Letter #424
Alfonso de VALDÉS to Ioannes DANTISCUSToledo, 1529-02-01
English register:
Valdés informs Dantiscus that all his friends are well except young Johannes Obernburger, who was close to dying but recovered. Some died of the same disease, Cortés is also ill and it is uncertain if he survives. The emperor is sticking to his plans [of traveling to Italy]. The pope was very ill and there was even talk of electing his successor. The French don’t like Rome [as the seat of the pope] because of the proximity of the imperial army. Valdés puts himself in the position of someone without real influence on events, a spectator in the theatrum mundi.
received Valladolid, [1529-02-08] Manuscript sources:
Auxiliary sources:
Prints:
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Text & apparatus & commentaryPlain textText & commentaryText & apparatus
Clarissimo viro, Domino Ioanni Dantisco, serenissimi regis Poloniae oratori
Salutem plurimam.
Collegam tuum meis litteris vacuum ad te venire nolui. Nos hic tui rectissime valemus omnes, praeter unum Ioannem Oberemburgensem, qui parum afuit, quin Stigiam paludem navigarit. Servavit tamen nobis bonum iuvenem divina bonitas. Periere nonnulli eodem morbo. Cortesius adhuc periclitatur et haud scio, utrum illi magis expediat morine an vivere, ut nunc quidem res humanae reguntur. Caesar in sua sententia perstat. Quid futurum sit, Deus ipse novit. Pontifex Romanus pugnabat cum morte atque aegre sustinebat conflictum. Uter eorum vicerit, incertum. Agebatur iam Romae de novo pontifice designando. Allegabant Galli suspectam Romam ob vicina caesaris arma dumque illi tumultuantur, nos, quibus in hoc mundi theatro spectatoris munus a superis datum est, fabulae exitum exspectabimus.
Vale.
Toleti, Calendis Februarii 1529.
Tuus Valdesius