53 
Archives of the Secretary of State 
U«V v ° 
It was only under Leo X. that this new officer began in an orderly and regular 
manner to take charge of the whole diplomatic correspondence, and it is only 
with his pontificate that the archives of this office begin to be full and im¬ 
portant. The first secretary of the new type was Pietro Ardinghelli, and he 
was not independent in his action, as he was controlled by a cardinal delegated 
with the papal signature. This cardinal was Giulio de’ Medici, and under 
him the office of giving the papal signature to the writings of the secretary 
of state became the first in actual importance in the papacy. In 1537 the 
department of state was organized, with a secretary of state, and secretaries 
of letters to princes, of ciphers, and of Latin letters. 6 
Under Gregory XIII., in 1572, the offices of secretary of state and of the 
cardinal di segnatura became combined in the person of the Cardinal di Como. T 
From this time it became customary for the “ cardinal nephew ” to exercise 
this office, to which accrued the immense prestige and power, inevitable from 
such close connection with the Holy Father. 8 Practically the secretary of 
state became first minister, and his control of foreign affairs was but one field 
of his activity. The archives reflect this general interest, although they re¬ 
main chiefly diplomatic. This period of nepotism was brought to a close by 
the bull of Innocent XII., in 1691, which severely curtailed the privilege of 
the nephews of the popes. 9 The traditions of the office, however, proved 
sufficiently strong to endure the change, and the secretary of state continues 
to be, to all intent, first minister, though the archives show some restriction 
of field, due to the more clear-cut articulation of public business. It is obvious 
that the material of the collection is of the widest scope, as will be found more 
particularly explained in the introductions to the several subdivisions. 
NUNZIATURE. 
The organized system of papal representation followed closely the develop¬ 
ment of the secretariate of state. 10 In fact for centuries the papal collectors 
had resided in every country of Europe, and while their functions were chiefly 
financial and their correspondence was with the Camera, 11 they were quite 
obviously the prototypes out of which the later system of nuncios developed. 
The legates a latere, also, who from time to time represented the interests of 
the papacy when important crises arose, contributed to make the idea of rep¬ 
resentation familiar and to create a technique of diplomacy. The nuncio in 
in Spain was from 1528 also a legate, 12 and generally had the title and exercised 
the function of a collector-general, thus inheriting the traditions of those of- 
8 Hinojosa, Los Despachos, pp. 29 and 37. 
7 Grimaldi, Les Congregations Romanics, p. 13; P. O. von Torne, Ptolemee Gallio, 
Cardinal de Como (Paris, 1907), £>p. 107-135. 
8 Ibid. Also Anton Pieper, Die Pdpstlichen Legaten und Nuntien in Deutschland, 
Frankreich und Spanien seit der Mitte dcs XVI. Jahrhunderts (Munster, 1897), pp. 
121-124. 
9 Grimaldi, Les Congregations Romanies, p. 15. 
10 Anton Pieper, Zur Entstehungsgeschichte der stdndigen Nuntiaturen (Freiburg i. 
B., 1894) ; P. Richard, “ Origines de la Nonciature de France: Nonces Residents avant 
Leon X.”, in Revue des Questions Historiques, LXXVIII. 136 seq.; id., “Origines des 
Nonciatures Permanentes : La Representation Pontificale au XV e Siecle (1450-1513)”, 
in Revue d’Histoire Ecclesiastique, VII. 52-70, 317-338; S. Steinberg, “Die Facultaten 
eines papstlichen Nuntius im 16. Jahrhundert ”, in Mittheilungen des Instituts fur 
Oesterreichische Geschichtsforschung, XIX. 327-342. 
11 P. Richard, “Origines des Nonciatures”, in Revue d’Hist. Eccl, VII. 54~56, 3 I 9 ~ 
337 - 
12 Hinojosa, Los Despachos, p. 13. 
