Prodromus or Fore-runner

...best situated to obtain the consent of that same King King Philip IV of Spain, they dispatched a Capuchin monk to Spain. Likewise, the Papal Nuncios Nuncio A permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a sovereign state or court both within and outside the Empire must push for and promote this matter everywhere, as can be read in various letters from Cardinal Ludovisi and the Nuncio in Vienna.

Now, however, it is well known from the Imperial Capitulation Electoral Capitulation The constitutional contract an Emperor-elect signed to guarantee the rights of the Imperial Estates and the official records of the Empire that—apart from the Concordats of the Princes of Germany original: "concordatis Principum Germaniæ"; historical treaties governing the relationship between the German church and the Papacy and spiritual matters original: "spiritualibus"—the Roman Pope has absolutely nothing to do with the Empire, even where the Ecclesiastical Estates Territories ruled by high-ranking clergy, such as Prince-Bishops are concerned.

Indeed, it is a matter of record that when the Pope attempted to create all sorts of difficulties for Emperor Ferdinand Ferdinand I (reigned 1556–1564), who succeeded his brother Charles V after the resignation and abdication of Emperor Charles V, and sought to interfere regarding the confirmation of the title, such efforts were regarded as worthless by Emperor Ferdinand, the collective Electors, and the entire Empire.

This is to say nothing of the fact that the Pope does not have the slightest power remaining, nor should he have any standing, right, or authority to concern himself with or take action regarding the Secular Electors and their Houses, or other Protestant Estates in the Empire. For this reason, in the very first article of the Imperial Capitulation, the Secular Electors reserved the right—both in that article and the 15th—not to bind themselves or a King of the Romans King of the Romans The title given to the successor-designate of the Holy Roman Emperor to anything concerning the Pope in Rome. Furthermore, through the Religious Peace The Peace of Augsburg (1555), which established the legal principle of "Cuius regio, eius religio," allowing princes to choose between Catholicism and Lutheranism, all deference regarding the Protestant Electors and Estates toward the