Source: Vatican Secret Archives Sec Brev Reg 138 F. 1040 (1588)
Citation:
Petition of and Privilege to Tolomeo Veltroni for illustrated edition of the Statutes of the Knights of Malta, Vatican (1588), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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1 translated page
Chapter 1 Page 6
Superscript = inserted by original or different author between lines
[ ] = inserted by original or different author in margin
{ } = supplied by transcribers
Script [or] Bold Script or scribble = written in a different hand(s)
Strike through = crossed out, but legible
[XXX] = illegible
Sec. Brev. Reg. 138 F. 1040r
Italian Petition
Translation
Friar Brother Tolomeo Veltroni, the most humble Catholic servant of Your Blessedness, having with your most blessed agreement and that of the superiors of his order had printed the precepts [bylaws] of that Religion [religious order] with much expense and diligence, and however apprehending that others will to his great prejudice reprint the said precepts [bylaws] begs your Holiness to condescend on his own motion to prohibit on his own motion others from printing the said book whether in Latin or in the vernacular without the express command and privilege of the Grand Master Cardinal, subject to the same penalties granted by Your Holiness in the order sought by at the request of [magister] Girolamo Catena for his work on the life of Pius V of beloved memory; that is subject to the penalty of major excommunication, of [a sum] 500 [ducats] and the loss of the books, to be applied to the [Apostolic?] Chamber, which [will be] received by [your] most singular grace and all with prayers to our lord God for the long and happy life of Your Blessedness.
Our Most Holy Lord approved [this petition] A. Car. Carafa
Handwritten Privilege
Translation
Pope Sixtus V
For the future memory of the matter:
[1-8] Since our dear son Tolomeo Veltroni, brother of the Knights Hospitaller, undertook to print— not without great labors, payments, and expenses in the city—the bylaws with the figures and images or likenesses of the Grand Masters of the aforementioned order, by our consent and by order of his own superiors; and [he] fears lest it would cause a loss of his toils, payments, and expenses of this kind if the bylaws and work of this kind were published by others without his permission.
[9-15] We, wanting to protect him from injury in this matter—by apostolic authority—grant and indulge in the tenor of the present decrees to the same Tolomeo, that no other person—except he himself or one holding the right from him or unless they have the express permission of our dear son Hugo, the Deacon, called Cardinal Verdala of the [church] of St. Mary by the Portico, the Grandmaster of the aforementioned order, and of the aforementioned Tolomeo—may or ought to print or fashion, or arrange for the bylaws to be printed or fashioned, nor sell it having been printed or fashioned by others both elsewhere and anywhere, nor keep or hold for sale the aforesaid bylaws or [a version in] idiomatic Italian along with the figures, and images, or effigies of this kind or without them, [which bylaws] have not yet been printed in this form
[16-29] and [applying to those] now printed or to-be-printed by [one] holding the right from the same Tolomeo; both in the aforesaid city and in its district, and in the entire remainder of the Ecclesiastic state, subject to us and to the Holy Roman Church either directly or indirectly, for ten uninterrupted years beginning from the date of the present [decrees], by himself or by another or others, in public or hidden, directly or indirectly, principally or incidentally, or even in whole or in part, neither in small nor in great nor in whatever other volumen, folio, or form, nor on paper or papyrus nor on parchment nor on whatever other material, and also both jointly and divided or separated,
[29-36] strictly restraining each and every member of the Christian faithful, and persons of both sexes, and of whatever dignity, position, rank, order, or condition they were or are, especially indeed to the printers, booksellers, wood-block cutters, engravers, and other aforementioned persons called by whatever name, existing or abiding both in the city and in its district and in the whole aforementioned state, present and future, in the virtue of holy obedience,
[36-43] and under penalty of a greater sentence of excommunication latae sententiae, and also [under penalty] of five hundred ducats of gold from the treasury, and of the loss of books, works, types, images, figures or likenesses, and their tools—one half of those things for the apostolic treasury and the other part for their accuser—and likewise of the loss of the types, books, figures, or likenesses, with as much compensation brought to the same Tolomeo; [such penalties shall] befall as often as there is a violation, by the deed itself and without a declaration of any judge, [XXXXXXXXXXXXX][1]...
[44-49] ...lest they dare or intend, while the aforementioned ten years continue, to print, fashion, sculpt, or engrave, or arrange to be printed, fashioned, sculpted, or engraved as aforesaid or in
any other way the precepts, the images, figures, or likenesses of this kind without the express permission of the aforementioned Grandmaster Cardinal Hugo and Tolomeo.
[49-56] Therefore ordering our beloved sons, the Chamberlain and Vicar of the said city, and also the Mayor and the Senator, and the Auditor General of the Apostolic Treasury (of the Court of Pleas), and also the legates, vice-legates, mayors and powers of [XXXX] places and of cities subject to us and to the same Roman Church directly or indirectly and their barigelli[2] and executors whomsoever, and the venerable brothers, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and other ordinaries of places and their vicars and ministers,
[56-62] as often as they are requested by the aforementioned Tolomeo or by his name, to assist by the protection of effective legal prosecution, and to advance each and all the decrees to the execution of all the aforesaid censures and penalties against the disobedient and wrongdoers— with whatever appeal held back—and without making any other declaration in addition.
[62-70] Also, let him call upon the help of the secular arm if there is need of it in this matter. Since it may be difficult in other respects, we want the present decrees to be delivered to each and every place, and we decide by the said authority that the same altogether-complete trust should apply to copies or models of these letters, underwritten by the hand of a notary public and reinforced by the seal of a person situated in ecclesiastic dignity, or printed in the works themselves both in judgment and outside it, and with whatever rule to the contrary not standing in the way at all, which would be applied to the present decrees if they were exhibited or shown.
[70-74] Notwithstanding whatever apostolic decrees and ordinances, and statutes and customs reinforced by oath of the said city, by apostolic verification, or by whatever other measure, and other things to the contrary whatsoever. Dated in Rome at Saint Marks under the Ring of the Fisherman on the 29th day of October 1588 in the fourth year of our Pope.
Our Most Holy Lord ordered that it should be done.
Card. Lancellottus
J. Ang. Papius
[1] Illegible, but possibly “by apostolic authority by the tenor of the present {decrees}, we quite strictly restrain and forbid that…”
[2] Untranslatable, but likely some sort of local magistrate or official.
Translation by: Jane C. Ginsburg