Durham E-Theses Pope Clement VIII and Confessional Conict: International Papal Politics and Diplomacy (15981605) SCHNEIDER, CHRISTIAN How to cite: SCHNEIDER, CHRISTIAN (2016) Pope Clement VIII and Confessional Conict: International Papal Politics and Diplomacy (15981605), Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11656/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Pope Clement VIII and Confessional Conflict: International Papal Politics and Diplomacy (1598–1605) Christian Schneider In the early modern period the Holy See refused to mediate between Catholic and Protestant sovereign powers by formal diplomatic peace missions. As a consequence, scholarly research on the early modern papacy as a peacemaking force tends to concentrate on peace negotiations between Catholic powers. This doctoral thesis, in contrast, analyses the attitude of the Holy See towards political reconciliation across confessional boundaries in a case study of Pope Clement VIII Aldobrandini (r. 1592–1605). It places papal politics and diplomacy at the centre of three conflicts which had a confessional dimension: the war of the Catholic Spanish Habsburgs with Protestant England, the Spanish attempts to suppress the rebellion of the predominantly Calvinist United Provinces in the Low Countries and the power struggle between the Catholic king of Sweden and his Lutheran uncle, Duke Charles of Södermanland. This doctoral research analyses the role which Clement VIII's contemporaries expected the pontiff to fulfil in transconfessional peace processes and how far Clement VIII complied with such expectations. It sheds new light on the pope's interpretation of his traditional duties as the spiritual head of the respublica christiana to protect Christendom against those whom the papacy regarded as 'heretics', 'schismatics' and 'infidels'. This study will argue that Clement VIII followed a flexible religious policy and that, if necessary, the Aldobrandini pontiff was willing to promote the idea of a reconciliation between Catholic and Protestant powers. The transnational approach of this thesis will demonstrate that the response of the Holy See to regional and confessional conflicts needs to be understood as part of a wider strategy of the papacy which aimed at retaining the Catholic religion in the short-term and at restoring it throughout Christendom in the long-term. Pope Clement VIII and Confessional Conflict: International Papal Politics and Diplomacy (1598–1605) Christian Schneider Ph.D. Thesis Department of History University of Durham 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations ii Acknowledgments iv Notes on names, terminology and dates vi General Introduction 1 Part I: Theoretical & 'institutional' context 16 1. Catholics and 'heretics': the theoretical context 17 2. The papacy and 'heretics': the 'institutional' context 31 Part II: Spain, England & the Low Countries 45 Introduction 46 3. Clement VIII, the Spanish Habsburgs and Elizabeth I (1598–1600) 50 3.1. The pope as a peacemaker between Spain and England? (1597–1598) 51 3.2. Clement VIII's perspective on peace between the Spanish Habsburgs and Elizabeth I (1599–1600) 58 4. Clement VIII and the Stuart Accession (1599–1603) 73 4.1. Signs of good will from Scotland (1599–1603) 75 4.2. Signs of good will from the Holy See (1603) 86 5. Clement VIII, Spain and England (1595–1604) 99 5.1. Clement VIII, Spain and the English succession crisis (1595–1603) 101 5.2. War or peace? Opinions in Spain and Rome (1603) 106 5.3. Peace with James VI/I: a means or an end? (1603–1604) 115 6. Clement VIII and the pacification of the Low Countries (1598–1605) 128 6.1. The pope as promoter of the pacification of Flanders? (1598) 130 6.2. The pope's attitude revisited (1600–1602) 138 6.3. The pope as promoter of the pacification of Flanders (1603–1604) 146 Part III: Poland & Sweden 158 Introduction 159 7. Clement VIII, Duke Charles and Sigismund III (1598–1601) 167 7.1. Duke Charles's first letter for Clement VIII (1599) 167 7.2. The response to Duke Charles's letter in Rome and Warsaw (1600) 174 7.3. Clement VIII's brief for Duke Charles (1600) 181 8. The Vasas' strife and Clement VIII's wider strategy (1598–1601) 189 8.1. Duke Charles's second letter for Clement VIII (1600) 190 8.2. Clement VIII's wider policy for Poland and Sweden around 1600 204 Conclusion 215 Appendix 225 Bibliography 226 i ABBREVIATIONS ADP Archivio Doria Pamphilj AGR Archives Générales du Royaume AGS Archivo General de Simancas AMAE Archives du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères Arm. Armadio ASV Archivio Segreto Vaticano BAV Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana