A Copye of a verye fyne and vvytty letter sent from the ryght Reuerende Levves Lippomanus byshop of Verona in Italy, and late Legate in Polone, from the moste holy and blessed father Pope Paule the fourth, and from his moste holy sea of Rome.
Translated out of the Italyan language by Michael Throckmerton.
Curtigiane of Rome.
1556.
To the Reader.
THis letter of the byshop of Verona gētle Reader, though it be short in wordes, yet if thou cōsider it wel, it is long & pitthy in matter. For it plainly displayeth the practises not onely of the Popisshe Prelates, wherby they haue procured and propped vp their kyngdome so longe to continue, and what deuises they haue to make it (if it possibly might be) euerlastyng: but also of all other wicked that seke empire and glory in this world, not caring nor passing how vniustly they come by it. But God (against whose glory, this kingdome of Antichrist is no lesse contrary than the kingdome of the deuill him self, and who wil not the euyll to come by, or at the leaste long enioy hys desyre) myndeth, as thou maist perceaue, thend of this wicked kingdom of Antichrist and wald that al other wicked mēs purposes shuld be letted. For he maketh (as thou seest, the subtile, maugre their teeth) to open their owne subtiltie, & the wicked to vttre his own wickednes, so that knowing the one, thou mayst easily iudge al. Wherfore if thou wilt not shew thy selfe ouermuche ingrate, thou arte prouoked to confesse his greate mercy toward his poore shepe, and to praise him for his loue and fauour toward thee. And onlesse the nobilitie and people in euery countrey will shewe them selfe vtterly voyd of reason, they wyl (now God hath begon) put to their handes & wittes to pul their neckes from vnder the tyranny of the bishop of Rome, God and mans enemy) and such wicked practisers & not willingly put their owne neckes into halters, but rather defend thē selues, According to Goddes law, & the law of nature, thā to suffre thē selues to be wilfully murthered. Thāke God for his giftes, shut not thine eies against his light, serue him, and [Page] he will not faile the in thy nede, but prosper what so euer thou shalt take in hāde, hauing his feare & glorye before thyne eies.
Farewell.
To the most reuerende Reynold Cardinall Pole Legate a Latere, Archebyshop of Cantor. Portionare of VVynchester, &c. Metropolitane and primate of all Englande.
ALbeit I doubt not but your grace procedeth in ordinarye practise as other your complices & collegees doo, for the maintenance & proppyng vp of your prelacy & Papistical kyngdom, yet I thought good to aduertise your grace (by this traslated letter folowīg of the practise & proceding of your very frēd ye bishop of Verona, legate in Polone, who although he hath had sinistre successe in the Popes affaires in that realme by reason of ouerlerned Princes, & men of ouer muche experiēce in prelates practises, yet if his trusted frendes had not disclosed his secretes, there had ben better hope of his enterprise. And nowe lyke as the displayeng of his secretes in sundry tongues hath dissolued his doinges, and marred the Popes market for euer, not onely in Polone and Prusia, but also in sondry other places and dominions where this practise is bruted, and no hope of [Page] redresse, onles bribing helpe, so must your grace with the rest of your Englishe prelates vse faire woordes, familiar entertainmente and liberalitie towardes the nobles of Englande in tyme, and yet where brybynge and bealycheare wyll not serue, you must take occasion by one pretense or other to go in, as ye haue will begon, in chopping of theyr heades, and hangyng vp for holydayes of the suspected fauourers of the gospell, and as nere as ye may, make the Englishe bloude thynne, namelye the gentilmen and riche people, so that when they are ones pulled vnder foote, ye maye pyll and subdue the commons at your pleasure and transpose the realme as ye luste. And as I dout not the experienced dexteritie of your handlyng the popes affaires in England in bryngyng the realme into hunger, misery, and dissencion, so were it to be wyshed that your Prelates and vnskilled cleargye in other places, wer instructed in ye lyke practises with all silence and secrecy, least the vysour of hypocrisy beyng plucked of (as the byshop of Veronas vnlucky chaunce was, and your brybynge and bloudsheadyng comyng ones to lyght) cause further peryll to your states than hytherto hath ben felt.
