Unpublished letters by Farnese’s nuncios in Spain from Nikolay Likhachev’s collection

Abstract

Drawing from the rich collection of Italian Autographs in the Likhachev Collection preserved in the Institute of History at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Petersburg there are many hidden treasures, including a series of letters related to the Farnese family. This powerful dynasty rose to power with the election of Pope Paul III (1534–1549). The aim of this contribution is to publish some diplomatic dispatches of Farnese agents, specifically two apostolic nuncios in Spain, Giovanni Guidiccioni and Giovanni Poggio, and a few other documents, while contextualizing them. The letters by Guidiccioni, although they are already published, contain some variants and peculiarities, and in any case are very valuable and lively sources about Charles V’s Spanish court in 1537. The dispatches by Poggio are all unpublished and their text is provided in the Appendix. They are dated from March 1539 and report on the complex international diplomatic situation between the threat of France allied with the Turks and the offers of peace by the Pope, in exchange for material gains. Some other documents related to the Farnese are summarized and quoted in the last part of this article, which is only a small sample of the many unknown items preserved in the Collection that would deserve more attention from international scholars.