ESTAÇO, Aquiles.

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Ad Pium IIII Pont. Max. Sebastiani I Portugalliae Algarbiorum Rare diplomatic speech addressed to Pope Pius IV, delivered by the humanist Estaço on behalf of the Portuguese ambassador Lourenço Pires de Távora and King Sebastian I, paired with the response from the Vatican. Other than the present, we have traced one copy in commerce in over 100 years. We trace seven locations institutionally: three in Rome, the others in Florence, Paris, Montpellier, and Coimbra.Ties between Italy and Portugal strengthened significantly at this time. The Portuguese monarchs were keen to maintain the cooperation of the papacy, which was crucial for enhancing Portugal's geopolitical influence. High-ranking clergy and diplomats were dispatched to Rome with opulent gifts, and ambassadors regularly delivered speeches to the pope, emphasizing the religious dimensions of Portuguese ventures in Asia and underscoring their substantial role in the propagation of Christianity. Novoa list several instances of such orations by Portuguese ambassadors (p. 85). The survival rate of the publications is very small, suggesting that they were printed in limited numbers for private circulation. Aquiles Estaço (1524-1581), a prominent Portuguese scholar and the librarian to Cardinal Sforza, frequently performed as an unofficial representative of the Portuguese crown. This speech was his first official oration, the beginning of "a new round of relations with the papacy" (Lach, p. 9) following the sack of Rome in 152

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