![[Americana.]](/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg2.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%252Flive%252F2006-09%252F22%252F7332891-4-1.JPG%26width%3D650&w=2400&q=75)
This auction has ended. View lot details
You may also be interested in
Lot 114
POPE PAUL III Papal brief issued in the Pope's name ("Paulus PP III" at head), to the Archbishop of Turin, Rome, 3 November 1536; AN EXCEPTIONALLY ATTRACTIVE RENAISSANCE DOCUMENT, issued by the Papal Chancery and signed by the scribe, Cesare Accurrius.
15 June 2016, 14:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £1,250 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Books & Manuscripts specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
POPE PAUL III
Papal brief issued in the Pope's name ("Paulus PP III" at head), to the Archbishop of Turin, stating that he has heard both from the civil authorities of his diocese and from the rector of the university of grave concerns as to the state of the institutions and priesthood within his diocese and at the welfare of the souls in their care, which he iterates in some detail; and granting him authority to look into and remedy this state of affairs; addressed on the verso to the Archbishop ("Dilecto filio Vicaria venerabilis fratris Archiepiscopi Taurinensis in Spiritualibus Generali"); counter-signed by the Chancery Clerk ("Jo: Papien") and on the verso signed within a flourish by the scribe "Cae[sar] Accurrius", trace of closure-seal in red wax, dispatch slits, on fine quality vellum, slight dust-staining where originally folded for dispatch and exposed, 473 x 218mm., Rome, 3 November 1536
Footnotes
AN EXCEPTIONALLY ATTRACTIVE RENAISSANCE DOCUMENT, issued by the Papal Chancery and signed by the scribe, Cesare Accurrius. This letter encapsulates both sides of its author, Alessandro Farnese, Paul III (1534-1549), both as Renaissance patron and instigator of the Counter-Reformation. Two days before it was dispatched, on 1 November 1536, Nikolaus von Schönberg (whom Paul had recently elevated to Cardinal) wrote his famous letter of praise to Nicolaus Copernicus which the latter printed at the head of his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, followed by Copernicus' letter of dedication to Paul III himself. Furthermore a fortnight later, on 17 November 1536, Paul issued a personal edict confirming Michelangelo's appointment as supreme architect, sculptor and painter of the Vatican palaces, who that summer had begun work on the Last Judgement.
By way of contrast, in April 1536 Paul summoned a nine-man commission to enquire into the state of the Church. This was intended as preparation for a council of the Church that was to meet at Mantua (and which in the event of course was to meet at Trent nine years later). The commission held its first meeting at some time in November 1536 and issued its report, the Consilium de Emendanda Ecclesia, the following March; by which the commission blamed the Church's woes on excessive papal power. Similar concern at the parlous state of church affairs is displayed by the present papal brief, sent to the Archbishop of Turin who, by virtue of his office, was also Chancellor of the university there. At the time of the letter, the papacy faced a twin threat in this quarter, spiritual and temporal. The Waldensian church in the valleys nearby, which long predated the Lutheran Reformation, were emerging from hiding and establishing links with the reformers, in 1535 financing a French translation of the Bible. At the same time, Piedmont was suffering from the Franco-Spanish War, with French troops occupying Turin; with as a consequence the university being closed in 1536 and reopened only thirty years later.