Pages 360-361
Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 9, 1592-1603. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1897.
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Citation:
February 1599
| Feb. 1. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. | 774. Francesco Contarini, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate. |
|---|---|
| The Envoy of Holland has asked the King's permission to raise two thousand infantry and five hundred horse for service of the States and with leave for M. della Nua to command them. The King has consented about the commander and the infantry, but refused the horse. | |
| Giovanni Battista Tassis has been appointed Spanish Ambassador at the French Court. | |
| Some persons complain that his Majesty has given his consent: for this personage, when he was here before as Ambassador, laid the broadest and the strongest foundations of the League. | |
| Paris, 1st February 1598 [m.v.]. | |
| [Italian; the part in italics deciphered.] | |
| Feb. 7. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. | 775. Francesco Soranzo, Venetian Ambassador in Spain, to the Doge and Senate. |
| There is news from England that some hulks laden with grain, harquebusses, powder, copper, morions and other munitions of war, the property of some Hamburg merchants who had contracts with the royal officers in Portugal, have been arrested in England and their cargoes confiscated. | |
| The preparations for war are growing slender, and it is certain that for this year they must content themselves here, with a weak defence. | |
| Requena, 7th February 1598 [m.v.]. | |
| [Italian.] | |
| Feb. 12. Original Rubricario, Venetian Archives. | 776. Girolamo Capello, Venetian Ambassador in Constantinople, to the Doge and Senate. |
| The Jew who was acting for Spain in the matter of the truce will soon leave Constantinople with letters of a favourable import, but without money, and they say the English Agent has upset his negotiations. | |
| 12th February 1598 [m.v.]. | |
| [Italian.] | |
| Feb. 24. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. | 777. Francesco Contarini, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate. |
| In twenty-five days the Earl of Essex is to start for Ireland. The Queen has intimated to the States of Holland that if the Earl's expedition is successful in suppressing the rebellion she will send his forces to Holland to tight Spain, as she intends in virtue of her recent treaty, to lend more protection than ever to the States. | |
| In a few days an English resident Ambassador will appear at this Court; we have heard of his departure from London. The Agent of the Queen will retire. In the meantime the Agent has complained of the new French Ambassador (fn. 1) resident at the Court of St. James, on the ground that at the very opening of his career he has assumed too sharp and haughty a manner, very different from the manner formerly adopted by the King. His Majesty has promised to admonish the Ambassador, and took the opportunity to again request that the grain ships on the way to Spain should not be molested (his object being to gather money from that quarter), all the more because the Spanish fleet is not of such a nature as to cause alarm to the English that an attack would be made on their kingdom; and he promised that if he knew of any designs hostile to the Queen he would inform her and in that case he would absolutely forbid the export from France of a single grain of corn. | |
| Paris, 24th February 159S [m.v.]. | |
| [Italian; the part in italics deciphered.] | |