Archives of the Secretary of State 
55 
comunicarlo ”. 19 The nuncios, however, often regarded this portion of their 
duty as a burden, and strictly confined the news they sent to the regions for 
which they were especially responsible. 20 The Cena collection contains an 
instruction for the secretary of a nuncio, as to the collection of this news. 21 
A wide personal acquaintance and open ears were the chief requisites. The 
intent seems to have been to send verified news only. Thus the collector of 
Portugal in 1586, after receiving reproofs from the secretary of state and the 
nuncio in Spain, because of the little news he sent of the Indies, replied: 
“ Che credo in cio non haver punto mancato, quando ho havuto cosa vera et 
relevante, che l’altri novelle non e molto mia professione scriverli ”. 22 The 
nuncio of Spain, alsp, wrote in 1587: “ Quello che si sa di certo delle cose di 
Drake si scrive nelli avisi. Qua diro solamente alcune cosi, chi si vanno dis- 
correndo tra personi di giuditio ”. 23 In spite of this care the news-letters do 
not escape false and surprising rumors. 24 Probably the value of the informa¬ 
tion they contain decreases in direct ratio with the distance of the events 
described from the person of the nuncio. For the courts to which they were 
accredited the news is accurate and important, the value of that from out of 
town depends upon the source from which they derived it. On the whole 
the nuncios had about as good opportunities as any news-collectors of the 
time,* and as they very frequently mention their sources, the reader can exer¬ 
cise the usual historical tests. 
The papal news-gatherers were quick to avail themselves of the printed 
gazette. In 1666 the nuncio of France mentions the custom of sending the 
Journal des Sgavansf 5 and after this, news-letters bear evidence of being 
chiefly founded upon such material, often containing long translated extracts. 
With this development their value diminishes, and after the seventeenth cen¬ 
tury they are of little use. During the eighteenth century the plain letters, 
in which the nuncio comments upon the news in the light of personal informa¬ 
tion, conversations, etc., became the more valuable. These news-letters of 
nuncios should be distinguished from the ordinary news-letters of unofficial 
character which circulated so freely in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 
and which contained, on the whole, more of gossip and less of accurate reports. 
With their dispatches the nuncios sent many enclosed documents. After 
the middle of the seventeenth century there is nearly always to be found a 
list of the several pieces brought by each courier. Such enclosures included 
letters forwarded through the nuncios, reports of their administrative work, 
copies of public documents of the countries to which they were accredited, and 
printed books and papers. These enclosures were ordinarily forwarded to 
13 Nun. di Portogallo 12, Aug. 16. Other examples are, same vol., Oct. 17, 1606: 
“ delle novi delle Indie desiderevamo d’intendere migliore nuove. Forsi piacera a Dio 
che arrive a salvamente la flotta che si aspettave in Spagna, che saria bene secondo li 
nostri bisogni di qua, dove habbiamo una estrema penuria di danaro, in tempo che per 
la pertinace e ostinatione dei Venetiani che a tutto lor potere vogliono contaminare 
ITtalie con la heresia, siamo in una precisa necessita spendere profusamente.” Also. 
Angelica 1220 (S-6-12), Jan. 19, 1613. 
20 Dom R. Ancel, M. D. R., “ fitude Critique sur quelques Recueils d’Avvisi ”, in 
Melanges d’Arch. et d’Hist., vol. XXVIII., no. vi., pp. n 5 -i 39 > esp. p. 127. 
21 Miscellanea , arm. III., 34, ff. 599-606, “ Modo di procurare gli Avvisi, e distendere 
il Foglio continuato d’essi per il Seg rio d’un Nuntio ”. 
22 Nun. di Portogallo 1A., f. 77 - 
Nun. di Spagna XIX., f. 197, Aug. 10. 
24 Nun. di Spagna 4, f. 22. 
25 Nun. di Francia CXXXI., Mar. 5. 
5 
