Estaço, Aquiles:

$37,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

AD PIUM IIII PONT. MAX. SEBASTIANI I PORTUGALLIAE ALGARBIORUM ETC. REGIS NOMINE, OBEDIENTIAM PRAESTANTE LAURENTIO PIREZ DE TAVORA ORATIO HABITA 13. CAL. IUN. 1560 [issued with:] RESPONSUM DATUM ... From the collection of R. David Parsons. A 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. It is an exceptional record of the strategic and crucial relationship between the rulers of Portugal and the papacy in the age of discovery.As a result of the overseas explorations, the ties between Italy and Portugal tightened. The Portuguese kings were especially eager to retain the co-operation of the papacy, which was key to ensure and increase Portugal's geopolitical importance. Prelates and diplomats were sent to Rome with lavish gifts, and ambassadors periodically presented orations before the pontiff stressing the religious aspects of the Portuguese enterprises in Asia and highlighting their great contribution to the spread of Christianity.Aquiles Estaço (1524-1581), a prominent Portuguese scholar and the librarian to Cardinal Sforza, frequently acted as an unofficial representative of the Portuguese crown. This speech was his first official oration, identified as the beginning of "a new round of relations with the papacy" following the sack of Rome in 1527 (Lach, p.9). The text contains Távora's declaration of obedience to

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