Abstract for Book Culture from Below - The 18th Annual SHARP Conference, 17-20 August 2010, Helsinki, Finland.
Samuli Kaislaniemi
University of Helsinki
In early 1602, Thomas Wilson wrote to Sir Robert Cecil from Venice: “I haue deliuered to mr Robt Harwood marchant at venice ... a tronke of bookes and writinges, wherin ther ar relations in written hand both old & newe and many secretts of all contries & states, wch I haue to my great charge & trauell gathered & gotten ... they come ouer land to Embden”. Wilson was one of Cecil's intelligencers on the continent, and for some time had been gathering news and information in Italy, from where he sent frequent letters containing long reports of, mostly, political activity in Southern Europe. But Wilson's intelligencing activities were not limited to sending newsletters: he was also instructed to buy or copy books and prints published in or otherwise available in Italy. In particular, he was told to acquire copies of books relating to English matters (such as an 800-page history of Tudor England which Wilson writes was “almost as full of lyes as lynes”), but he was also asked to send texts such as pasquils, “because they being matter of witt and pleasure, may sometymes serue for recreation”. In March 1602, Wilson's trunk had become full, and he sent it to Cecil via merchants' networks (which were also used to convey the intelligence correspondence). Wilson himself returned to England in 1605, joined Cecil's secretariat, and in 1606 was appointed Keeper of Records at Whitehall - in effect head of the state papers.
This paper explores the contents of Wilson's trunk, placing the contents into the larger context of cultural, manuscript and print transmission from Italy to England in the Early Modern period. In particular, I will focus on one book included in the trunk, the "Tesoro Politico" ('treasury of policy'). The "Tesoro" was a compilation of various topical political texts, which disseminated through Europe in both the original Italian and in translation. One indication of the interest of its contents to contemporary European politicians and administrators is that in 1605 the "Tesoro" was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books. This paper will also briefly touch upon English translations of the "Tesoro", and look at their connections to Cecil's intelligence networks and the paper trail of Thomas Wilson.