PBA Galleries

[2], 8, [2], 9-218, [2] pp. (the last page blank). A6, B-Z4, a-c4, d6. Title within woodcut architectural border incorporating device of Johann Schoeffer. (4to) 20x14.5 cm (8x5¾"), modern vellum, marbled endpapers & edges. First Edition.

Scarce and important gathering of documents and letters sent and issued by Charles V and Pope Clement VII to and toward one another in the events leading to the Sack of Rome by Charles's troops in the year of this publication. His armies had defeated Francis I at Pavia, ending his war with France for the control of Lombardy. The Pope absolved Francis from his sworn word on the instrument of surrender and organized the League of Cognac to oppose Charles. The letters of Charles V were actually written by A. Valdés, a friend of Erasmus; those of Clemens VII  by J. Sadoleto, a liberal humanist educator and scholar. The present work was suppressed by Charles V later in his reign.