This unpublished manuscript is from the diplomatic archive of an Italian chancellary, probably compiled in the opening decades of the 17th century. It covers a geographically diverse area of interests from England to China, from Mecca to Poland. The 70-odd texts (letters, news reports, laws, travel narratives) are organized by geographical region, beginning with Poland, Russia and Eastern Europe, then Turkey and the Mediterranean battleground, Britain, and the Savoie. Taken together, the collection offers insight into Italian diplomatic interests at the beginning of the 17th century and the manner in which these were recorded in official circles. Within the text are oddities, such as an account of the Chinese city of Quinsai (Hangzhou) based on Marco Polo and later accounts by Jesuits and Christian merchants, a description of a Haj from Alexandria to Mecca, and, bound in the same section as various documents relating to the Princedom of Savoi, an etiquette manual for pages in the service of a prince. The collection of documents relating to England and Scotland numbers some 100-odd pages. It includes texts written by Filippo Pigafetta and Placido Ragazzoni. There is a copy of the Treaty of London (1604), a supplication of 1601 by England's Catholics to the King, and a public defense by Sir Robert Cecil against accusations of intrigue against the crown (1606). Included is a somewhat anomalous description of the Scottish island of Bass Rock, complete with an account of its native birdlife and the manner in which the "Solan Goose" (Northern Gannet) was roasted by locals.
