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Bernardo Giunti's privilege for Machiavelli's works, Vatican (1531)

Source:
scanned from the manuscript held in the Vatican Secret Archives: ASVat, Armadio 40; tomo 37, c. 297r-v, doc. nr 573.

Citation:
Bernardo Giunti's privilege for Machiavelli's works (1531), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

Record Images


Record-ID:
i_1531a

Full title
Pope Clement VII's privilege to Bernardo Giunti for printing Niccolo Machiavelli's works, 20 December 1531

Full title original language
N/A

Abstract
An indult issued by Pope Clement VII on 20 December 1531, conceding to the Florentine printer Antonio Giunti a ten-year copyright for the publication of three works by Niccolò Machiavelli in derogation of the earlier exclusive right to print Machiavelli's works granted to the Roman printer Antonio Blado (23 August 1531). Both privileges claim to offer "universal" protection, covering all of Christendom. Giunti's privilege mentions two mitigating circumstances: that Blado had already sold out a major part of his output and so Giunti's edition would not jeopardise his investments; and that Giunti had obtained the concession from Machiavelli's heirs, whereas Blado had not. The enactment of these two privileges constitutes an important episode in the history of "universal" privileges granted on papal authority and their increasingly controversial nature which pitted the spiritual "universal" power of the Church against local temporal jurisdictions. The commentary describes the background of these two privileges, in particular the politics of papal privileges, their validity and efficiency throughout various jurisdictions in Italy and beyond. The commentary suggests that privileges given on papal spiritual authority were often considered to be of questionable validity by the temporal powers, particularly Venice which was the first state to ignore the privileges granted to Blado and Giunti and grant its own privileges for Machiavelli's works.

Bibliography
Fontana, Pierina, "Inizi della proprietà letteraria nello stato pontificio", "Accademie e Bibliotece d'Italia" 3 (1929-1930): 204-221
Frajese, Vittorio, "Note su Machiavelli", "Studi Storici: Rivista Trimestrale dell'Istituto Gramsci" 38 (1997): 135-155
_____., "Regolamentazione e controllo delle pubblicazioni negli antichi Stati italiani", in "Produzione e commercio della carta e del libro (Florence, 1992), 692-700
Pincin, Carlo, "Sul testo del Machiavelli: I Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di Tito Livio", "Atti della Accademia delle scienze di Torino" 96, nr 2 (1961-1962): 71-178
Procacci, Giuliano, "Machiavelli nella cultura europea" (Rome: Laterza, 1995)
_____., "Studi sulla fortuna del Machiavelli" (Rome: Istituto storico italiano per l'età moderna e contemporanea, 1965)
Stella, Aldo, "Chiesa e stato nelle relazioni dei nunzi pontifici a Venezia: Ricerche sul giurisdizionalismo veneziano dal XVI al XVIII secolo", "Studi e testi", 239 (Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1964)

Related documents in this database

Author
N/A

Publisher
N/A

Location
Vatican

Year
1531

Language
Latin

Source
scanned from the manuscript held in the Vatican Secret Archives: ASVat, Armadio 40; tomo 37, c. 297r-v, doc. nr 573.

Physical description
1 parchment sheet; approximately 29 x 23cm; collated in a leather bound codex; handwritten

Illustrations tables
N/A

Persons referred to
Blado, Antonio (1490-1567)
Blosio Palladio (d.1550)
Clement VII (1478-1534)
Giunti, Bernardo (d.c.1550)
Giunti, Filippo (c.1456-1517)
Machiavelli, Niccolo (1469-1527)

Persons referred to in commentary
Blado, Antonio (1490-1567)
Clement VII (1478-1534)
Giunti, Bernardo (d.c.1550)
Machiavelli, Niccolo (1469-1527)

Places referred to
Florence
Rome

Places referred to in commentary
N/A

Legislation referred to
Papal printing privilege for Antonio Blado (1531)
Papal printing privilege for Filippo Giunti's heirs (1531)

Legislation referred to in commentary
Papal printing privilege for Antonio Blado (1531)
Papal printing privilege for Filippo Giunti's heirs (1531)

Cases referred to
N/A

Cases referred to in commentary
N/A

Institutions referred to
N/A

Institutions referred to in commentary
N/A

Key words
author/publisher relations
excommunication
privileges, Papal

Responsible editor
N/A




Copyright status

Concession nr 46.754

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Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, 10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ, UK