A Kingdom for a Catholic? Pope Clement VIII, King James VI/I, and the English Succession in International Diplomacy (1592–1605)

Abstract

The unresolved question of who would succeed Queen Elizabeth I in the last years of the sixteenth century had repercussions beyond the British Isles. For the papacy, the contested succession seemed to provide a possibility of returning England to the Roman Catholic Church. This article places the English succession crisis in an international context, analysing the interests of princes in Spain, France, Flanders, and on the Italian peninsula from the perspective of papal diplomacy. Studying Pope Clement VIII's efforts to balance these princely interests, this article examines the options discussed in Rome, which ranged from converting James VI of Scotland - if he became King of England - to installing a Catholic candidate from the European mainland. It argues that Pope Clement VIII was not duped into passivity by James VI/I's vague promises of conversion and demonstrates that the Pope pursued a flexible policy which considered the succession in England within a much wider context: the retention of the Catholic religion in Europe.

Keywords:

• diplomacy
• papacy
• England
• succession

I am greatly indebted to Dr Toby Osborne (Durham) and Dr Nicole Reinhardt (Durham) for their invaluable advice on this article. I would like to thank Professor William G. Naphy (Aberdeen), Dr Elizabeth C. Tingle (Plymouth), Dr Johannes Machielsen (Oxford), Dr Christopher R. Langley (York), and Mr Tom Hamilton (Oxford) for their encouraging and useful comments on an early draft of this article, which I presented at the European Reformation Research Group-conference in Newcastle in 2011. I am grateful to Mr Colin J. Baker (Newcastle) for his helpful comments on my style. All translations are mine unless otherwise indicated.

Notes

1. For example: Pope Clement VIII asked King Philip III of Spain ‘à considerar che questo principe seb(e)ne heretico, [s’è] pero mai esercitato co(n)tro di lei, ne delli stati suoi ch(e) sap(iam)o noi senza alcuna d’inimicitia’. Clement VIII to Philip III, 2 June 1603 [Simancas, Spain] A[rchivo] G[eneral de] S[imancas], Estado 840, fo. 191. Also, the Spanish Ambassador at Rome reported that ‘discurrio Su S(antita)d … que entremeterse Su B(eatidu)d en esto no puede por ser aquel Rey herege’. Sessa to Philip III, 25 Aug. 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo. For possible reasons why James VI/I did not incur the penalty of excommunication, see: B. Barbiche, ‘La nonciature de France et les affaires d’Angleterre au début du XVII^e siècle’, Bibliothèque de l’École des chartes, cxxv (1967), 427–9.

2. For a mainly Spanish point of view on the English succession, see: A.J. Loomie, ‘Philip III. and the Stuart Succession in England, 1600–1603’, Revue belge de Philologie et d’Histoire, xliii (1965), 492–514; P.C. Allen, Philip III and the Pax Hispanica, 1598–1621: The Failure of Grand Strategy (New Haven, 2000), 99–114; J.C. Thewlis, The Peace Policy of Spain, 1596–1604 (Ph.D. dissertation, Durham (UK), 1975), 154–77.

3. S.R. Gardiner, History of England from the Accession of James I. to the Outbreak of the Civil War, 1603–1642 (1603–1607) (London, 1884), i. 43, 84–5.

4. S. Doran, ‘James VI and the English succession’ in R. Houlbrooke (ed), James VI and I: Ideas, Authority, and Government (Aldershot, 2006), 29.

5. J.D. Mackie, ‘A Secret Agent of James VI’, Scottish Historical Review, ix (1912), 377.

6. Recent paragons of this are: A. Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I (London, 2003), 159–66; J.-C. Mayer (ed), The Struggle for the Succession in Late Elizabethan England: Politics, Polemics and Cultural Representations (Montpellier, 2004); G. Burgess, R. Wymer, and J. Lawrence (eds), The Accession of James I: Historical and Cultural Consequences (Basingstoke, 2006) - with the exception of P. Croft's contribution ‘Rex Pacificus, Robert Cecil, and the 1604 Peace with Spain’, 140–54. For a more international approach to the Elizabethan succession, see: J. Hurstfield, ‘The Succession Struggle in Late Elizabethan England’ in S.T. Bindoff, J. Hurstfield, and C.H. Williams (eds), Elizabethan Government and Society: Essays Presented to Sir John Neale (London, 1961), 369–96; H. Nenner, The Right to be King: The Succession to the Crown of England, 1603–1714 (Chapel Hill, 1995), 13–25.

