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Letter #5755

Alfonso de VALDÉS to Ioannes DANTISCUS
s.l., [1528-09-01 — 1528-12-16?]

English register:

Valdés praises the epigram Dantiscus sent him as a royal gift, more precious than anything else. He regrets that the old man’s [Mercurino Gattinara’s] “importunate importunity” (importuna importunitas) prevents him from visiting his friend. He asks to be informed about what Cato Pratensis [Lodewijk van Praet] thinks of the epigram.




Manuscript sources:
1copy in Latin, 18th-century, BK, 222, No. 47, p. 185 (c.p. 1)
2copy in Latin, 19th-century, BK, 222, not numbered, f. [1r (t.p.) after p. 185]
3copy in Latin, 18th-century, BCz, 40 (TN), No. 254, p. 976
4lost fair copy in Latin, AAWO, AB, D.130, No. 3

Auxiliary sources:
1register in Polish, 20th-century, B. PAU-PAN, 8246 (TK 8), f. 37r (t.p.)
2register in English, 20th-century, CBKUL, R.III, 31, No. 302.3

Prints:
1BOEHMER 1899 p. 397-398 (in extenso)
2DE VOCHT 1961 No. DE, 58, p. 37, 38 (excerpt; English register)
3VALDÉS 1996 Cartas y documentos, No. 49, p. 124 (in extenso)
4CEID 2/3 (Letter No. 25) p. 185-186 (in extenso; English register; Polish register)

 

Text & apparatus & commentaryPlain textText & commentaryText & apparatus

 

Salutem.

Tam magnifica subinde munera mittis, ut nullum mehercle principem, quantumvis magnum, sciam, quocum de liberalitate certare non possis. Misisti epigramma, sed ita, acsi nihil mitteres, et tamen nihil est, quod maius mitti possit. Mittis ingenium, iudicium, argutias, sales, lepores, et quid non? Sed ne ego ineptus sum, qui tua laudem, quasi meo calculo quicquam illis accedere possit?

Vale.

Postscript:

Venirem ad te, si per huius Mercurino Arborio di Gattinara (*1465 – †1530), humanist, jurist, trusted and influential advisor to Charles V; 1501 entered the service of the Habsburgs as legal counsel to Duchess Margaret of Austria, 1504 advisor and President of the Privy Council of Margaret of Austria, after the governoship of the Netherlands was entrusted to her, 1518 Grand Chancellor of Castile and later of Charles V as Roman Emperor, 1529 Cardinal of St. Giovanni a Porta Latina (after the death of his wife, Andreetta Avogadro) (DE VOCHT 1961, p. 12; CE, vol. 2, p. 76-80)⌊senisMercurino Arborio di Gattinara (*1465 – †1530), humanist, jurist, trusted and influential advisor to Charles V; 1501 entered the service of the Habsburgs as legal counsel to Duchess Margaret of Austria, 1504 advisor and President of the Privy Council of Margaret of Austria, after the governoship of the Netherlands was entrusted to her, 1518 Grand Chancellor of Castile and later of Charles V as Roman Emperor, 1529 Cardinal of St. Giovanni a Porta Latina (after the death of his wife, Andreetta Avogadro) (DE VOCHT 1961, p. 12; CE, vol. 2, p. 76-80)⌋ importunam importunitatem liceret, sed non audeo, crede mihi, domo pedem efferre. Iterum vale et fac, sciam, quid Louis of Flanders Lord of Praet (a Prato, de Prato, Lodewijk van Praet, Pratensis, Ludovicus a Flandria, Louis de Flandres Seigneur de Praet, Cat(h)o) (*1488 – †1555), diplomat and politician in the service of the Habsburgs, friend and patron of many scholars and writers, admirer of Erasmus of Rotterdam; 1515-1522 High-Bailiff of the city of Ghent, 1523-1549 - of Bruges, 1517 member of the Privy Council of Charles V, 1522-1525 resident ambassador in England, 1525 ambassador at the court of the regent of France, Louise of Savoy, 1530 Chamberlain to the Emperor, 1536 member of the Council of State (as a close adviser to Regent Mary of Hungary); 1540 head of the Finance Council; 1544 Governor of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht (CE, vol. 2, p. 41-42; DE VOCHT 1961, p. 38-39; DBE, vol. 20, p. 174-176)⌊Cato ille PratensisLouis of Flanders Lord of Praet (a Prato, de Prato, Lodewijk van Praet, Pratensis, Ludovicus a Flandria, Louis de Flandres Seigneur de Praet, Cat(h)o) (*1488 – †1555), diplomat and politician in the service of the Habsburgs, friend and patron of many scholars and writers, admirer of Erasmus of Rotterdam; 1515-1522 High-Bailiff of the city of Ghent, 1523-1549 - of Bruges, 1517 member of the Privy Council of Charles V, 1522-1525 resident ambassador in England, 1525 ambassador at the court of the regent of France, Louise of Savoy, 1530 Chamberlain to the Emperor, 1536 member of the Council of State (as a close adviser to Regent Mary of Hungary); 1540 head of the Finance Council; 1544 Governor of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht (CE, vol. 2, p. 41-42; DE VOCHT 1961, p. 38-39; DBE, vol. 20, p. 174-176)⌋ de tuo epigrammate iudicavit.