Details
PHILIP II (King of Spain, 1556-1598). Series of nine letters (one a duplicate) signed ('yo El Rey') to Don Alonso Pacheco, Marquis of Cerralvo ('Marques pariente'), Madrid, Escorial, 12 October - 23 December 1567, and one document signed, 3 April 1574 (with later notarial document on verso), together 20 pages, folio, and two pages, double folio, integral address panels, paper seals (stains to inner margins, wear to margins, tear of 45mm to letter of 15 November, of 130mm to first leaf of letter 1 December 1567, and of 170mm to document of 3 April 1574 with slight loss of text, seal slits).
Diplomatic instructions regarding the dispute with Carlo Borromeo over control of the Duchy of Milan. The first letter, the 'Instruction', methodically sets out the difficulties of the situation and the approach the Marquis is to take: the dispute, over Cardinal Borromeo's retaining armed troops and using them to act beyond his province in civil affairs, has been exacerbated by the Pope's backing of his Cardinal; matters had come to a head when the Milanese Senate arrested one of Borromeo's lieutenants, an act to which Borromeo responded with excommunications; a complaint by both parties to Rome has brought only further support for the Cardinal, although with a removal of the excommunications. Cerralvo is therefore instructed to proceed to Rome to express Philip's displeasure, not least because appeals should have been made to him rather than to Rome, and to request His Holiness that a state of affairs so clearly obstructive should be brought to an end; Cerralvo is to proceed to Milan, there to communicate Philip's disappointment to Borromeo directly. Subsequent letters refine the 'Instruction', give additional advice about the mission or comment on further developments: a letter of 1 December suggests an allowance of four or five armed guards for Cardinal Borromeo as a compromise, but on 15 December Philip instructs Cerralvo (in duplicate) to proceed to Milan, since the Pope has proved inflexible; the letter of 23 December asks Cerralvo to convey to the Pope how much he would regret that 'a prince so catholic and so obedient to the Apostolic Seat should order his ministers not to obey His Holiness'. The later document signed appoints Cerralvo 'Regidor' of Ciudad Rodrigo.
Philip, to whom the Duchy of Milan had been presented on his marriage to Mary I of England in 1554, was to find the battle as to the limits of ecclesiastical jurisdiction a continuing problem throughout his realms. Saint Carlo Borromeo was appointed Cardinal Archbishop of Milan by his uncle, Pope Pius IV, and became in 1566, under Pius V, the first resident bishop in Milan for more than 80 years; his vigorous efforts at reform and impeccable ascetic way of life quickly began to eclipse the civil authorities of the Duchy. He was to meet with stiff opposition from the Spanish government: Don Luis de Requesens, governor-general of Milan from 1571 to 1573, described Borromeo as more dangerous than 'an army of one hundred thousand Frenchmen at the gates'. The Marquis of Cerralvo (or Cerralbo), the recipient of the letters, was the dominant grandee in Galicia, and a prominent member of the Duke of Alba's faction at court. (10)
Diplomatic instructions regarding the dispute with Carlo Borromeo over control of the Duchy of Milan. The first letter, the 'Instruction', methodically sets out the difficulties of the situation and the approach the Marquis is to take: the dispute, over Cardinal Borromeo's retaining armed troops and using them to act beyond his province in civil affairs, has been exacerbated by the Pope's backing of his Cardinal; matters had come to a head when the Milanese Senate arrested one of Borromeo's lieutenants, an act to which Borromeo responded with excommunications; a complaint by both parties to Rome has brought only further support for the Cardinal, although with a removal of the excommunications. Cerralvo is therefore instructed to proceed to Rome to express Philip's displeasure, not least because appeals should have been made to him rather than to Rome, and to request His Holiness that a state of affairs so clearly obstructive should be brought to an end; Cerralvo is to proceed to Milan, there to communicate Philip's disappointment to Borromeo directly. Subsequent letters refine the 'Instruction', give additional advice about the mission or comment on further developments: a letter of 1 December suggests an allowance of four or five armed guards for Cardinal Borromeo as a compromise, but on 15 December Philip instructs Cerralvo (in duplicate) to proceed to Milan, since the Pope has proved inflexible; the letter of 23 December asks Cerralvo to convey to the Pope how much he would regret that 'a prince so catholic and so obedient to the Apostolic Seat should order his ministers not to obey His Holiness'. The later document signed appoints Cerralvo 'Regidor' of Ciudad Rodrigo.
Philip, to whom the Duchy of Milan had been presented on his marriage to Mary I of England in 1554, was to find the battle as to the limits of ecclesiastical jurisdiction a continuing problem throughout his realms. Saint Carlo Borromeo was appointed Cardinal Archbishop of Milan by his uncle, Pope Pius IV, and became in 1566, under Pius V, the first resident bishop in Milan for more than 80 years; his vigorous efforts at reform and impeccable ascetic way of life quickly began to eclipse the civil authorities of the Duchy. He was to meet with stiff opposition from the Spanish government: Don Luis de Requesens, governor-general of Milan from 1571 to 1573, described Borromeo as more dangerous than 'an army of one hundred thousand Frenchmen at the gates'. The Marquis of Cerralvo (or Cerralbo), the recipient of the letters, was the dominant grandee in Galicia, and a prominent member of the Duke of Alba's faction at court. (10)
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