7. M.A.S. Hume (ed), C[alendar of] S[tate] P[apers,] S[pain (Simancas)], iv (1587–1603) (London, 1899). For a comment on this rather incomplete and inaccurate edition, see: L. Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil, Father Persons and the Succession, 1600–1601’, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, xxiv (1955), 113 (n. 67), 118 (n. 80), 128 (n. 89).

8. The so-called ‘Roman Transcripts’ in [Kew] T[he] N[ational] A[rchives of the United Kingdom], P[ublic] R[ecord] O[ffice], 31/9.

9. Examples of studies without access to those sources are: M.A. Tierney (ed), Dodd's [pseudonym for Hugh Tootell] Church History of England: From the Commencement of the Sixteenth Century to the Revolution in 1688, with Notes, Additions, and a Continuation, iii and iv (London, 1840–1), 30 and 59–65 respectively; L. [later: von] Ranke, Englische Geschichte vornehmlich im sechszehnten und siebzehnten Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1859), i. 493–5, 500, 531–2. Ranke noted that not much was known about the relations between James VI and Rome (‘Diese Beziehungen sind noch in zweifelhaftes Dunkel gehüllt’ (p. 494)). The topic was not addressed in: L. [later: von] Ranke, Die römischen Päpste, ihre Kirche und ihr Staat im sechszehnten und siebzehnten Jahrhundert, ii (Berlin, 1836).

10. The most important of these publications are: Gardiner, History of England, 80–1, 97–8, 140–3, 224–6; R. Couzard, Une ambassade à Rome sous Henri IV (septembre 1601-juin 1605) d’après des documents inédits (Tonneins, 1900), 71–145; M.A.S. Hume, Treason and Plot: Struggles for Catholic Supremacy in the Last Years of Queen Elizabeth (London, 1901), 379–82; J.H. Pollen, ‘The Question of Queen Elizabeth's Successor’, The Month: A Catholic Magazine and Review, ci (1903), 517–32; J.H. Pollen, ‘The Accession of King James I.’, The Month, ci (1903), 572–85; A.O. Meyer, ‘Clemens VIII. und Jakob I. von England’, Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, vii (1904), 266–306; G.F. Warner, ‘James VI and Rome’, English Historical Review, xx (1905), 124–7; J. Martin, ‘Clément VIII et Jacques Stuart’, Revue d’histoire diplomatique, xxv (1911), 279–307, 359–78; J. Martin, ‘Les Stuarts et le Saint-Siège: Les débuts d’un règne. Jaques I et le Saint-Siège jusqu’à la mort de Clément VIII (1603–1605), Revue d’histoire diplomatique, xxvi (1912), 446–71 (Martin's articles barely contain any scholarly references); L. von Pastor, Geschichte der Päpste seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters: Mit Benutzung des Päpstlichen Geheim-Archives und vieler anderer Archive, xi (Geschichte der Päpste im Zeitalter der katholischen Reformation und Restauration: Klemens VIII. (1592–1605)) (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1927), 319–20, 348–62.

11. More recently aptly discussed in: V. Houliston, Catholic Resistance in Elizabethan England: Robert Persons's Jesuit Polemic, 1580–1610 (Aldershot, 2007), 117–34.

12. This concentration on a British perspective is still the case in: D.H. Willson, King James VI and I (London, 1956), 142–8, 221–2. For more balanced but in their international scope still limited studies, based on nunciature correspondence, see: B. Haan (ed), Correspondance du nonce en France: Gasparo Silingardi évêque de Modène (1599–1601) (Rome, 2002), 180–3; B. Barbiche (ed), Correspondance du nonce en France: Innocenzo Del Bufalo évêque de Caemerino (1601–1604) (Paris, 1964), 97–100; Barbiche, ‘La nonciature’, 399–429; A. Louant (ed), Correspondance d’Ottavio Mirto Frangipani: Premier nonce de Flandre (1596–1606), iii.I (Brussels-Rome, 1942), lxxix–lxxxvi (the page is wrongly numbered lxxxxvi), xc–xci.

