Actiones duae secretarii pontificii: quarum altera disputat, an Paulus Papa IIII debeat cogitare de instaurando Concilio Tridentino. (Magna est enim spes de pace.) Altera verò, an vi & armis possit deinde imperare Protestantibus, ipsius Concilij decreta

8vo (168x118 mm). 189, [3 blank] pp. Collation: a-m8. The last leaf is a blank. Contemporary vellum, spine recently reinforced (soiled, rubbed and worn, lacking the ties and endleaves). Manuscript note on the title page partially inked out, two marginal notes in a contemporary or slightly later hand on ll. a2v and a3v. Title page soiled, small round worm hole affecting the first four leaves, some light foxing and staining throughout, all in all a good, genuine copy.
Rare first edition of this satire on the council policy of Pope Paul IV, considered by Vergerio one of his most important contributions to this subject (cf. A. Hauser, Pietro Paolo Vergerios protestantische Zeit, Diss., Tübingen, 1980, p. 167), so relevant that he had reprinted it during his stay in Poland a year later (Königsberg, January 1557) with a dedicatory letter to Jan Lutomirski, castellan of Brzeziny (cf. L. Hein, Piero Paolo Vergerio und sein Auftreten in Preussen und Polen-Litauen, in: "Kyrios. Vierteljahreschrift für Kirchen- und Geistesgeschichte Osteuropas", 5, 1965, p. 165).
"Wie stark die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von Papst, Konzil und Religionsfrieden die deutsche Öffentlichkeit beschäftigte, zeigt auf protestantischer Seite die damals erschienen Schrift Vergerios 'Actiones duae secretarii pontificii'. Diese Satire auf die päpstliche Konzilspolitik gehört literarisch gesehen zum besten, was Vergerio je schrieb. Er lässt den 'Actiones' einen Sekretär Pauls IV. auftreten, der dem Papst an zwei aufeinanderfolgenden Tagen Vortrag über die Konzilfrage und Deutschland hält. Vergerio hat das Manuskript dieser Schrift vor der Publikation von den französischen Gesandten in der Schweiz durchsehen lassen, mit denen er von Württemberg aus in ständiger Verbindung stand. Er konnte sich bei der Abfassung wohl auch auf unmittelbare Berichte aus Rom stützen. Seine dortigen Vertrauensmänner darf man am ehesten in der Umgebung des Kardinals du Bellay suchen […] Aber die Aporie von Konzil und Religionsfrieden, die er mit sarkastischer Feder darstellte, traf zu. Mit vorwegnehmender Schärfe zeigte er die Endgültigkeit, die dem Weg des deutschen Protestantismus von dem Reichsabschied des Jahre 1548 zu jenem von 1555 innewohnte. Er zeigte, wie diese Entscheidung über den deutschen Raum hinaus jeder Wiedereröffnung des Trienter Konzils einen veränderten und reduzierten Charakter geben wird" ('The extent to which the question of the relationship between the Pope, the Council and religious peace preoccupied the German public can be seen on the Protestant side in Vergerio's Actiones duae secretarii pontificii, which was published at the time. From a literary point of view, this satire on papal politics is one of the best Vergerio ever wrote. The Actiones features a secretary of Paul IV who lectures the pope on two consecutive days about the Council and Germany. Before publication, Vergerio had the manuscript of this work reviewed by the French envoys in Switzerland, with whom he was in constant contact from Württemberg. It is also likely that he was able to rely on direct reports from Rome. His informants there are probably to be found in the circle of Cardinal du Bellay […] But the impasse of the Council and the religious peace, which he depicted with a sarcastic pen, was true. With anticipatory acuity, he showed the finality inherent in the path of German Protestantism from the imperial decree of 1548 to that of 1555. He showed how this decision would give a changed and reduced character to any reopening of the Council of Trent outside of the German sphere') (H. Lutz, Christianitas afflicta. Europa, das Reich und die päpstliche Politik im Niedergang der Hegemonie Kaiser Karls V., 1552-1556, Göttingen, 1964, pp. 469-470).
