The papal bulls of 1461 may be considered as the first published documents concerning international relations. The electoral prince and archbishop of Mainz was, by the Golden Bull (i, 16), charged with summoning his colleagues "for the purpose of electing a king of the Romans and future emperor," with celebrating the mass and administering the oath. He was archchancellor of the Empire. Diether von Isenburg (1412-82) was archbishop and electoral prince of Mainz in 1461. On August 8, 1461, Emperor Frederick III issued a confirmation of his deposition, the successor to the dignity being Adolf of Nassau (d. 1475). This document was published at Mainz in a broadside by Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer,15 former associates of Gutenberg. On August 21, 1461, Pope Pius II issued a bull from Tivoli, In apostolicae sedis specula, respecting the deposition of Diether, and on the same day another, Cum nos hodie, against his exercising the electoral vote. Both of these were published at Mainz by Fust and Schöffer.16 Other documents relating to the same incident are also extant.17

The publication of these documents gave the public knowledge of what was a true international incident. The deposition of an archchancellor of the Empire and imperial elector was a political event of high importance in the relations of the states constituting the Holy Roman Empire. But, even further, the incident itself was one of the opening crises in the conflict that resulted in the Reformation. The phase of it to which the cited documents relate was closed by an agreement between Diether and Adolf, signed at Mainz November 17, 1461, by which Diether was confirmed in the possession of certain lands and property, while Adolf retained the position of elector.18

15 Seymour de Ricci, Catalogue raisonné des premières impressions de Mayence (1445-1467) (Mainz, 1911), no. 69; Dieterich Reichling, Appendices ad HainiiCopingeri Repertorium Bibliographicum (Monachii, 1905-11); Walter Arthur Copinger, Supplement to Hain's Repertorium Bibliographicum (London, 18951902), no. 2587; Robert Proctor, An Index to the Early Printed Books in the British Museum (London, 1898-1903), no. 71; Einblattdrucke des XV. Jahrhun derts. Ein bibliographisches Verzeichnis herausgegeben von der Kommission für den Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (Halle, 1914) (Sammlung bibliothekswissenschaftlicher Arbeiten herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Konrad Haebler. Heft 35/36 [II. serie Heft 18/19]), no. 599. It is one sheet, printed on one side, 167 X 284 mm., 28 lines long. Copies of it are in the Königliche Bibliothek at Berlin, the British Museum, and the Königliches Staatsarchiv at Marburg, with a facsimile in the Kestner Museum at Hanover. The first line reads: "[W]Ir friedrich von gottis gnaden. Romischer Keyser. zu allen czitten merer des Reiches. zu Hungern Dalmacien Croacien etc. Konig . . .'

16 The first is no. 1197 in the Einblattdrucke, no. 82 in Copinger, no. 72 in Proctor, and no. 70 in de Ricci. Copies are in the British Museum and the Königliches Staatsarchiv at Marburg. The document fills 87 lines on a single sheet, printed on one side, 398 X 297 mm. The second is reproduced in facsimile in Jacques Rosenthal's Incunabula Typographica, i, p. 143. It is no. 1198 in the Einblattdrucke, no. 83 in Copinger-Reichling, no. 76 in Proctor, and no. 74 in de Ricci. Copies are in the British Museum and the Göttingen Universitätsbibliothek. The document is of 18 lines on a single sheet, printed on one side, 395 X 293 mm.

17 Vide Einblattdrucke, nos. 1194-96 and 1198, and index under Diether von Isenburg and Adolf von Nassau; de Ricci, op. cit., nos. 71–78.

18 Text in Dumont, Corps universel diplomatique, iii, 1, pp. 270-272; reprinted from Müller, Reichstags Theatrum, Vorstellung, iv, cap. xx, p. 106, and Lünig,

It may be mentioned in passing that the writ of Emperor Frederick III respecting the prolongation of the king's peace was published as a broadside at Augsburg by Günther Zainer after its promulgation at that place on May 14, 1474.19

Pütter 20 records fifteen printings of the Golden Bull of 1356 in Latin from 1474 to 1742, and seven translations from 1476 to 1619. Hain, however, cites two editions without place, date, or printer which may have preceded the folio edition of 1474, which was "impressum per Fridericum Creusner de nuremberga, anno domini Milesimo cccc. septuagesimo quarto."22 Besides one edition in thirty-three pages in German printed by Creusner without date, 23 Hain records an edition of "die goldne Bulle Karls des vierten und Reformation Friedrich des dritten, gedruckt zu Augsburg von Johann Bämler 1476," in folio,24 while Pütter mentions a similar edition at Venice in the same year.