13. A.O. Meyer, England and the Catholic Church under Queen Elizabeth, J.R. McKee (trans) (London, 1916), 375.

14. M. Lee, James I and Henri IV: An Essay in English Foreign Policy, 1603–1610 (Urbana, 1970), 6, 8.

15. Allen, Philip III, 74. Similar: T. O’Connor, ‘Diplomatic Preparations for Kinsale: Lombard's Commentarius (1600)’ in E. García Hernán et al. (eds), Irlanda y la monarquía hispánica: Kinsale 1601–2001. Guerra, política, exilio y religión (Madrid, 2002), 149–50.

16. Doran, ‘James VI’, 41.

17. For a short comment on another teleological aspect of Allen's work, see: L. Salas Almela, ‘Realeza, valimiento y poder: en torno a las últimas aportaciones sobre el reinado de Felipe III’, Hispania: Revista Española de Historia, lxx (2010), 167.

18. Meyer, ‘Clemens VIII.’, 275, 289. For further examples see: Pastor, Geschichte der Päpste, 351–4, 356–7, 359–61; Gardiner, History of England, 225; Meyer, England, 375; Meyer, ‘Clemens VIII.’, 275, 278, 281, 285, 288–9. Less harsh but still the same allocation of roles in: Willson, King James VI and I, 138, 148, 221.

19. J.D. Mackie, ‘The Secret Diplomacy of King James VI. in Italy Prior to his Accession to the English Throne’, The Scottish Historical Review, xxi (1924), 269–70, 271, 275–6; J.D. Mackie, Negotiations between King James VI. and I. and Ferdinand I., Grand Duke of Tuscany (London, 1927), ix, xxi–xxii, xxv.

20. For example: S.J. Houston, James I (London, 1973), esp. 3-4, 8, 101–7; R. Lockyer, James VI and I (London, 1998), 1–6; W.B. Patterson, King James VI and I and the Reunion of Christendom (Cambridge, 1997), 39; R.G. Asch, Jakob I. (1566–1625): König von England und Schottland, Herscher des Friedens im Zeitalter der Religionskriege (Stuttgart, 2005), esp. 10, 38, 203–6.

21. B. Barbiche, ‘Clement VIII’ in Philippe Levillain (ed), The Papacy: An Encyclopedia , i (Abbreviator-Furnishings) (New York, 2002), 348.

22. A. Borromeo, ‘Clemente VIII’ in A. M. Ghisalberti (ed), Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, xxvi (Cironi-Collegno) (Rome, 1982), 264.

23. Notable exceptions to this are: Couzard, Une ambassade, 71–145; H.G. Stafford, James VI of Scotland and the Throne of England (New York, 1940), esp. 14–53, 231–3; Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, passim; short but good: Borromeo, ‘Clemente VIII’, 269–70.

24. Originally, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini shared the office of Secretary of State with his elder cousin, Cardinal Cinzio Passeri Aldobrandini (1551–1610) but by 1599 Pietro Aldobrandini had become de facto the sole head of the papal secretariat of state. K. Jaitner, ‘Il nepotismo di Papa Clemente VIII (1592–1605): Il dramma del cardinale Cinzio Aldobrandini’, Archivio Storico Italiano, cxlvi (1988), esp. 57, 61, 70.

25. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.I, lxxix, 29–30.

26. Ibid., lxxx.

27. Ibid., 30 (n. 1).

28. Ibid., lxxx. For Persons's involvement in the English succession, see: Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, passim; T.M. McCoog, ‘Harmony Disrupted: Robert Parsons, S.J., William Crichton, S.J. and the Question of Queen Elizabeth's successor, 1581–1603’, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, lxxiii (2004), 149–220. For Persons's dwindling influence in Rome after Philip II's death, see: Meyer, England, 373. On Persons and the Jesuits’ activities more generally, see: Houliston, Catholic Resistance, passim; T.M. McCoog, The Society of Jesus in Ireland, Scotland, and England, 1589–1597: Building the Faith of Saint Peter upon the King of Spain's Monarchy (Farnham, 2012).

29. A. Louant (ed), Correspondance d’Ottavio Mirto Frangipani: Premier nonce de Flandre (1596–1606), iii.II (Brussels-Rome, 1942), 623.

