Report and Answer to the Bavarian-Anhalt Secret Chancellery

Against the Bavarian-Anhalt Chancellery.

B 3

...is not to be wondered at, for he is high-spirited original: magnanimus and aspires to the highest things original: ad altissima aspirirt; just as many years ago, before the establishment of the Union, he let it be known secretly through trusted persons to the ambassadors of a Protestant Prince (who is still living and who had been sent to him on private business) that if it should ever come to a vacancy of the Empire original: vacationem imperii and a new election A reference to the election of the Holy Roman Emperor, he, the Duke of Savoy, would consider it a great honor and fortune for himself and his house if he were deemed worthy enough to be included, alongside other candidates, in the list and nomination of those eligible for election original: nominationem eligendorum, sive eligibilium.

Thus, the Austrians The Habsburg dynasty and the Spaniards will know best whether they have given him cause and occasion to be ill-pleased with them. For one thing, it is no secret that the Imperialists original: Cæsariani; the supporters of the Holy Roman Emperor disgusted him not a little several years ago with their court proceedings in the controversy with the Duke of Mantua The War of the Montferrat Succession (1613–1617); he even published a grievance in Latin through the public press against the aforementioned proceedings, and he was stung to the quick original: ad vivum... pungiret once more when they—spurning the House of Savoy original: spretâ domo Sabaudicâ—entered into a marriage with the sister of his adversary, namely the Duke of Mantua, a prince far inferior in dignity and power.

Regarding the Spaniards, the Duke of Savoy cannot get out of his head the old grudge inherited from his father because of the judgment by which Emperor Charles V Reigned 1519–1556 awarded the Margraviate of Monferrat to Frederick, Duke of Mantua, against all right and equity (as the Savoyards believe) and only for the purpose that the Duke of Mantua would not be moved by an adverse judgment to defect from Charles V to Francis I, King of France. Furthermore, it creates no good blood between the said Duke and the Spaniards that they wish to dispute his dowry agreements original: pacta dotalia, especially a clause concerning the Duchy of Milan; this weighs on his mind so much that years ago he entered into a most strict alliance original: arctissimum fœdus with the late King of France Henry IV and also obtained the current King’s sister as a wife for his eldest son, undoubtedly to secure a strong support in time for the assertion and maintenance of the aforementioned dowry agreements.

It was deemed useful to cite these specific details here so that the reader may clearly perceive on what basis the compiler [of the Anhaltische Kanzlei] in his book accuses the members of the Union—and especially certain heads and their councilors—as if everyone else were perfectly satisfied and no one else were discontented, had cause for complaint, or felt aggrieved; and as if only the Unionists, or the directors and their councilors, were to be the cause of all ill-will, misunderstanding, and unrest in Christendom.