MEDICI, RAFFAELE DE', 1477-1555.
Letters, 1520-1521.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 043 

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CITATION: Raffaele de' Medici, Letters, MSS 043, Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University. 

Raffaele de' Medici, of the Florentine Medici family, was born in 1477. He was present at the coronation of Pope Leo X in 1513, and in 1519, was appointed commissioner at Borgo S. Sepolcro. Later, he was created a knight of St. James by the Emperor Charles V. In 1532, de' Medici was named one of the forty-eight senators at Florence. He was commissioner at Pisa, in 1542, and at Pistoia, in 1545. Raffaele de' Medici died on 1 September 1555.

Girolamo [Hieronomo] Aleandro, an Italian scholar and cardinal, was born at Motta di Livenza, near Venice, on 13 February 1480. Pope Leo X appointed him as the apostolic nuncio to Charles V in 1520. That appointment was made to allow Aleandro to combat Martin Luther. At the Diet of Worms, April 1521, he denounced Luther and convinced the Diet to condemn him. Aleandro died in Rome on 1 February 1542.

The collection consists of three letters, addressed to Raffaele de' Medici, concerning Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms. Two of the letters are from Girolamo [Hieronomo] Aleandro, both in Italian, dated 5 May 1520 and 1 June 1521. In the second letter, Aleandro writes that it was he who composed the Edict of Worms, which placed Luther under the ban of the Church and State. The third letter in, French, was written by Henry de Lesomet, from Worms, on 29 April 1521, and concerns the Court and the leave-taking of Martin Luther.

The letter dated 5 May 1520 (21 x 23 cm.) has a water mark of a bishop's head piece. An external marking in pencil, "1056A", appears on the verso.

The letter dated 1 June 1521 (21 x 33 cm.) has an external marking, "1056", in pencil on the verso.

The letter dated 29 April 1521 (22 x 22 cm.) has a 2 cm. cut in seven places. This cut was apparently made when the document was folded, as they appear to match.

Each letter is accompanied by typewritten transcription and English translation. Photographs have been made for each.