on Fridays. That is related to

the mail despatchment day – the mail has been dispatched from Liége on Saturdays and from

Köln on Sundays. The letters have been paid by the one to whom they have been addressed to,

and they have been traveling by the following path: Köln – Frankfurt – Augsburg – Innsbruck

– Brenner – Trent – Mantua – Bologna – Rome. The time of the delivery has been different:

in the best case fourteen days would have passed from the day they have been dispatched to

the delivery day; if there would have been no standstill, the replies to the letters would have

been followed 22 days after their redaction.7

ORGANIZATION OF THE NUNCIATURES

7 "Diplomatic Academy Year-Book." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, International Symposium entitled “Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija”, 9-11 Sept. 1998, Dubrovnik. Diplomatic Academy Year-Book: Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija. Zagreb: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 1999., extracted from the article of dr. Silvano Giordano “ Papinska diplomacija između 15. i 16. stoljeća” with the reference to W. Reinhard, Nuntius Antonio Albergati, Munchen, Paderborn, Wien 1972.

Parallel with the affirmation of the permanent representations, the organizations of the

nunciatures have been improving as well, so the businesses, which they have been obliged for,

would have been more successfully performed. Its commencement, considering the provisory

of the mission entrusted to him, can be already seen at Girolamo Aleandro, the legate in the

Empire from 1538. to 1539. In his service he has had three or four clerks, Domenico de

Mussi, his personal secretary, has been the chairman of the chancery. In the negotiations with

the local representatives, he has been using the interpreter, who has been some Judocus

Slesius in 1538.

Later, the group of associates, so-called “The family” divided in the upper and the

lower family has been organized around the nuncio. The “Upper family” has been including

the administrative personnel, among which an uditor (the court jurist or junior), a letter

composer, a chamberlain, a clerk, chaplains, courtiers and the nuncio’s secretary. The “Lower

family” has been consisted of the servants: waiters, the cook, the kitchen personnel, grooms

and cleaners.

The administrative personnel have had the obligation for the work of the two

nunciature’s primary chanceries: the court and the chancery, which have been helping the

nuncio to perform his functions. The court has been conducting the civil and the criminal

processes in the questions regarding the Church, or those in which the clerics have been

involved, and the inquisitor informative processes regarding the bishop’s nomination. In

accordance with the Trident ordinances, the first-degree court has been within the bishop’s

competency, and the nunciature could have intervened only in case of the appeal of one of the

sides. The jurist, who has been presenting the nuncio in his function of the authorized judge of

the Holy Chair, has been presiding the court. It has been a cleric accustomed to the legal

matter, usually of Italian nationality, although he could have been elected in the region. The

nuncio has been accepting him as the closest associate, and he has often been taking him with

himself in occasion of performing different tasks which pontifical administration has been

entrusting him. As a papal servant, the salary has been paid by the apostolic chamber.

The chancery has had the task to compose the documents, either of the administrative,

or the judicial type, and it has been conducting the archives. It has been composing decrees,

proclamations, letters, copies of the documents, amnesties and all the documentation

regarding informative processes on the occasion of the bishop’s nomination and the abbots in

the monasteries whose confirmation has been under the authority of the Holy Chair. The

chancery has been conducted by the letter composer, it could have been an Italian who has

come with the nuncio, or the local cleric, who has been valuable for knowing the local

language, which the pontifical diplomats have known only superficially. Various secretaries,

transcribers, who have been able to compose a letter and documents on Italian, Latin or the

local languages, have been working under his administration.

The organization of the everyday life, not to ramble in the functions of the jurists and

the letter composers, has been entrusted to the “main chamberlain”, who has been responsible

for the ceremony and the servants. The nuncio’s small court has been supplemented by the

chaplains who have had the role of the theological advisers and the confessors. Outside of the

nunciature there have been acting informers, clerics or laics, sympathizers of the Holy Chair,

who have been providing for the nuncio news out of the official ones which he has been

getting from the bishop and the religious orders representatives on that territory.

Regarding the Köln nunciature, Michael F. Feldkamp has described the organization

of the nunciature in this manner:

The court members: a jurist, a judge commissioner, a plenipotentiary, lawyers.