To the ryght honourable mayster Peter Conterini, gentylman of Vencce, at Rome
RYghte honourable syr, I haue dyuers tymes syth it hath pleased god to trouble me by makynge me to take in hand this enterprise of Polone writen to your honour, as to one that both for countreyes sake, and for our olde acquiantaunce, and also for his goodnes doth vouchesafe to bee my father and protectour in my great tormentes and troubles, wherin I haue ben wrapped, prayeng you always that it woulde please you to ayde me with youre authoritie (whyche is so greate with our holy fathers holines) that I may be hable to come out of this helle, and retourne to Rome, or to my church. But all the troubles paste are nothyng in respecte of those that I suffer at this presente, the whiche I can not but write vnto you, to thintent that your honour vnderstanding it, may be moued to haue compassion on my misfortune, and to doo your vttermost to cause me to be called home, whiche I beseeche you on my knees liftyng vp my handes. The new turmoiles wherof I write vnto you be these.
The lord Nicholas Raduil Counte Palatin of Vilna is doubtles one of the gretest [Page] men of power & authoritie within all the realme of Polone. And as he is also one of the chiefest that dothe fauour and promote the cause of the Lutheriās, so he shulde not be. Nowe I being such a mā both of nature & sure iudgement yt I can not (I can not, I say) suffer yt the most holy sea apostolike of Rome shulde be thus rēt in pieces & railed on; as I see it euery daye rent & railed on in dede, I determined with my selfe no lōger to dissemble, but to pull of my visour, and to write vnto this lorde a playne letter afmy mynde without respecte.
Neuerthelesse to colour ye matter the better, I fayned, yt one M. Adam Conarskye secretary to ye kinge, had saluted me by his letters, & had rehersed many frendely wordes on the behalf of his lordship. And vpon this occasion I began my letter, whettyng my wittes, & makynge it as earnest and as piththy as I coulde possible: and I sente it hym the .21. of February, at whiche time I was at a castell of ye archbishop of Gnezna called Louitz, where I also am at this present. Theffect of this letter was, yt I admonished this lorde Coūt Palatine, how thorough the hole realme it was comonly reported, that his lordship agreed with ye Lutherians in all pointes. And I began to reherse theym vnto him particularly one by one. And in the ende I exhorted him to giue [Page] ouer & leaue these hereticall opinions, for otherwise God woulde punisshe hym. The truth is, I touched all the hole rable of the Lutherans, and spake of their doinges, as muche as the greate and inwarde hatred I beare them could expresse. For in dede ther is none euill, but it maye be well spoken of those villaines. This lord the Counte Palatine, who I thought seinge my letters so true and so wel proued with good reasons, shuld haue bene pulled from his practisyng with the Lutherans, made me such an answer (right honorable M. Petre) as Martin Luther him selfe wold not haue done, I do not say, vnto a man in my state (which am neuertheles a minister & legate, albeit vnworthy of our holy fathers holynesse, & of his most holy sea of Rome) but not to any cōmon person wer he neuer so vile & miserable. I would haue sent your honour a copy of the same answer, but to tell you the truth me thought it wold soūd to our very great shame, if it should be redde. And therfore I tremble for very feare, least by one meanes or other it will he put foorthe in print, and perchaūce translated into diuers tongues. For I knowe the caste of these heretykes wherwith God is not pleased. But it maye please your honour to heare the rest.
Whan I was in the yeare .1548. ioyned in commission with the most Reuerende than [Page] bishop of Fano now worthyly a Cardinal & with the Reuerend of good memory, Ferentinus our holy fathers nuncio or legate in Germany, after the victory that themperor had ouer the protestantes, to bryng and recōcile ye princis & people to the obedience of the sea apostolike (for so was the pretēce of our ambassade, albeit it succeded not very prosperously, & we reconciled very few) there wer at that tyme prisoners to themperors maiesty Iohn Friderike, Duke & Curfuster of Saxonie, & Philip Landtgraue of Hesse. Than I with my right reuerend collegues, as obedient children, accordyng to our instructiōs gaue counsell to themperor and his most noble brother the kyng of Romains, that they shuld cause those two princes heades to be openly cut of, as the ringleaders and mainteynours of heretikes.
For by this meanes and with this terrour an ende at length should haue ben made of all heresies in Germanye. But their maiesties thought it not best to folow such counsaile, and therefore, the matters of the sea Apostolike be in that countrey as they be: that is, they were neuer in worse case, and I see, they wyll be euery day worse & worse. And I hauyng the like commission at this present frō our most holy father pope Paul the fourthe, haue often geuen counsaile to this most noble king of Polone, exhortyng [Page] him that he wold cause to be cut of .viii. or x. heades of the most chiefe of those that go about to stirre vp this doctrine of the Lutherans in Polone: For this is the right way to kepe the realme cleane from heresies
It is true, yt I haue gyuē this coūcel to the kinges maiestie, & I haue vttred it vnto one yt is in great authoritie wt him, to thintēt he shuld helpe to persuade him. Nowe suche a matter of so great importance which wold haue ben kepte so secrete as euer any was, least it shuld brede more enuy & batred vnto the most holy vicars of Christ, suche a matter I say, I feare it be disclosed & opened abrode in euery corner. For ye said lord Coū te Palatine hath laid it to my charge by his letters: & hauīg writen it, it is no doubt but he hath spoken it, & wil speke it vnto others.
