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THE TUDOR

TRANSLATIONS

SECOND SERIES

EDITED BY

CHARLES WHIBLEY

VII

This Edition is limited to 1025 copies

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LONDON: CONSTABLE AND CO. LTD.
NEW YORK: ALFRED A. KNOPF

Printed in Great Britain by T. and A. CONSTABLE LTD. at the University Press, Edinburgh

82018

EMED

11-30-47

T912

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INTRODUCTION

THE GUAZZO FAMILY

TEFANO GUAZZO was born of an INTRO

ancient lineage in the year 1530, at DUCTION Casale, the capital of Montferrat, in North-Western Italy. His father, Giovanni, had held the office of Treasurer to the Dukes of Mantua for over thirty years; and at his death in December 1573 he impressed upon his four surviving children the importance of adhering to these princes, in the troubled conditions of the time. His son Stefano Guazzo entered the Treasurer's Office in the year which followed the momentous decision of Charles v. under which the government of Montferrat, long held by the Palaeologi, passed to the Gonzaga family. Young Stefano turned to a study of the law, and, always faithful to the interests of the Gonzaghi, served them in various secretarial capacities, both to his honour and to his advantage. He spent seven years in Spain on business of State, and shortly after the peace of Castel Cambresis in 1559 was sent by Duke Guglielmo as Ambassador to Charles IX. of France. Guazzo himself informs us in some of his letters of the generous treatment

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