Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Relating to English Affairs

This is the fourth volume in a seven-volume collection - published in nine parts between 1864 and 1890 - comprising Venetian and other northern Italian state papers relating to England. Translator and editor Rawdon Lubbock Brown (1806-83) lived for many years in Venice, had unrivalled access to the Venetian archives and travelled widely to find documents in other Italian libraries and archives. He had previously published two volumes of Sebastian Giustinian's dispatches to Venice from Henry VIII's court (also reissued in this series). This fourth volume contains documents from the years 1527-33, including the important diaries of Marin Sanuto, which chronicle the momentous period when Henry was seeking a divorce from Catherine of Aragon and when Cardinal Wolsey's failure to have the marriage annulled led to his downfall. The editor's preface puts the various documents into historical context, and an appendix of miscellaneous items is also included.