Source: 145 Sec Brev Reg F 116 (1589)
Citation:
Bosio's edition of the Statutes of the Knights of Malta (1589), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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Sec. Brev. Reg. 145 F. 116
Privilege Summary
Translation
His Holiness Our Lord Sixtus V by one of his Letters sent in Rome on the 18th of July of the present year 1589 has granted permission to Signor Giacomo Bosio acting for the Holy Order of Jerusalem [Knights of Malta], to have the present By-laws that he has translated into the vernacular [Italian] printed together with the Privileges of the Holy Order, by whichever printer he chooses; notwithstanding whatever Privilege [previously] granted to whatsoever person, under whose force it would have been prohibited that the above-referenced By-laws and Privileges be printed by anyone other than themselves.[1] Forbidding expressly, that no one may print or have printed the By-laws of the said Holy Order translated into the vernacular, without the permission and order of the Most Illustrious Cardinal Grand Master [of the Knights of Malta], under penalty of 500 ducats, with respect to the subjects of the Papal State, and with respect to the others, under penalty of excommunication.
Handwritten Privilege
Translation
[1-6] For the future memory of the matter. Just as by our other letters in forma brevis, dated at Saint Mark’s on the 29th day of October 1588, verily in the fourth year of our pontificate we have granted, by motu proprio, to our dear son Tolomeo Veltronio, brother of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, that:
[6-15] By certain censures and penalties herein set forth, no one else besides him or another who possesses the right from him, or unless [one has] the express permission of our dear son Cardinal Hugo, the Grandmaster, and of Tolomeo himself, might print the statutes of the Hospitaller Order, which the same Tolomeo, here in our Beloved City, as we have learned, had undertaken to print with the figures and likenesses of the grandmasters, and with certain other images; nor might [they] arrange for them to be printed.
[15-31] Nevertheless, moved by the prayers of the same man, our dear son the Grandmaster Cardinal Hugo, we grant and permit the authority and the ability, by motu simili, to our dear son Jacobo Boscio, the chronicler of the affairs of the Hospitaller Order in Rome, that [he may arrange] for the same bylaws—which from the order of the Grandmaster Cardinal himself he translated into the vernacular Italian speech for the common [use] of the brothers of the Hospitaller Order, and particularly for those who do not possess the exact skill of the Latin language—together with the privileges of the aforementioned Hospitaller Order, and with certain signs added by him for greater use here in this propitious city or outside it, or wherever it seems good to him, and by whichever typographer, or printer of books, although without the aforesaid figures and images , and to cause it to be printed, with the permission of no one required, freely and licitly,
[31-41] notwithstanding the aforesaid, or any other privilege granted by us, or by our predecessors, the Roman Pontiffs, at any other time to any persons, typographers, or printers of books, or even to the brothers of the aforementioned Hospitaller Order, and also whatever inhibitions or decisions of the said privileges forewarned by any authority of Judges, lest such statutes, privileges, and indulgences are printed or arranged to be printed by others.
[41-50] Ordering and restraining each and every one of the Christian faithful of whatever status, rank, position, or preeminence they appear to have, and particularly the typographers, printers of books, and all booksellers dwelling anywhere in our Beloved City, or its district, and in the entire ecclesiastic state subject directly or indirectly to us and to the Holy Roman Church,
[50-52] under the penalty of five hundred ducats of gold from their treasury, to be given to our exchequer, and to others verily under the broad sentence of excommunication (penalties),
[52-60] lest they dare or presume, by any pretense, trick, or artifice, to print the statutes of the same Hospitaller Order, having been translated into the vulgar Italian speech, without its figures and images, or [lest they] arrange for them to be printed without the special mandate and permission of the same Cardinal Grandmaster, and [lest they] hinder the same Jacobo Boscio, or those whom he permits to print the said statutes.
[61-72] Notwithstanding even the apostolic customs constitutions and ordinances, privileges, and also indulgences, and [notwithstanding] the apostolic letters granted, approved, and renewed to any persons, and even to the brothers of the Hospitaller Order, under whatever tenors and forms, and with whatever exceptions from the derogations, and other more effective and unfamiliar clauses, and voiding clauses, and other decrees [made by] even motu proprio and ex certa scientia, and consistorialiter[2], and otherwise to the contrary in any way,
[72-78] to all of which, even if concerning them and also their entire tenors, specific, express, individual mention, or some other utterance that would come about—not however, by the same common clauses here in this case; to the extent of those clauses specially and expressly we derogate them, and all other things to the contrary whatsoever. Dated in Rome at Saint Mark's on the 18th day of July, 1589, in the fifth year.
Our Most Holy Lord ordered it to be accomplished
S. Card. Lancelottus
M. Vestrius Barbianus
[1] This probably references the 1588 Privilege to Tolomeo Veltroni, Sec Brev Reg 138 F. 1039, to print an illustrated edition of the By-laws of the Knights of Malta.
[2] Motu proprio means that the favor, law, or regulation in question is being provided at the pope's own wish rather than as the result of a petition, at least in theory. Ex certa scientia meant that the Pope has his own knowledge of the situation (rather than, perhaps, having just been told about it by his advisors). Both phrases ensure that the document in question is valid even if fraud would otherwise viatiate it. For example, because motu proprio indicates that the pope is acting on his own initiative and ex certa scientia indicates that the pope is acting on his own knowledge, the document has effect even if the reasons alleged for its issuance turn out to be false. Consistorialiter does not seem to have as formal a definition as the other two phrases, but its literal translation ("in/from/as per a consistory") suggests that it refers to decrees or decisions made in a consistory, i.e., a formal meeting of the College of Cardinals. See Patrick Zutshi, The Papal Chancery and English Documents in the Fourteenth and Early Fifteenth Centuries, in Papsturkunde und europäisches Urkundenwesen : Studien zu ihrer formalen und rechtlichen Kohärenz vom 11. bis 15. Jahrhundert 201, 207 (Peter Herde & Hermann Jakobs eds., 1999), http://elec.enc.sorbonne.fr/cid/cid1996/art_12.
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