Table Of Content1!I[GR[I
ARGHlSOri
MARIA LUISA AMBRDSINI
thrills ofmysteryand discoveryper-
The
vade this intimate account of one
writer's lengthy encounter with the
secret archives oftheVatican,avast collec-
tion ofreligious and historical documents
covering more than a thousand years of
history. The book, an outcome of the
author's rare chance to visit almost all the
—
archives "twenty-five miles of shelved
—
documents" describes how this awe-
some collection of knowledge came into
being.
In telling the story of the development
of the archives, which were established in
their present form by Pope Paul V in 1612
and opened to scholars in 1881,theauthor
provides fascinating glimpses ofwhat they
contain. These glimpses make forsome of
the book's most riveting reading. Brought
to life are events that led to such docu-
ments as the original report on the trial of
Galileo and to papal attacks on Pico della
Mirandola. The author penetrates thecol-
lection of avvisi, or newsletters, which
were gossip columns that began appearing
in 1565 and were illicit, anonymous, con-
demned by everyone, and read by every-
one,especiallythecardinals. Her look into
—
the papal register official and personal
(cotttimialon Inukflop)
THE SECRET
ARCHIVES OF THE
VATICAN
m
MARIA LUISA AMBROSINI
by
wHh MARY WILLIS
Barnes
&^NOBLE
BOOKS
NEW YORK
Copyright© 1969by MariaLuisaBoggeri Ambrosini.
ThiseditionpublishedbyBarnes&Noble, Inc.
byarrangementwithLittle Brown &Co.
Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthisbookmay
beusedorreproducedinany mannerwhatsoever
withoutthewrittenpermissionofthePublisher.
1996Barnes&NobleBooks
ISBN0-76070-125-3
PrintedandboundintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
M98765432
FG
To Vivina and Stefania
Approach
IN the time that I have be—en working on this book, friends who are
historians have asked me sometimes in a spiritof amused incredu-
—
lity just how I went about researching such an extensive subject.
With twenty-five miles of documents, partly explored and partly unex-
plored, where does one begin? I had to answer that I had begun by
following the method of trial and error.
On my first visit to a large museum or archaeological site, I seldom
take a guidebook, but wander for a while, led by curiosity and random
interest. It is only later that I use a systematic approach. I began this
study of the Secre—t Archives in the same way. I examined—the indexes
in the indexroom orrather, those more easily deciphered and made
a long list, following a generally chronological plan, of documents that
caught my interest. As time went on, the nature and structure of the
Archives that lay behind the long shelves of indexes absorbed me more
and more. The hundreds of documents that I had studied seemed hke
a few leaves fallen from the forest.
I now did what a professional historian would have done in the first
place, and examined what has been written on the Secret Archives and
on their separatefondi. There are excellent works by Fink, Brom, Giusti,
BattelU, Mercati, and Macfarlane, among others. Now and then, in these
highly technical studies for the use of archivists and historians, there
were ghmpses of the history of the Secret Archives, gUmpses that I
found fascinating. I came to realize that the history of the Secret
Archives was the history of the papacy, of the Church; that the Archives
were a dark mirror of the world. The plan of my work finally began to
—
take shape it was to be an overview of the development of the Ar-
chives as part of history, illustrated by close-ups of individual events
viii Approach
and documents. With the example of medieval manuscripts before me,
I have not hesitated to decorate my margins.
A book of this length cannot be inclusive, and I have tried to empha-
size the periods most closely related to the history of the Secret Archives
and the events that illuminate their times. Many subjects that would
be part of a work on general history have been omitted.
Most of my research has been done in the Secret Archives and in the
Vatican Library. In the Secret Archives particular use has been made
of the papal registers, the Archivum Arcis (the archives of Castel Sant'
Angelo), and the Miscellanea and Instrumenta Miscellanea fondi, which
contain individual ancient documents. Since the indexes are incomplete,
I have often found, in the large bound volumes that were brought to
me, manuscripts not listed in the indexes, such as the legend of the re-
pentance and death of Judas, which is quoted in Chapter 13.
The Vatican Library was used for background, for examination of
documents which in the past were part of the Secret Archives, and for
published studies and translations by various historical institutes and
by individual scholars. In background reading, and especially for the
early historical periods, English and American as well as continental
references have been used.
Only selected notes are given. Complete docimientation would greatly
lengthen the book, and some references, such as works on the Secret
Archives in general and works on Rome, run throughout the period
covered. Also, some paragraphs, particularly those relating to the history
of the Archives, have been built up from many fragmentary references
and from personal inquiry. To simplify the matter I am giving a selected
bibliography and, in the notes, pointing out some of the sources used.
For Archives documents I have normally indicated the fondo or other
source from which they were drawn, but have not always given the
"Archivistic collocation," roughly corresponding to a call number, since
this bookis not intended forthe specialist.
In some cases my collaborator, Mary Willis, and I have used material
already in English, such as that quoted from Fremantle's collections, but
in large part the English translations are our own. They have been
We
done freely, and are often greatly summarized. have not used dots
to indicate ellipses except when necessary to retain the meaning. Space
was a consideration, and the number of ellipses required for these often
verbose documents would have impeded the flow of thought and given
a granulated appearance to the pages.
My grateful acknowledgments are offered to the Secret Archives and
to the Vatican Library, which have allowed me so many years of study