The bull Quamquam leges of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84), dated February 7, 1477/78, relative to the freedom of Frankfort from foreign jurisdiction, was printed at Mainz in that year by Peter Schöffer.25

But it was the matrimonial ventures of youthful royalty that brought treaties that were treaties both in form and substance out of the archives and into print. In the summer of 1475 Edward IV of England landed an army at Calais. Louis XI, who was hard beset by Charles the Bold of Burgundy, sent him splendid gifts, and Edward was soon inclined to peace. The sovereigns met at the castle of Picquigny, near Amiens, and the treaty which was signed there on August 29, 1475, provided for a payment of 75,000 crowns in cash to Edward, and a promise of a marriage between the Dauphin Charles, born on June 30, 1470, and Elizabeth of York, only daughter of Edward, born on February 11, 1466. Sir Richard Tunstall and Thomas Langton were given a royal power by Edward IV at Westminster on August 26, 1478, to conclude the espousals.26 But Louis XI was not inclined to lose the pawn of a marriageable heir so easily, and two years later, on August 24, 1480, John Weston, prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and Langton were commissioned to demand Spicilegium Ecclesiasticum, i, p. 81. As to the whole controversy and its significance, see the lives of Diether von Isenburg by Schwarz (1789-90), Karl Menzel (1868), and Rudolf Glaser (1898). Cf. also de Ricci, nos. 69-78; and Wetzter and Welte, Kirchenlexikon, s. v. Diether von Isenburg.

19 Einblattdrucke, no. 600. The single extant copy known is in the library of the university of Leipzig. It contains 22 lines on one sheet, printed on one side, 103 X 264 mm. Line 1 reads: "(W)ir (F)riderich von gottes gnaden (R)omischer (K)eiser zu allenntzeiten Merer des Reichs zü (H) ungern (D)almacien (C) roacien. &c (K)ünig . . .'

20 Litteratur des Teutschen Staatsrecht, ii, pp. 400 ff.

21 Ludwig Hain, Repertorium Bibliographicum, i, 1, nos. 4073 and 4074. Hain, no. 4075; Lipen, Bibliographia Juridica, i, p. 93.

23 Hain, no. 4077.

24 Hain, no. 4078.

25 Einblattdrucke, no. 1334. It contains 63 lines on a single sheet printed on one side, 292 X 217 mm. The known copy is in the city library at Frankfort. 26 Text in Rymer, xii, p. 89 (original edition); iii, p. 94 (Hague edition).

from the French king the performance of the marriage." Again Louis succeeded in evading the fulfilment of his promise. On December 23, 1482, by treaty at Arras he pledged the Dauphin to Margaret, daughter of Maximilian of Austria. Margaret was publicly betrothed to the Dauphin on June 23, 1483, two months and a half after the death of Edward IV of England, Elizabeth's father, and two months before the death of Louis. But the Dauphin, as Charles VIII, remained single until, receiving after considerable difficulty a secret papal dispensation, he married Anne of Brittany in 1491.

The peace of Arras between Louis XI and Maximilian of Austria was published at Ghent on April 8, 1483, as appears from its colophon:

Le traictie de la paix Jmpresse a gand delez le belfroý par Arnoul de keysere le viij.e iour dapuril lan Mil. cccc. quatre vingt et trois.28

It was the first book printed at Ghent.29 It consists of twelve leaves folio printed in Gothic type, forty-two lines to the page. The book begins: "Le traicté de la paix faict a Arras." The text begins:

PHelippe de creuecuer seigneur desquerdes de lānoý. Conseillier & chambellan du roý nostresire son lieutenant et cappitaine general ou pais de picardie cheualier de son ordre Oliuier de qua tiuan cheualier consillier et chambellā du roý nostred' seigneur et son lieutenant en la ville de francise al' arras. Jehan de la vacquerie conseillier du roý nostred' seigneur & premier president en sa court de parlement a paris. Jehan garin maistre dhostel. Tous ambassadeurs cōmis du roý nostre souuerain seigneur .