Now pleseth it your honor to consider, in what case I stande, and of what mynde I maye be, and whether I haue reasonable cause to desire to be dispatched hēce. Those that be ye promoters of these heresies be in any & mighty. I haue done what I coulde to ridde the world of them. Truly ther hath bē no lack on my behalf. What think you thei wil do towards me if I cōtinue lōg in their eies? I cā loke for non other thā to be bāned cursed railed & cried out vpō, if no wors happē. But this is ye greueth me most, that they wil go about to sprede horrible tales abrode [Page] against our holy fathers holinesse, not only in Polone, but also throughout al Germany, & wyl saye, as their maner is, that these be the Coūcels that his holynes wil make: that is, with choppynge of heades, & other such like violences: Yea I vnderstand they speake it all redy, and wonderfully blow it abrode: wherby I doo perceiue a wōderful impedimēt & hurt to the doing of those thinges yt the most Reuerend and noble Cardinall of Caraffa hath lately cōmitted vnto me by his letters, that is, to let them vnderstand, that this their desire to make a nationall councel, is a part and point of an heretike. And that therfore they speake not nor thinke therof, but tary for a general coūcel, which his holynes wyl shortly make. I say in this now am I altogyther occupied, and I thought I myght haue don some good in deferrynge and prolongynge the tyme, as his holynes desyre is: but the matter beyng disclosed (as I haue sayd before) I can not se but al men be against me, no man wyl here me, all mens myndes are alienate from me and vtterly set against me. In somuch (to be short) wer it not for these most reuerend fathers, specially this most Reuerend father, the said Archbishop, who is my sainctuary, I could not tell where to saue my lyfe, they speake so muche euyl of me. And whan thei haue nothyng to talk of, than they go about [Page] saying, thei know for what cause I can not be made cardinal: as thogh I shuld be āgry with God for that it hath plesed him I shuld be born out of lauful matrimony. I am contēt it hath plesed him to make me to be born a christen man, and therfore I passe not vpō that other. But this cōbreth me excedyngly to vnderstād that ther goth about a certain letter printed in diuers tongues, wherein bicause I was assistent to the most reuerēd of good memory Cardinall Crescentius ye Legate in the councel of Trent, al thyng is imputed to me & my counsel that was done in the same councel of Trent, and specially that audience was not geuen to the Lutherans, as in dede it was not mete nor ought to be. For I confesse, that I haue alwayes ben of this opinion, that he which is out of ye church, ought not to be admitted to speak of matters of the churche. But those that vnderstand it on the contrary part, whan I shall speake any more of the holdynge of a generall councell, will out of all peraduenture say to my face, that we mynd to make it suche a Councel as he counsailed & laboured to be don at Trēt: that is not to here the other parte. Your honour with your noble brethern M. Francisce (the light of the common welth of Venece) and M. Paule made so much of, and gaue so muche honor vnto our holy fathers holynes, when he was a [Page] barefooted Frier at Venece, that his holynes beyng most myndfull and thankfull I knowe, is desirous also to requite and doo you pleasure agayne. Wherfore I hartily beseche your honour let it stande with your pleasure to bestowe one droppe of the fauor that ye are in, and cause me to bee rydde out of these troubles and daungers. And it may please his holynes to vnderstand, that it is to no purpose for me to haue the doyng of thynges here any longer, for the greate hatred that I haue already purchased me. Let his holynes consyder whether it be better to send one to supply my place, or to leue this realme without any Legate, which in myne opinion were best, bicause he can not be here any longer with honor & estimation
Moreouer I think, that when that shalbe done, and is done, yet these men wil haue it after their owne fantasy, and there wyll be a great scisme, so that the nobilitie will folow one way and one doctrine, and the byshops an other. And yet I can tell you, not all the byshops, for one part of them begyn to halte, and a lyttel thyng will make them agree with the Counte Palatine (of whom I write) and the others. But lette his holynes doo, as it pleaseth hym, in sendynge or not sendyng an other Legate to supply my place, so he dispatche me hence, & that quickly. Who can see, who can suffer, that at the [Page] Shroftide, disguysynges, maskes, & mummeries of monkes, fryers, and Cardinals, shulde be openly made, to