Series 1 > Papal negotiations with Mary Queen of Scots during her reign in Scotland, 1561-1567

THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
179
1564]
were thus honourably matched there would be hopes not only
of restoring religion, but also of favourably influencing the
fate of the English Catholics, who but for this possibility
have no prospect whatever of seeing religion re-established in
their kingdom.
None of these things are to be laid before his Majesty
until the main business has been treated, and then too, not as
affairs pertaining to his Holiness, but as matters discussed by
the Cardinal of Lorraine with the Pope.1
From Rome, the last of October, 1564 [sic].
No. 50
M. ZACCHARIA DELFINO, NUNCIO AT VIENNA, TO
CARDINAL BORROMEO. Extracts relating to the
match with the Archduke Charles.
Vat. Archives, Nunziatura di Germania 66 (olim xxi.). I am indebted for nearly
all these extracts to the Roman transcripts of Father Stevenson and Mr. Bliss,
at the Record Office.
[ Vienna, 4 February to 6 July 1564]
i. Tengono per conclusi tre parentadi, Carlo arciduca in
Scotia, la primogenita del Re de Romani nel principe di
Spagna, et la seconda nel Re di Francia.
[Vienna] Decifrato del vescovo Delfino Nuntio, 4 Feb. 1564.
ii. Intendo che ’1 Re Catholico ha scritto qui in modo che
si puo hauer certezza che la Maiesta sua non pensa a la
Regina di Scotia, et non dara al principe suo figliuolo altra
moglie che la primogenita del Sermo. Re de Romani.
Vienna, 2 di Marzo.
hi. Si scrive dalli buoni di Francia che quella Mta ha
1 That Visconti’s negotiations were a complete failure is clearly stated by the
Bishop of Cuenca, confessor of Philip II., to Cardinal Charles Borromeo (Bar-
berini mss., xvi. 6o, ff. 53-56, 319). Philip thought Visconti the originator of
the troubles between France and Spain about precedence. A less welcome
negotiator could therefore not have been found. Hinojosa (Diplomacia Ponti-
ficia en Espagna, p. 158) states that Philip’s answer to him is preserved in the
Vatican Archives (Fondo Borghese, i. 623, fol. 83), but this appears to be
incorrect.