30. French summary in: Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.I, 146–7; transcription in: Meyer, England, 526–8.

31. Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, 121.

32. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.II, 785.

33. Ibid., iii.I, 156.

34. Ibid. (n. 2). Meyer's transcription of this marginal note is: ‘Bel discorso! ma che iuva?’ (‘Fine words, but what's the good of it?’). Meyer, England, 374, n. 2.

35. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.I, 168.

36. Ibid., (n. 3).

37. Ibid., lxxxii.

38. McCoog, Society of Jesus, 256. Sole authorship is attributed to Persons in: P. Holmes, ‘The Authorship and Early Reception of A Conference about the Next Succession to the Crown of England’, The Historical Journal, xxiii (1980), 415–29.

39. R. Doleman, A Conference About the Next Succession to the Crowne of Ingland (Imprinted at N. [i.e. Antwerp : By A. Conincx] with Licence, 1594). For a recent study on the Conference and other treatises relating to the English succession, see: F. Cristóbal Domínguez, ‘We Must Fight with Paper and Pens’: Spanish Elizabethan Polemics, 1585–1598 (Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton, 2011).

40. Isabella was a descendant of Philippa, the oldest child of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Blanche, his first wife. On the Lancastrian side, James's lineage traced back only to the illegitimate children of Catherine Swynford. Because the author of the Conference, like many others, judged the claims of the House of Lancaster to the English crown superior to those of the House of York, James's claim as a descendant of Elizabeth of York was of little value. Doran, ‘James VI’, 29.

41. CSPS, iv, 637 (note).

42. Haan, Correspondance … Silingardi, 180.

43. McCoog, Society of Jesus, 363.

44. Ibid. For a discussion of the Latin version see: S. Tutino, ‘The Political Thought of Robert Persons's Conference in Continental Context’, The Historical Journal, lii (2009), esp. 45–9.

45. Cited in: Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, 118.

46. Loomie, ‘Philip III.’, 501.

47. Cited in: Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, 127.

48. A report of the Spanish Council of State for Philip III mentions that the King decided to support his sister. This report is dated ‘July 1600’ by Hume in CSPS, iv, 660. However, the report must have been issued between 1 February 1601 when the Council advised the King to advance his sister's claim and 12 February 1601 when Philip III replicated the Council's advice at length in a letter to Sessa. Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, 128–9 (n. 89).

49. Cited in: ibid., 129.

50. Sessa to Philip III, 22 March 1601, AGS, Estado-K 1631, fo. 6. Detailed summary in: Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, 131–3.

51. Apuntamientos (not signed), 20 March 1601, AGS, Estado-K 1631, fo. 5.

52. Persons to Idíaquez, 3 July 1597, [City of Westminster, London] Archive of the Archbishop of Westminster (Westminster Diocesan Archives), A VI, fo. 42.

53. Sessa to Philip III, 22 March 1601, AGS, Estado-K 1631, fo. 6.

54. Cited according to Hicks's summary of the letter. Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, 132.

55. Sessa to Philip III, 22 March 1601, AGS, Estado-K 1631, fo. 6.

56. A. Borromeo, ‘Istruzioni generali e corrispondenza ordinaria dei nunzi: Obiettivi prioritari e risultati concreti della politica spagnola di Clemente VIII’ in G. Lutz (ed), Das Papsttum, die Christenheit und die Staaten Europas, 1592–1605: Forschungen zu den Hauptinstruktionen Clemens’ VIII (Tübingen, 1994), 120.

57. Loomie, ‘Philip III.’, 492.

58. M.T. Fattori, Clemente VIII e il Sacro Collegio, 1592–1605: Meccanismi istituzionali ed accentramento di governo (Stuttgart, 2004), 4.

59. Asserted in: Loomie, ‘Philip III.’, 492. For a study of the relationship between Henry IV and Clement VIII, see: B. Barbiche, ‘Clément VIII et la France (1592–1605): Principes et réalités dans les instructions générales et les correspondances diplomatiques du Saint-Siège’ in Lutz, Das Papsttum, 99–118.