The chancery members: a letter composer, a special nuncio’s secretary, clerks,

transcribers.

The notary has been in the service of both chanceries.

The household management: the main chamberlain, chaplains, the house

administrator, servants, a courier, the cook and the kitchen personnel, grooms,

cleaners, the superintendent.

The Swiss nuncio’s family has been organized in the similar way.

The organization of the nunciature in Madrid has been more complicated, for the

nuncio has been entrusted with the duty of a collector (of the taxes). Already the first nuncio,

Francisco des Prats, who has been nominated by Alexander VI, has been performing both

duties, but that duality has been evidenced after Jeronimo Sclede’s nomination in 1529, when

two official papal letters by which he has been given the rights of a nuncio and a collector,

have been handed to him. Clement VIII has given Sclede the right to receive the appeals of

the inhabitants of the monarchy of Spain, who have been earlier dispatched to Rome, and by

pleasing the explicit demand of Cortes di Toledo, which have been assembled in 1525. The

nuncio has had the right to “summarie simpliciter et de plano, sine strepitu et figura iudicii,

sola facti veritate inspecta audiendi et fine debito terminandi” the court trial by the formula

which has been approved by the pontifical jurisdiction, which has been enabling the prompt

coming to the end of the process. The nuncial court in Madrid has begun to operate in the

same manner. It has been exceptionally important for the significant enlargement of the

nuncio’s authorities as well. Likewise, the chancery whose characteristics are fully known by

the preserved census of Nicola Ormaneti, who has been representing the Pope at the Catholic

king’s court from September 1572. to July 1577, has been established in the first years of the

XVI century. Besides the usual authorizations which have been primarily consisted of the

distribution of the indulgences and the absolution, the nuncio has had the authority, within the

months which have been reserved for the Pope, to distribute the unfilled benefices which

haven’t been going over the annual income of 24 golden ducats.

The collector’s duty has been including the collection of the contributions and the

incomes sede vacante. These incomes have been valuable for the Apostolic chair and during

the time of Grugru XIII and Sixto V have been amounted to 23 % of all the incomes. The

importance of the collections has been accentuated by the fact that in 1560. the Holy Chair

has separated the collector’s office from the nuncio’s office, entrusting the task to Francisco

de Aragon, who has been nominated on 11 March 1560. On the request of Fillip II two offices

have been reunited in April 1596 during the pontificate of Clement VIII in the person of

Camillo Caetani.

The special organization of the Madrid nunciature has been influencing on the

nuncio’s salary. Around 1545 it has been amounted to 170 golden crowns monthly, and

during the time of nuncio Ormaneti in 1572, it has ascended up to 300, to which the Pope has

added another 120, considering the collector’s duty. With the arrival of Clement VIII the

salary has been canceled, and the nuncio has been receiving 6 % of the collected tax amount,

which has resulted with more efficient reimbursement. In order to bring the misuses to an end,

nuncio Decio Carafa has published in 1611. the set of rules of the nunciature’s court out of

which we are able to learn the composition of the personnel: a jurist, a letter composer, a

secretary, an executor, an archivist, judges, clerks, the official letters secretary, agents, a

plenipotentiary and a notary.

Despite the large political importance, the nuncio in France has had a few authorities,

which Ranuccio Scotti, the nuncio from 1639. to 1641, has concluded in the following

manner: to give the papal blessing to the king, the queen and the entire nation; to absolve of

the heresy, the excommunication and the illegality raised from the heresy, to give the

permission to read the prohibited books and to conduct informative processes upon the

bishops and the abbots who are appointed by the king, and related to their confirmation for the

cardinal’s assembly. Unlike the Spanish nuncio, there has not been neither the legate nor the

tax collector; thus limited authorities have conditioned the administrative organization of the

nunciature and its incomes which have had no significance.

THE NUNCIOS

During the XVI century the professional diplomatic corpus has been created within the

service of the Holy Chair. While the election has been performed by the same principles by

which the medieval diplomats have been sent at the beginning of the century, in time, as the

diplomatic representations have been established and consolidated, the criterion has been

gradually more demanding and distinct.