CSP Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots, 1547–1603 DBI Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Del Bufalo Correspondance du nonce en France: Innocenzo del Bufalo évêque de Camerino (1601–1604) FA Fondo Aldobrandini FB Fondo Borghese Frangipani Correspondance d'Ottavio Mirto Frangipani: premier nonce de Flandre (1596–1606) JAITNER Die Hauptinstruktionen Clemens' VIII. für die Nuntien und Legaten an den europäischen Fürstenhöfen (1592–1605) NLS National Library of Sweden P.R.O. Public Record Office SNA Swedish National Archives TNA The National Archives Urb. Lat. Urbinati Latini ii COPYRIGHT "The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the author's prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged." iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would not have been able to complete this doctoral thesis without the support of many individuals and institutions. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Toby Osborne, for his expert guidance, continuous support and infinite patience over the course of my doctoral research. He has been more supportive and has cared for my personal and academic progress more than I could have ever hoped for. I am greatly indebted to several institutions and foundations who have sustained my research with generous financial contributions without which it would not have been possible for me to conduct this international research, let alone to consider writing a doctoral thesis: the University of Durham, the Schweizerische Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, the Society for Renaissance Studies, the Royal Historical Society, the Senior Common Room of University College (Durham) and the Department of History. During my many and prolonged research stays in Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and at the Vatican, I have enjoyed the assistance of a vast number of archivists and librarians whose dedication to their work and whose help made my research trips both fruitful and pleasant. During these long stays abroad, I have also met many fellow researchers who have made what could have been a lonely experience a happy time on which I look back with fondness. I have become friends with them ever since: Bastien 'Basta el francés' Carpentier, Dr Davide Maffi, Koldo Trapaga et al. Similarly, I am greatly indebted to many fellow early-modern history Ph.D students (past and present) in Durham. Dr Alex Brown, Dr Andy Burn, Dr Barbara Crosbie, Ben Pope as an honorary early modernist, Kathleen Reynolds, Dr Lindsay Houpt Varner and Lauren Working have all made me feel part of a vibrant scholarly and social community of early modern postgraduates in Durham. Among the members of staff in the department, I would like to thank Dr Adrian Green and Dr Nicole Reinhardt in particular for their encouraging interest in my research and their kind enquiries about my academic progress. Equally, I am thankful to Dr Nicholas Davidson (Oxford), Bram De Ridder (Leuven), Dr Tom Hamilton (Cambridge), Prof William G. Naphy (Aberdeen) and Prof Volker Reinhardt (Fribourg, CH) for their stimulating and motivating comments on my research iv project. I also remain indebted to Dr Bertrand Haan (Paris), Dr Franco Motta (Turin) and Prof Paolo Simoncelli (Rome) who generously provided me with copies of their work. Prof Steve Murdoch (St Andrews), Dr Alexia Grosjean (St Andrews) and Dr Birgitte Dedenroth- Schou (former City Archivist of Kolding and former archivist at the Danish National Archives) most kindly read and translated a Swedish primary source for me, while Dr Filip Krajník (Brno) volunteered to translate numerous passages in a Czech secondary source on Clement VIII. To Niall Oddy (Durham) and Dr Alex Brown (Durham) I will always remain indebted for their helpful comments on the entire draft of this thesis. I would like to thank Eduardo, Gwynned, Ieva, Kathleen, Lauren, Filip, Mau, Rachel, Rupert and Christine, to name only a few friends here in Durham, who have made this my second home. James, Catherine, Gašper and Niall have been truly great friends. During my writing-up stage, they have been particularly patient with me and have been of more support than they will ever imagine; they now also know more about papal politics and diplomacy than they ever imagined and wished to imagine. Ilán has become a second brother over my years in Durham, and in Switzerland I can always rely on my friends Marc, Matthias and Meinrad. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for their constant support and loving affection for me: Muetti, Vati, Nani, Mirco, Michi and Rahel – Härzleche Dank! This doctoral thesis is dedicated to my godson Loïc and, of course, to my ever-caring mother.