60. Borromeo, ‘Istruzioni’, 203.

61. Allen, Philip III, 74.

62. L. van der Essen (ed), Correspondance d’Ottavio Mirto Frangipani: Premier nonce de Flandre (1596–1606), i (Brussels, 1924), 301.

63. A. de la Houssaie (ed), Letres du Cardinal d’Ossat: Avec des Notes Historiques et Politiques, ii (Amsterdam, 1708), 366.

64. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.I, 156.

65. R. Zapperi, Der Neid und die Macht: Die Farnese und Aldobrandini im barocken Rom, I. Walter (transl) (Munich, 1994), 38.

66. The claim of the Houses of Parma and Savoy derived from their descent from Emmanuel, King of Portugal. The title of the House of Portugal for England, in turn, derived from its descent from Philippa as the eldest child of King Edward III's son, the Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt, and his first wife Blanche. Moreover, at the time of the publication of the Conference, the Duke of Savoy was still married to Philip II's daughter, Catherine Michelle of Spain (1567–97), which fortified the claim of their children. Doleman, Conference, ii, 134–7, 145.

67. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.I, 156.

68. J. Berger de Xivrey (ed), Recueil des lettres missives de Henri IV (1599–1602), v (Paris, 1850), 519.

69. According to Loomie, the Spanish Ambassador to Flanders reported ‘that Pope Clement VIII had decided that it was desirable to have Philip III and Henry IV consult on a neutral Catholic candidate’ (Loomie, ‘Philip III.’, 505). The Pope, however, had not yet decided, or at least had not yet communicated any such decision to the Nuncio. Frangipani was reported to have reasoned that ‘the Pope should procure’ that Philip III and Henry IV favoured a neutral Catholic prince in conformity. The exact wording is: ‘que el Nunçio que alli reside discurria mucho sobre que el Papa debria procurar que V(uestra) M(ajesta)d y el Rey de Francia de conformidad favoreçesen a un Prinçipe neutral que fuese catholico para aquella corona’. Consulta, 10 July 1601, AGS, Estado 2023, fo. 64 (old reference: fo. 62).

70. Ibid.

71. Roger Mols asserts that the Pontiff and Father Persons considered secretly supporting a Farnese candidacy already in September 1600. Unfortunately, he does not clearly specify where he found this information. R. Mols, ‘Clément VIII’ in A. Baudrillart, A. de Meyer, and É. van Cauwenbergh (eds), Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Catulinus-Clinchamp), xii (Paris, 1953), 1266.

72. Like James VI's title, Arbella Stuart's claim derived from her descent of Margaret, the eldest daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Doleman, Conference, ii, 85.

73. A. de la Houssaie (ed), Letres du Cardinal d’Ossat: Avec des Notes Historiques et Politiques, v (Amsterdam, 1708), 46–7.

74. Ibid., 56.

75. Ibid., 55.

76. Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, 116.

77. CSPS, iv, 722.

78. B. Haan, ‘La médiation pontificale entre la France et la Savoie de la paix de Vervins à la paix de Lyon (1598–1601)’, Cahiers René de Lucinge, xxxiv (2000), 16, 20. See also: J.L. Cano de Gardoquí, ‘Saboya en la política del duque de Lerma, 1601–1602’, Hispania, xxvi (1966), 45. For the climate of distrust between France on the one hand, and Spain and Savoy on the other, see: B. Barbiche, ‘L’exploitation politique d’un complot: Henri IV, le Saint-Siège et la conspiration de Biron (1602)’ in Y.-M. Bercé and E. Fasano Guarini (eds), Complots et conjurations dans l’Europe moderne: Actes du colloque de Rome, 30 septembre-2 octobre 1993 (Rome, 1996), 271–88.

79. Pollen, ‘The question’, 530; Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, 117 (n. 77).

80. Houssaie, Letres … Ossat, v, 57–8.

81. Xivrey, Recueil … Henri IV, v, 518.

82. Ibid., 518–19.

83. L. Duerloo, Dynasty and Piety: Archduke Albert (1598–1621) and Habsburg Political Culture in an Age of Religious Wars (Farnham, 2012), 164.