During the first half of the century a number of diplomats have been laics, or simple

clerics, and after the Trident council, the election has been gradually more directed to the

candidates for the bishop, the residents or the nominated ones, in order to perform with the

entire right the jurisdiction authorities entrusted to them and to be the apostolic emissaries in

the anticipated events, and to be, with the church dignity, on the level of the bishops in front

of which they represent the Holy Chair.

Klaus Jainter has performed a systematic study of the geographic and social origin, the

career and the education of the nuncios who have been performing the function during the

time of Clement VIII, that is, during the time when the system has reached its maturity. The

scientist separates the pontifical emissaries in the following manner: seven legati de lateres,

twenty-eight orderly nuncios, nine tax collectors and inquisitors, four vice-emissaries in

Avignon, six general commissioners, thirty-five extraordinary nuncios and emissaries.

Regarding the orderly nuncios, they have been originating: three in Toscana, five in

Lazio, eight in Lombardy, one in Savoy, four in Venice, one in Bologna, four in the kingdom

of Naples, two in Umbria. Therefore, fourteen nuncios have been coming from northern Italy,

ten from mid Italy and four from southern Italy. Eight of them have been coming from the

papal state, eight from Lombardy and four from the kingdom of Naples, the territories under

Spanish administration, totally twelve, while eight of them have been coming from the

independent states of Toscana (three), Savoy (one) and Venice (four).

Regarding the social origin, ten of them have been belonging to the nobility, fourteen

to the patrician families and four to other social classes. Their education has usually been

church and juridical one: twenty of them have been jurists, one has been a humanistic

philosopher, two have been theologians and five others have had different education. Almost

70 % of the nuncios have started their careers at the Curia as referendario utriusque

signaturae, to thereafter continue within the pontifical administration or the Curia’s offices.

They have all been promoted to bishops, except Camillo Caetani and Maffeo Barberini who

have had received sedi titolari, the other twenty-six of them have been placed to sedi

residenziali, despite the Trident decrees.

THE SALARY

While in the diplomatic service, the nuncio has had to support himself and to take care

of the associates salaries. Regarding the costs, the location has been an important issue, for

usually there has been no building in the property of the Holy Chair within which the

nunciature would have been placed, it has been needed to rent the premises for living and the

chanceries. During the first half of the XVI century, the situation has been more complicated

for the nuncios by the Catholic king and the Emperor, because of the court’s great mobility. In

the year 1538, during his stay in Vienna, cardinal emissary Girolamo Aleandro says that he

has “had to pay the rent for the sad and almost unfurnished premises in the amount of six

hundred pounds yearly”.

The activity of the first nuncio in Köln, Giovanni Francesco Bonomi (1584-1587) has

been characterized by the great mobility: he has been going to the Episcopal elections, visiting

the church institutions, appointing the Episcopal assembly. Only just his successor Ottavio

Mirto Frangipani has stopped in Köln, although the nunciature hasn’t had a permanent

residence. At the beginning of the XVII century only the large nunciatures like Paris, Madrid

and Vienna have had their own buildings within which the chanceries, representative premise

and residences for twenty to thirty persons have been placed.

The sources from which the nuncio has been supporting himself have been various: the

monthly salary which he has been receiving from the Curia, the sum for the travel costs

reimbursement, the incomes for performing judicial authority, own church revenues, the

personal property. Still at the end of the XV century, pontifical employees have been

receiving a specific amount in the moment of leaving Rome, and they have been financing

their own missions with the incomes received on the bases of their authorities and with the

money received from the collectors. If the mission has been prolonged, the apostolic Chamber

would be sending them additional amounts, or it would be paying them off by their return.

One of the first permanent salaries which we have information of and which have been paid in

advance is the amount of 125 pounds per month, paid to the nuncio in France, bishop Melfia

from 1500. to 1503.

In the first half of the XVI century the information about the nuncios’ incomes have

been fragmented. During the time of Julio II, the nuncio in Venice has been living in the

palace of the duke of Ferreira and has been receiving 100 ducats monthly; in the year 1524-

1525 nuncio Aleandro has received 525 ducats in four months. According to Charles-Martial

De Witte, by the end of the pontificate of Clement VII, the nuncios in England, Germany and

France have been receiving from 120 to 200 ducats monthly, and the same amounts have been

paid out during the pontificate of his successor Paul III. His predecessor Campeggi, beside the

provision, has been having the use of the revenues’ monthly incomes, in the amount of 500

crowns; in July 1539 Aleandro has calculated that in ten foregoing months he has received

totally 367 crowns. It has probably been the consequence of the protestant reform progress.

