The humanist correspondence between Melchor de Valencia and Antoine Favre during the diplomatic crisis of Monferrato (1613-1614)

Abstract

Between years 1613 and 1614 an unusual letter exchange took place between a young Roman law student in Salamanca, Melchor de Valencia, and Antoine Favre (Antonius Faber), a European first level humanist legal scholar who was at the time President of the Senate of Savoy. In this article it is held that this correspondence is related to the diplomatic crisis of Monferrato in which the King of Spain tried to reconcile Carlos Manuel I, Duke of Savoy and Fernando I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua in their dispute over the Duchy of Monferrato. Erudite letters were the diplomatic means used by Philip III to approach Favre discreetly and to try to gain through him influence on the Duke of Savoy.