84. Xivrey, Recueil … Henri IV, v, 519–20.

85. Asserted in: Zapperi, Neid, 38–9.

86. Thewlis, Peace Policy, 160, 162

87. For this rivalry see: Zapperi, Neid, esp. 13–51.

88. Borromeo, ‘Clemente VIII’, 259.

89. For examples, see: D. Büchel, ‘“Raffe und regiere!” Überlegungen zur Herrschaftsfunktion römischer Kardinalnepoten (1590–1655)’ in P. Burschel et al. (eds), Historische Anstösse: Festschrift für Wolfgang Reinhard zum 65. Geburtstag am 10. April 2002 (Berlin, 2002), 197–234.

90. K. Stloukal, Papežská politika a císařský dvůr pražský na předělu XVI. a XVII. věku (Prague, 1925), 50.

91. For a more general analysis of the wedding strategies of papal families, see: I. Fosi and M.A. Visceglia, ‘Marriage and Politics at the Papal Court in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’ in T. Dean and K.J.P. Lowe (eds), Marriage in Italy, 1300–1650 (Cambridge, 1998), 197–224.

92. Zapperi, Neid, 38–9.

93. Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 375.

94. Loomie, ‘Philip III.’, 509–11.

95. Zúñiga to Philip III, 28 Oct. 1602, AGS, Estado 620, fo. 233 (old reference: no fo.).

96. Clement VIII to Henry IV, 2 Dec. 1602 [Vatican City State] A[rchivio] S[egreto] V[aticano], Fondo Borghese, serie II, 491, fos. 54v–57v; Clement VIII to Henry IV, 13 Jan. 1603, ibid., fos. 58r–59v. The Pope's letter to Philip III is mentioned in: Sessa to Philip III, 17 Jan. 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo.

97. Ibid.

98. Aldobrandini to Del Bufalo, 16 Dec. 1602, TNA, PRO 31/9/86B, fo. 102. French summary in: Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 396.

99. Sessa to Philip III, 17 Jan. 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo. See also Thewlis, Peace Policy, 175.

100. CSPS, iv, 660 (n. †).

101. See, for example: J. Cuvelier, ‘Les préliminaires du traité de Londres (29 août 1604)’, Revue belge de Philologie et d’Histoire, ii (1923), 279–304, 485–508.

102. Loomie, ‘Philip III.’, 503–7.

103. Ibid., 506.

104. Doran, ‘James VI’, 41.

105. For an account of this, see: R.B. Wernham, The Return of the Armadas: The Last Years of the Elizabethan War against Spain, 1595–1603 (Oxford, 1994), 368–87.

106. Pollen, ‘The Accession’, 581.

107. Consulta, 2 March 1603, AGS, Estado 840, fo. 205. Cited according to the English translation in: CSPS, iv, 730.

108. Sessa to Philip III, 26 Feb. 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo.

109. Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 425.

110. Sessa to Philip III, 26 Feb. 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo.

111. Sessa to Philip III, 13 March 1603, ibid., no fo.; Sessa to Philip III, 23 March 1603, ibid., no fo.

112. ‘de cuya conuersion muestra Su S(antida)d hastagora muy poca esperança’. Sessa to Philip III, 17 Jan. 1603, ibid., no fo.

113. Stafford, James VI, 152.

114. Doran, ‘James VI’, 41.

115. P. Croft, King James (Basingstoke, 2003), 33.

116. Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 463–4.

117. Pollen, ‘The Accession’, 583.

118. Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 100.

119. Cited in: Hicks, ‘Sir Robert Cecil’, 125.

120. Haan, Correspondance … Silingardi, 180.

121. Sessa to Philip III, 4 May 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo.

122. ‘Proemium Bullae Iubilei Anglicani’, 28 May 1603, TNA, PRO 31/9/87, fos. 356–7.

123. Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 489–90.

124. Del Bufalo to Aldobrandini, 29 June 1603 (note in the hand of the Pope), TNA, PRO 31/9/87, fo. 35. This remark is not mentioned in: Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 489–90.

125. E. Stöve, ‘Häresiebekämpfung und “ragione di stato”: Die Protestanten und das protestantische Lager in den Hauptinstruktionen Clemens’ VIII.’ in Lutz, Das Papsttum, 57.

126. Aldobrandini to Del Bufalo, 28 July 1603, TNA, PRO 31/9/87, fos. 302–3. French summary in: Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 506–7.

127. Ibid., 489.

128. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.II, 407, 699.