For the second half of the century we have more exact information. The list of the

salaries paid to the Curia’s employees in 1575 amounts:

The nuncios in Savoy 115 crowns monthly

The nuncios in Toscana 155 “ “

The nuncios by the Emperor 230 “ “

The nuncios in Venice 230 “ “

The nuncios in Poland 230 “ “

The nuncios in France 345 “ “

Caspar Gropper 115 “ “

Bartolomeo Porzia 230 “ “

Bonomi (Vienna) 300 “ “

The cardinal emissaries have been usually receiving 500 crowns monthly, the amounts

which have sometimes been doubled. The salaries of the Venice emissaries who have in those

years been receiving around 200 crowns monthly could be mentioned in comparison.

About ten years later the usual salary of the nuncio by the Emperor has been

amounting to 230 crowns monthly. Bonomi has been receiving 300 crowns in Prague: before

and after him the salary has been amounting to 230. His predecessor Germanico Malaspina

has been receiving 230 crowns and he has been paid the last time on 25 January 1586, the

same amount has had Filippo Sega as well. From the 25 September 1585 the same salary has

been defined for the nunciature in Köln. The nuncio in Graz, Giovanni Andrea Caligari,

bishop Bertinora, has been receiving 115 crowns monthly which have been paid out to him up

until 25 December 1586, when the nunciature has been temporarily closed.

During the time of Gregory XIII, the nuncio in Switzerland has been receiving 100 or

125 crowns; Giovanni Battista Santonio has been receiving 150 up until 1587, as a sign of a

special papal affection; the same salary has as well been receiving Ottavio Paravicini, bishop

Alessandrio, Santonio’s successor, from 1 November 1587. The nuncio in France has been

receiving 345 crowns monthly, the nuncio in Poland 230, the nuncio in Savoy 115, the nuncio

in Florence, mons. Corbazio only 50 or 57,50 crowns; to his successor Matteucci, the

archbishop of Ragusa, at the end of 1587 has been paid the amount of 200 crowns. Cardinal

Ippolito Aldobrandini, who has been sent to Poland in 1588, has received a monthly income

of 500 crowns. If a nuncio would have been promoted in a cardinal during the time of service,

his salary would have been automatically equalized with the cardinal emissary’s salary.

During the pontificate of Clement VII there is a list of the “Orderly payments

transacted every month in the general deposit”,8 from 1600. to 1605, which indicates that the

amounts in total haven’t changed relating to those paid out in the foregoing decades:

The nuncio by the Emperor 240 crowns

By the Catholic king 260 “

By the king of Poland 230 “

In Germany 220 “

In Köln 230 “

In Switzerland 230 “

In Flanders 230 “

In Venice 150 “

In Florence 57,50 “

During the pontificate of Paul V, even though the date cannot be precisely affirmed,

there is an even more complete list of payments transacted to the nuncios every month:9

8 "Diplomatic Academy Year-Book." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, International Symposium entitled “Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija”, 9-11 Sept. 1998, Dubrovnik. Diplomatic Academy Year-Book: Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija. Zagreb: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 1999., extracted from the article of dr. Silvano Giordano “ Papinska diplomacija između 15. i 16. stoljeća” with the reference to Arhivio Stato Vaticano, Fondo Borghese, serie I, 715, f. 139r.

9 "Diplomatic Academy Year-Book." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, International Symposium entitled “Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija”, 9-11 Sept. 1998, Dubrovnik. Diplomatic Academy Year-Book: Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija. Zagreb: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 1999., extracted from the article of dr. Silvano Giordano “ Papinska diplomacija između 15. i 16. stoljeća” with the reference to Arhivio Stato Vaticano, Fondo Borghese, serie I, 715, f.