Pier Paolo Vergerio was born in Capodistria, a few miles south of Trieste on the Istrian peninsula, which then was subject to the republic of Venice. He was the son of a local notable and the descendant of the renowned humanist Pier Paolo Vergerio the Elder. He obtained a solid education in his hometown before enrolling at the University of Padua, where he earned a degree in civil law in 1524. He cultivated humanist pursuits in the local circles and his first work, the dialogue De republica Veneta (1526), in which Pietro Bembo and Niccolò Leonico Tommeo are the interlocutors, provides evidence of his literary talent. Sponsored by his brother Aurelio, Vergerio entered papal service in 1532. Clement VII immediately put him to work as a diplomat, sending him first to Venice to promote a league against the Turks and then to central Europe as nuncio to Emperor Charles V's brother Ferdinand. Here Vergerio received his first exposure to current political and religious problems. His initial reaction to the Reformation was visceral repugnance and alarm about the imminent threat of this penetrating Italy. Early in 1535, Paul III summoned him to Rome and gave him a new mandate: to assess support in central Europe for the convocation of an ecumenical council on which the Emperor was insisting. Vergerio crisscrossed the empire, visiting numerous Catholic and some Protestant principalities and cities. Most of those on whom he called, among them Luther (encountered unexpectedly at Wittenberg in November 1535), professed enthusiasm about the proposed council. But he gradually realized that for Paul III the project was merely a political ploy. He returned rather disillusioned to Italy in 1536, but confident that he would be appropriately rewarded for his services. But his nomination in May to the bishopric of Capodistria (Koper), a see with meager revenues further eroded by a pension payable to a papal favourite, disappointed him. Seeking a protector who could get his pension lifted, he accepted hospitality from various Italian princes and prelates, visited the courts of Francis I and Marguerite d'Angoulême, and attended the Worms-Regensburg colloquy (1540-1541). During these travels he also encountered the major exponents of the 'spirituali' (e.g. Pietro Carnesecchi, Bernardino Ochino, Reginald Pole, Marcantonio Flaminio, Renée of France and Vittoria Colonna), all of whom were proponents of renewal within the church inspired by the concept of justification by faith alone through grace. In summer 1541 he settled in his bishopric of Capodistria, taking the holy orders and beginning to implement his new convictions about reform. His vigorous efforts to root out abuses in the church aroused strong opposition. Soon suspicion was awakened such that on December 13, 1544, a denunciation of Vergerio was lodged with the Venetian Inquisition. Although, after due examination, Vergerio was released, Cardinal Marcello Cervini, later Pope Marcellus II, took advantage of the fact that Vergerio was not yet formally absolved to prevent his participation in the council for which he had labored so many years. He then began a publishing activity which turned more and more against the Roman Catholic Church. In connection with the painful case of Francesco Spiera (a lawyer, who had been forced to abjure and who died on December 27, 1549), Vergerio directed a sharp reply to the bishop of Padua. Instead of responding to a second summons by the Nuncio Giovanni Della Casa (who had initially opened the procedure against Vergerio) to appear before the tribunal in Venice, on May 1, 1549, he left Italy forever. The experiences at Spiera's sickbed had brought Vergerio to a decision. The twelve treatises which he produced at Basel in 1550 supply information regarding his position. Meanwhile, a second trial had been conducted in Venice in absentia and was confirmed at Rome on July 3, 1549. Vergerio was convicted of heresy in 34 points, deposed from his episcopal dignity, and made subject to arrest (cf. A. Santosuosso, Religion 'more Veneto' and the Trial of Pier Paolo Vergerio, in: "Peter Martyr and the Italian Reform", J.C. McLelland, ed., Waterloo ON, 180, pp. 43-61). His 'apostasy', the first by a bishop, evoked great excitement on both sides of the Alps. At that time, however, he was in the Swiss Grisons, and became active in a brisk round of polemics. His themes were the papacy, its origin and policy; the jubilees; saint and relic worship, and the like. Vergerio continued in the Grisons till 1553, when he heeded a call from Duke Christophe of Württemberg to write and travel on behalf of Evangelical doctrine. While he never again set foot in Italy, in 1556 he made his way to Poland, and conferred with Duke Albrecht of Prussia. He was in Poland in 1559 with the twofold purpose of meeting the moves of the Nuncio Luigi Lippomano, and of working against Johannes a Lasco. He sought permission to take part in the religious conference at Poissy in 1560, but he was not allowed to appear at the Council of Trent as the duke's delegate. During all these years he continued his polemical authorship and worked toward the publication of his Opera, though only the first volume appeared (1563). He died at Tübingen in 1565 (cf. R.A. Pierce, Pier Paolo Vergerio the Propagandist, Rome, 2003, pp. 7-12).
VD 16, V-634; USTC, 608697; J.M. De Bujanda, R. Davignon & E. Stanek, eds., Index de Rome: 1557, 1559, 1564: les premiers index romains et l'index du Concile de Trente, Sherbrooke, 1990, p. 360, no. 40; A. Hauser, op. cit., no. 120; F. Hubert, Vergerios publizistische Thätigkeit nebst einer bibliographischen Übersicht, Göttingen, 1893, p. 299, no. 108/2; H. Jedin, Geschichte des Konzils von Trient, Freiburg/Br.,1974, IV, p. 292. (Inventory #: 209)