The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

PIUS IV. AND THE NUNCIATURES. 125
A difficulty which arose at the last momen+ was al^>o happily
removed. The representative of Ferdinand I., Scipione
d'Arco, who had arrived in Rome on February 12th, 1560,
and had taken up his residence in the Vatican, had orders to
congratulate the Pope on his accession in a public audience,
and to assure him of respect and homage in the name of the
Emperor. The Pope, however, required in addition the
oath of obedience. Arco hesitated, and it was only when
Cardinals Morone and Madruzzo reasoned with him that he
decided to exceed his authority and comply with the wish
of the Pope.^ Thereupon the ceremony of the obedientia by
the Emperor's representative took place in a public consistory
'•^ in the Sala Regia, on Februaiy 17th, 1560. The conclusion
of peace between the two greatest powers of Christendom was
sealed by the restoration of the nunciature at the Imperial
court.
Pius IV. once more filled the nunciatures of Venice and
Florence, left vacant at the death of Paul IV., and also changed
the holders of the remaining nunciatures. All this took place
in the small space of three months. This, and the fact that
not one of Paul IV. 's nuncios was sent to a new post, clearly
shows that the Pope was acting in pursuance of a carefully
thought-out plan, by which he removed all the diplomatists
of his predecessor. The Pope also took steps as early as the
summer of 1560, to found permanent nunciatures at Turin
and Florence. The new Swiss nuncio, Giovan Antonio Volpi,
Bishop of Como, received permission to remain in his diocese,
^ Cf. SicKEL, Konzil, 42 seq. ; Correspondence of Card. O.
Truchsess, 136 ; Schmid, loc. cit., 36 seq. It was remarkable, as
Zwiedinek points out in the Archiv ftir osterr. Gesch., LVIII,
176, that Pius IV. did not take exception to the person of Arco,
as the Popes usually accepted only members of the princely
houses of the Empire as obedientia envoys. Pius thus proved
his compliant attitude in this matter. Concerning the plan for
crowning the Emperor, see Venetian despatches. III., 133 seqq.,
141 ;
concerning Scipione d'Arco, see Constant, Rapport, 3 seq.
2 See BoNDONUs, 533 ; Schlecht in the Hist. Jahrbuch, XIV.,
22 seq. ; Schmid, loc. 'it.