By the Emperor 200 golden crowns monthly

France 300 “ “ “

Poland 230 crowns in banknotes

Graz 230 “ “

Köln 230 “ “

Flanders 230 “ “

Switzerland 230 “ “

Venice 150 “ “

Savoy 100 “ “

Florence 57 “ “

The nunciatures in Spain and Naples and the tax collection in Portugal haven’t been

mentioned for they have been supporting themselves from the collections’ incomes in those

countries.

During the travel, the advanced payment for the necessary costs has been paid: Fabio

Mirto Frangipani has received 400 crowns for the travel to France; the nuncio in Savoy has

received 100 crowns: and Bonomi has received for the travel from Prague to Köln 500

crowns; cardinal Aldobrandini has received 1000 crowns for the travel to Poland.

Regarding the incomes, it has been considered that Giovanni Battista Santonio, the

nuncio in Switzerland from 1586. to 1587, has been receiving the amount of 2000 crowns

yearly. This high amount justifies the fact that in that time the church jurisdiction has been

almost entirely in the nuncio’s hands in seven catholic cantons. The incomes of Giovanni

Francesco Bonomi, the nuncio in Köln from 1584 to 1587, have been smaller, because on his

nanciature’s territory the bishops have had the orderly jurisdiction, and Bonomi himself has

repeatedly claimed that he performs the authorities given to him by Rome for free.

Considering that in his service has been twenty-four – twenty-five nunciature’s employees

and house personnel, it is almost certain that he has been supporting himself from his

bishopric’s incomes or from the private property.

139r.

.

THE PUBLIC SECRETARIAT

In the second part of the XV century, along with other Curia chanceries, the secretariat

as well has adjusted to the new administrative needs. In the year 1456 Calisto III has regulated

six secretarii participantes with secretarius domesticus on head which has been responsible of

the secretariat. In the year 1487 Innocent VII has composed the secretarii apostolici council

with twenty-four official venalia vacabila.

The pontifical secretariat has been entrusted with the duty of composing diplomatic

letters, correspondence with the princes, giving the instructions and urgent letters to the

nuncios, by the papal order. It has been about the first original organization, after the ideal of

already existing models in other Italian cities. Innocent VIII has ordered the activity of the

chancery by the bull Non debet reprehensible from 31 December 1487, giving the official

form to a person secretariusa domesticusa, as has been established in the earlier years. And

indeed, during the pontificate of Sixtus IV and the first years of the pontificate of Innocent

VIII, Leonardo Griffo who became bishop Gubbia in 1472 and archbishop Beneveta in 1482,

has been performing that duty. The secretary has been staying in the apostolic palace, has

always been in the servility for the Pope and has been managing the secretariat’s businesses.

During the pontificate of Leon X (1513-1521) to the secretarius domesticus,

secretarius intimus has been joined; he has been performing all the pontifical correspondence,

but always in the inferior position. In the following decades, particularly during the

pontificate of Paul IV (1555-1559), various secretaries have been subordinated to a person

cardinale padrone, the duty which appeared during the pontificate Sixtus IV (1471-1484), and

has been coincided with the papal acceptance of nepotism, with the effort to find the logical

associates within his own family. Cardinale padrone, who has had the title of the

“superintendent of the church state”, had represented the head of the pontifical administration,

and beside the administrative jurisdiction, he has been authorized for the questions for

external politics as well. Nevertheless, the true quality of the individual cardinal-nephews has

been depending exclusively on their ability and experience gained during the career at the

Curia, and some of them, who have been either too young or too inexperienced, have only had

the incidental representative role.10

10 "Diplomatic Academy Year-Book." Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, International Symposium entitled “Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija”, 9-11 Sept. 1998, Dubrovnik. Diplomatic Academy Year-Book: Hrvatska srednjevjekovna diplomacija. Zagreb: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 1999., extracted from the article of dr. Silvano Giordano “ Papinska diplomacija između 15. i 16. stoljeća” with the reference to P. Richard, Origines et developpement de la secreterie d’etat apostolique 1417-1823, Revue d’histoire ecclesiastique 11, Paris 1919.

