HENRY VIII

Letter signed and subscribed ("Vester bonus amicus Henry R") London, 14 July 1524 - 'THE MATTER WHICH WE HAVE OFTEN COMMENDED FROM OUR HEART'

Footnotes

'THE MATTER WHICH WE HAVE OFTEN COMMENDED FROM OUR HEART': Whilst ostensibly encouraging negotiations on the woollen trade, Henry's motive for writing this letter may well have been connected to the first, secret peace-making visit to England of the Genoese born French ambassador Giovanni Gioachino da Passano in June 1524. The previous year, Henry had allied with Emperor Charles V and Charles Duke of Bourbon in an unsuccessful attack on France. Bourbon retreated to Genoa where Henry's secretary Richard Pace (c.1482-1536) mentioned here, had persuaded him to attempt to make plans for another attack on France, despite Henry himself losing interest in the scheme. At the same time, Wolsey, Archbishop of York, appealed to the Pope to ask the French to send a peacemaker to England. Passano is supposed to have been an envoy from Louise of Savoy, the French Queen mother, but this letter implies that the Genoese government, allies of the Bourbons, were also parties to the peace-making move. As well as specifically mentioning "the recovery of taxes on woollen goods", the following phrase "and in the matter which we have often commented from our heart" would seem to allude to more secret matters which the King could not express in writing. The letter additionally mentions Brian Tuke, the King's French secretary (and Wolsey's former secretary). It is written in the fine italic hand of the King's Latin secretary Peter Vannes and bears his signature at the foot.

Antoniotto II Adorno (c.1479-1528), an illustrious member of a distinguished Genoese family, held the post of Doge of the Republic of Genoa from 1522 to 1527, the last of the Genoese Doges to be elected for life.