Archivio Segreto 
29 
Arm. XLI. There were originally 72 volumes of minutes of briefs, from 
1536 to 1554. Those marked as remaining, all in arm. XL., are the 
following: 
2 - 3 . 1536. 
21. 1541. 
39 . 1547. 
50 . 1537. 
51 - 54 . 1534-1549. 
Arm. XLII. There were originally 63 volumes of minutes of briefs, from 
Julius III. to Urban VIII. The following are noted as remaining, 
and as at present in arm. XL: 
9 - 10 , 12 . Paul IV. 
14 . Pius IV. 
37 - 38 , 40 - 42 . Gregory VIII. 
48 - 51 . Clement VIII. 
52 - 57 . Paul V. 
58 - 62 . Urban VIII. 
Arm. XLIII. There were originally 32 volumes of minutes of briefs, from 
Urban VIII. to Clement X. Those noted as remaining follow, of 
which the numbers through 13 are at present in arm. XL.: 
1 - 5 , 7 - 13 . 1630-1649. 
14 - 15 . Innocent X. 
16 , 18 - 24 . Alexander VII. 
26 - 28 . Clement IX. 
29 - 30 , 32 . Clement X. 
Arm. XLIV. and XLV. contain briefs to princes which are separately dis¬ 
cussed later. 
Indici 290-319 index this series of briefs. The first 13 numbers were the 
work of many years. They were finished in 1626, and cover well the period 
1523-1549. The subsequent volumes through 317 , which were less carefully 
done, continue the same scheme down through Urban VIII. The arrange¬ 
ment is chronological and alphabetical. The references for each year form a 
unit. These are divided according to the initial letter of the diocese, or 
occasionally according to subject, and those falling under each letter are 
again divided according to the month—a system less cumbrous to use, than 
to describe. There are no references to the volumes other than what the 
date gives, for there was at the time of compilation no inventory, but the 
volumes were probably ordered chronologically. Later, when De Pretis made 
his inventory, the arrangement seems to have become disordered, and refer¬ 
ence is now a matter of labor and uncertainty. There are no later index 
volumes except one by Garampi, “ Rerum et Negotior’ S. A. S. a Pio IV. 
(1560) ad Innoc. XII. (1700), Synopsis ex Regriis Brevium quae in Archivo 
Secretiore Vaticano asservantur ”. This is a fragment only, numbers 318 
and 319 representing the first two of the four parts of which it was, or was 
to be composed. This index is geographically arranged, and in the missing 
parts there were to be references to the Indies. The parts existing are barren 
of anything pertinent to the subject. 
Indice 317 , for the briefs of Urban VIII., again refers to nothing local to 
the subject, but to many briefs for Lima and Mexico, containing statutes for 
universities with the right to grant degrees, indulgences, and dispensations 
to enter the priesthood in spite of defect in birth; for ladies to have com- 