...

An edition in Flemish was published at Antwerp by Mathieu van der Goes in 1483,30 and may even have preceded by a few weeks the Ghent edition. This edition begins: "Copie van den payse." A copy of it is in the Public Library of Haarlem. Meermann cites a Flemish edition in Gothic letter quarto: "Payse en Contract van Hauwelyck tussen den Dolphyn en Margareta en Maximiliaen in 1482. tot Atreght gepasseerdt 24 Xber, zonder plaats en jaar."

The first treaty published in England was a portion of that of Picquigny, signed on August 29, 1475, as stated above, between Louis XI of France and Edward IV of England; but it was not put into print until 1485, or possibly 1486. The historical circumstances

27 Rymer, xii, p. 135 (original); iii, p. 112 (Hague).

28 Ferdinand Van der Haegen, Bibliographie gantoise (Gand, 1858–69), vi, p. 1, no. 12026; Marinus F. A. G. Campbell, Annales de la typographie néerlandaise au XVe siècle (La Haye, 1874), no. 1681; Vosmaer, Catalogue, no. 626; cf. article by M. P. C. Van der Meersch in Messager des sciences, 1859, pp. 504-505.

29 "Le premier livre imprimé à Gand n'est pas le Rhetorica divina, mais bien celui-ci, le traité d'Arras, qui lui est antérieur de cinq mois. Le seul exemplaire connu de ce document précieux au double point de vue de la typographie et de l'histoire fut mis aux enchères au mois de juin 1859, par Mr. J.-M. Héberlé (Lempertz) à Cologne, sur la mise à prix de 100 thalers. Il nous fut adjugé pour 126 th." Van der Haegen, op. cit., vi, p. 2. The purchaser turned his copy over to the University of Ghent. Campbell, p. 480.

30 Campbell, no. 496.

31 Meermann, Bibliotheca Meermanniana, iii, p. 153, no. 554. The treaty of Arras is printed in Dumont, Corps universel diplomatique, iii, 2, pp. 100-107; Verzameling van XXIV. originele charters, no. 15, iv, p. 328; etc.

leave no reasonable doubt that the publication was for the purpose of forming public opinion. Three years after his second attempt to keep Louis XI of France to his promise to proceed with the matrimonial arrangements for the Dauphin and Elizabeth of York in accordance with the treaty of 1475, Edward IV died on April 9, 1483, his eldest son, a boy of twelve, becoming Edward V in succession. In June of the same year Richard, Duke of Gloucester, younger brother of Edward IV, and guardian of the young king by his brother's will, seized the throne. Edward V and his younger brother were presently put to death in the Tower. Richard's wife died in 1485, and he sought to marry Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, though she was his niece. This proposal he had to abandon. Meanwhile, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, grandson of Henry V's widow, Catharine of France, and her second husband, Owen Tudor, and through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of John of Gaunt, sued for the same hand and secured the aid of a group of nobles by taking an oath to marry Elizabeth. On August 22, 1485, the two rivals met in battle at Bosworth, and Richard was killed. The crown which Richard wore into the fray was found on a bush, and placed on the head of Richmond, as Henry VII.

