CLEMENT VIII: (1536-1605) Pope of Italian Roman Church 1592-1605. During his papacy he effected the reconciliation ...

CLEMENT VIII: (1536-1605) Pope of Italian Roman Church 1592-1605. During his papacy he effected the reconciliation of King Henry IV of France to the Catholic faith and was instrumental in setting up an alliance of Christian nations to oppose the Ottoman Empire. Rare L.S., `Clemens papa VIIIs´, as Pope, one page, 4to, Palazzo di Montecavallo, 5th May 1603, to the Santa Romana Chiesa Camerlingo, in Italian. The letter refers to a `Laudemio´ payment due to the Apostolic Chamber for the approval of the purchase of a property `in the Agro Pontino´, by someone from the Pontifical State. Stating in part `E´stata deliberata la metà della tenuta e casale chiamato palude pontina spettante a detto Gio[vanni] Batt[ista] per prezzo di scudi ventiottomila di m.ta come piu largamente apparisce nelli atti dell´Archivio..´ One ink stain with extremely small hole affecting only few words of the text, not affecting the signature. Edges very slightly trimmed and small overall age wear. G £1000-1500 Giovanni Battista Gottifredi was member of the ''Magistrato dei Conservatori'' of the Roman senate government. It has been largely reported that Clement VIII may have been the first Pope to drink coffee. Coffee supporters often claim that the spread of its popularity among Catholics is due to Pope Clement VIII's influence. He was pressed by his advisers to denounce coffee. The advisers believed coffee was the ''bitter invention of Satan'' because of its popularity among Muslims. However, upon tasting coffee, Pope Clement VIII declared that, ''This Satan's drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it.''