the open shame & reproche of all the hole order of the Churche, as there hath ben here in my time? And who can disgest these troubles, these villanies, and not thynke vppon the daunger of his lyfe? Muche good doo it hym: surely I aknowlage my selfe to be a manne that can not doo it. And I haue no hope that I shalbe hable hereafter to do any good here. To be playn I haue done as muche as was possible for me to doo, to lette the diet and parliamēt that shalbe kept at Bartilmew tide: But yet notwithstandynge it will procede. Neither shal it auaile to wast my braines & destroy my body, suffring my self to be tost from place to place in Couche, in company of the said most reuerende Archbishop thorough all the greater and the lesse Polone, and so to haue brought to passe, that the noble kyng hath geuen cōmandemēt contrary to the determinacion & conclusion of the last parliamēt, as I aduertised our holy fathers holynes, to ye great grudging of ye aduersaries. Besides I fear lest these felowes shal cause men to come out of Germany, & specially out of Schwitzerland half a dosin of the greatest clerkes & most famous diuines yt be ther, bicause it is bruted abrode, yt the Pope mynded to sende of his diuines [Page] to this parliament to defend our cause. And all be it I haue bothe sayd and earnestly affirmed in euery place, that they shulde not thinke, that his holynes will euer sende or consent to any such parliament, which shal be none other but a nationall councell. Yet neuertheles as farre as I can vnderstand, they mynd to cause of our enemies, diuines of other contreys to come hither: Your honour may consider, what confections these men wil make, and what cōsultations and conclusions they wyll determyne agaynsts vs. God helpe vs, for I se the matters be in a very euyll case. I recommende me vnto your honor.
I Am aboute to make a Conuocation of all the byshoppes and prelates of this Realm, and wyll begyn it now in Petricouia. Two thinges I hope I shall obteyn there, the one to gather a great summe of money, and I trust the popes holynes wyll be a contributour vnto it (for so hath he put me in hope) wherby we may be better able to defend our matters, aboue all thynges contentyng theim, and stoppynge their mouthes which be importunately busy, and make muche troub [...]us adoo. And [Page] we haue ofte proued, that this practise is a very good way: The seconde, that there be some correction of lyfe of the cleargy, who (to be playne) are a very euyl example. But the mischief is, that the reformation of maners is at this present to lyttell purpose, to preserue our high estate and authorite. For those cursed Heretikes pretende and crye, that the doctrine must be corrected. As for example: they be not contente that the priestes shulde be honest wyse, and discrete, but they wyll haue the masse al togither hurled awaye. Nother are they contented, that the Pope shuld be a modest man and of a vertuous lyfe, and that he shuld not receyue money for spiritual thyngs, but they wyl, that there shoulde be no Pope nother good nor hadde. This is the pricke, this is the marke they shoote at. I say, we are in an euyl case.
The xxij. of Iulye.
The same. L. Lippomanus. Legate.
I Haue this daye receaued lettres frō Venece, whiche haue encreaced sorowe vpon sorowe. For one my very frends, wryteth vnto me, that the brute of the seruice, which I haue don here and of the contencions that I haue founde in these partes, chiefly with the sayd Counte Palatine, comming to the eares of myne honorable lordes of Venece, their honours [Page] be very sory complaine and lament of me sayeng, that they be afraid, least I beyng a Venecian, and of the bloud I am of, the Alemaines and poleakes will beleue, that the lordes of Venece them selues consent to al my doinges, wherby thei may hereafter bee partakers of the same hatred that they goe about to stere against the Pope, and perhappes; at one tyme or at an other of the self same daungers. And to saye the truth, these men spread abroade very much how because I am a venecian, all thynges please the venecians that I do, and that I would not doo it, if I knewe it shoulde displease their honours.
To conclude, for all respectes, for the aduancement of the cause and maters of our holy fathers holynes, for not encombring of my lordes of Venece with these mē, and for the suretie of my life, it shal be wel done to call we away hence. I wold gladly haue ben called away by som other meanes, and with some other honour: but pacience, thinges be at such a poynte, that I must thinke vpon my lyfe, and not vpon honour. I shall lacke none hereafter, if I can escape hence with life. Yet eftsones I commende me vnto your honour.