129. Ibid.

130. Sessa to Philip III, 12 Aug. 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo.

131. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.II, 428, 710–11.

132. For a detailed account on Cardinal Farnese's resistance in August 1604, see: Zapperi, Neid, 40–51.

133. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.II, 699.

134. Cited in: A.J. Loomie, ‘The Armadas and the Catholics of England’, The Catholic Historical Review, lix (1973), 403.

135. Stöve, ‘Häresiebekämpfung’, 57.

136. Clement VIII to Henry IV, 31 May 1603, ASV, Fondo Borghese, serie II, 491, fos. 63r–64v; Clement VIII to Philip III, 2 June 1603, AGS, Estado 840, fo. 191.

137. Clement VIII to Henry IV, 31 May 1603, ASV, Fondo Borghese, serie II, 491, fo. 64v.

138. See n. 1.

139. Clement VIII to Philip III, 2 June 1603, AGS, Estado 840, fo. 191.

140. Sessa to Philip II, 5 May 1597, AGS, Estado 969, fo. 86.

141. Clement VIII to Philip III, 2 June 1603, AGS, Estado 840, fo. 191. Translated in the King James Version of the Bible as ‘except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain’.

142. Ibid.

143. For a study of the establishment of exhortations to peace in Christendom and the war against the Turks in papal rhetoric, see: D. Mertens, ‘Europäischer Friede und Türkenkrieg im Spätmittelalter’ in H. Duchhardt (ed), Zwischenstatliche Friedenswahrung in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit (Cologne, 1991), 45–90.

144. Barbiche, ‘Clement VIII’, 347.

145. P. Bartl, ‘Der Türkenkrieg: Ein zentrales Thema der Hauptinstruktionen und der Politik Klemens’ VIII.’ in Lutz, Das Papsttum, 67, 70–1, 76.

146. Haan, Correspondance … Silingardi, 179.

147. Philip III to Escalona, 11 Nov. 1603, TNA, PRO 31/9/87, fo. 276.

148. Sessa to Philip III, 12 Aug. 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo.

149. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.II, 710–11.

150. Sessa to Philip III, 12 Aug. 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo. For a seminal study on the Pope as spiritual and temporal prince, see: P. Prodi, Il sovrano pontifice, un corpo e due anime: La monarchia papale nella prima età moderna (Bologna, 1982).

151. Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 455.

152. Ibid., 450.

153. Ibid., 459.

154. Sessa to Philip III, 1 July 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo.

155. Sessa to Philip III, 15 July 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo.

156. Degli Effetti to Del Bufalo, 10 July 1603, TNA, PRO 31/9/87, fo. 87.

157. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.II, 695.

158. Ibid., 700.

159. Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 91–2.

160. Pastor, Geschichte der Päpste, 357.

161. For a study Queen Anne's faith see: A.J. Loomie, ‘King James I's Catholic Consort’, The Huntington Library Quarterly, xxxiv (1971), 303–16.

162. Sessa to Philip III, 12 Aug. 1603, AGS, Estado 977, no fo.

163. For the contacts between Queen Anne and Clement VIII, although not free of prejudices against James VI/I, see: Meyer, ‘Clemens VIII.’, passim.

164. Louant, Correspondance … Frangipani, iii.II, 700.

165. Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 483.

166. For these secret contacts, see: Barbiche, ‘La nonciature’, 417–21.

167. Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 567–8. The copy of the Nuncio's letter to James VI/I for the Pope is transcribed in: Del Bufalo to Aldobrandini, 1 Oct. 1603, TNA, PRO 31/9/87, fos. 198–203.

168. Lockyer, James VI and I, 125.

169. Barbiche, Correspondance … Del Bufalo, 96–7.

170. Couzard, Une ambassade, 120.

Additional information

Funding

This piece is based on my MA dissertation which I was able to develop further thanks to substantial benefits from a Durham Doctoral Fellowship award (2009–12) and a ‘Fellowship for Prospective Researchers’ by the Swiss National Science Foundation (2012–13). This article was enriched by sources which I could consult thanks to generous support towards research expenses by the Senior Common Room of University College, Durham (2011), and by two Royal Historical Society ‘Postgraduate Travel Research’ grants (2010 and 2011).