The important novelty which Gregory XIII has introduced to the pontifical

administration has been Tolomeo Galli’s (1526-1607) nomination, called cardinal Coma as

well, by the birth town, to the duty of cardinale padrone in which he has entered during the

pontificate of Pius IV. Gregory XIII has been avoiding to promote his relatives, and he has

entrusted him with wide authorities, by which the function of the public secretary in modern

sense has been mentioned for the first time, and because he hasn’t been blood-related to the

Pope, but only by the personal confidence relationship and because his influence hasn’t been

limited to only one pontificate. It has surprised many contemporaries who have been used to

see the change of the administration group by every new election of the Pope. For the first

time they have been faced with a certain continuation of the church and political titles.

Under the administration of Tolomeo Galli, the public secretariat has continued

performing the correspondence with the nuncios, composing and dispatching the instructions.

At the beginning of the pontificate of Gregory XIII the tasks have been distributed round

geographical territories. Galli himself has been writing a number of official letters and has

been directly engaged with the Italian princes: the viceroy of Sicily, the viceroy of Naples, the

duke of Parma, the duke of Urbino and the spiritual authorities. Germany, Switzerland,

Sweden, Poland, Eastern Europe and Venice have had northern and eastern part. The letters

have been addressed to the orderly nuncios, or the extraordinary legates, or the visitors. It has

been secretary Giovanni Battista Mazza di Canobio’s responsibility, who has been, beside

that, engaged with Milan and Genoa, and the correspondence with some persons like the

coadjutor of Vilna. Western department has been engaged with the businesses of Spain and

Portugal. North-western department has been performing the correspondence with France,

Avignon, Savoy, Toscana, and later Naples. It has been conducted by Aurelio Savignani, who

has along with Canobia been a man of trust to Gregory XIII. The secretariat of codes has been

conducted by Cristoforo Turettini, and his main task has been to code the deliveries in posting

and to encode those which arrive. Turettini has been a secretary for special businesses of the

cardinal from Coma as well, a kind of “private secretary of the public secretary”. He has been

responsible of the correspondence with Marittimo and the other cities, Cittá di Castello for

instance, and with the Naples nunciature for a while.

In October 1591 Innocent IX has divided the public secretariat in three departments:

France and Poland, Iberian Peninsula and Italy, and Germany, on head of which he put

Giovanni Andrea Cagliari, Giovanni Francesco Zagordi and Minuccio Minucci as public

secretaries. With the arrival of Clement VIII, Zagordi has left the scene, and the duties have

been distributed differently. Cagliari has been entrusted with France, Italy and Spain, and

Minuccio with Germany and Poland. 12. of September 1592. Clement VIII has nominated his

nephews Pietro and Cinzi as supremi secretari and has distributed the jurisdictions among

them: Cinzio has been entrusted with the nunciatures in the Empire, Köln, Graz, Switzerland,

Poland, Florence, Venice and Naples: beside that he has had to take care of the relations with

Urbino, Parma, Lucca, Genoa, Milan, Mantua, Sicily and Levant. Minuccio has been his

secretary. At first Pietro has had France, Spain and Portugal, Savoy and Avignon, but a little

later, he has been entrusted with Italian states as well, and he put Giovanni Battista Canobi as

a secretary.

In spring 1596, after Canobi’s death and Minuccio’s nomination to the archbishop of

Zadar, Sannesi has replaced Canobi, up until April 1597 when he has been replaced by

Eminio Valenti, and Minuccio by Lanfranco Margotti. Two prelates together have been

conducting the public secretariat up until the end of the pontificate. Valenti, who has been

nominated to a cardinal on 9 June 1604, has been a public secretary during a brief pontificate

of Leon XI and during the first weeks of Paul V, until after the nomination to bishop Faenze

on 3 August 1605 when he has left Rome to conduct his bishoprics, and his place has been

taken by the new Pope’s nephew, Scipione Caffarelli Borghese.

Diplomatic organization of the Holy Chair of modern time has practically been

defined during a century and a half, from the second half of XV to the end of XVI century, as

a system which has had a goal to make the pontifical activity in Europe present, either in

specifically spiritual, or within diplomatic frames, inasmuch that activity is possible to be

separated in the pontifical diplomacy, considering the fact that it has been turning exclusively

to the catholic regents, trying to act on their conscience. Its successes and failures have

narrowly followed the oscillations of papal prestige, up until the fall of the ancién régime,

when the change of political organizations has been requiring the use of new resources in the

international relations.