In those days, if a man and a woman made a contract of marriage, neither of the contracting parties could marry another, though no actual marriage had taken place. Henry suspected that this rule would be applied by his political opponents, and he imprisoned them. The portion of the treaty of 1475 which was published was undoubtedly part of the argumentative ammunition in this struggle, put out by Henry's opponents to prove that the marriage with Elizabeth would be, or was, contrary to the custom of the period. On November 7, 1485, Henry obtained a recognition from Parliament of his own right to the throne, and on January 18, 1486, he married Elizabeth,32 thus blending the white rose of York with the red rose of Lancaster. The papal dispensations, sufficient in number, were ex post facto. The dispensation of Innocent VIII for the marriage is dated March 2, ten weeks after the event. A bull confirming the dispensation followed on March 27, and one confirming the marriage itself on July 23.3

33

The portions of the treaty of Picquigny which figured in this controversy were published by William de Machlinia at London on four folio leaves, the first blank, forty-two lines to the page. The document also includes on the fourth leaf a translation from the treaty of Arras. The superintendent of the reading room of the British Museum thinks that its publication was in 1485, before the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth, but E. Gordon Duff assigns it to a period after March, 1486. The document begins:

34

32 Parliament (Rotuli Parl., vi, p. 278) on December 10, 1485, authorized Henry's marriage. Elizabeth died on February 11, 1503.

33 Rymer, xii, pp. 294, 297, and 313 (original); iii, pp. 172, 174, 180 (Hague). "Letter of R. Farquharson Sharp, 15 April, 1919; E. Gordon Duff, Fifteenth Century English Books (1917), no. 351. The quotation is from Mr. Duff, and consists of the first and ninth articles of the treaty of August 29, 1475. The full text may be found in Rymer's Foedera, xii, pp. 19–20 (original edition); iii, p. 65 (Hague edition).

The promisse of matrimonie. [L] Oys by the grace of god kyng of Fraunce. Vnto alle theym that thies present l[et]res shall' see. gretyng. Be it knowen that betwene the most [Christian] Prynce the king of Fraunce aforeseyd. and the most noble Prince the Kyng of England hys moost dere cousyn true entier and p[er]fite amyte ys couenaunted and concluded inuyolably tendure from the date of thies presentes duryng their bothe lyues. So that as long as they lyue werre batailles & hostilitees betwixt theym their realmes countreies and subgettes alweye shall' ceasse and with beniuolence and frendlihode they shall' receyue & entrete theym self & their subgettis

Item to thynuoylable obseruaunce of the seyd amyte betwyxt the seyd prynces it ys p[ro]mysed couuenaunted accorded and concluded that their shalbe contracted and had a mariage betwene the right noble Prynce Charles the sone of the seid moost [Christian] king of Fraunce. and the most benyngne princesse my lady Elizabeth doughter of the seyde most victorious kyng of England whanne that they shall' come to yeres of mariage . . .

The treaty of alliance and union between the three states of the duchy of Brabant and the states of Middelburg, Limburg, Luxemburg, and Flanders, signed at Ghent on May 1, 1488, was printed in Flemish at Ghent without date or publisher: 35

Tractaet van aliantie ende eendragticheyt tusschen die drie staten van den hertoghdom van brabant en die staten van middelborch, lussenborch, vlaenderen.

The peace signed at Montils-les-Tours on October 1, 1489, between Maximilian of Austria, with Archduke Philip, and Flanders, was printed by the widow of Arnaud de Keysere, according to an entry under date of 1400 in the register of accounts at Ghent, which is apparently the first authorization to print a treaty:

Item betaelt, der weduwe van meester Arend De Keysere printre was, haer toegheleyt voor tprinten van drie hondert copien vanden paeyse lest gehemaect, te tours, by haer vut laste van scepen gheprint ende ghedistri buert, te zinne den insetene van deser stede te iij gr. voor elke copie, comt naer tverclaers vander cedulle vanden xxiiij, in Hoymaent xc. & ovg"

The primordial state papers relating to the American continents are three bulls issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 3 and 4. 1403. One of these was printed with Latin title, and, according to Harrisse, "disappeared in America" after being purchased at a dealer's sale. The third and last of the series, the bull Inter caeteru of May 4, 1403, was printed with a Spanish heading, probably at Alcalá about 1511 Two copies of this broadside exist in America, one in the John Carter Brown Library and the other in the Library of Congress.

35. Campbell, zp, 32, no. 1080: Van der Haegen. 19. 2. i. p. 18 m r Dumont, C2728 wassersi di homunque, 11, 2, pp. 168–200.