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

238 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Munich Commendone started upon his return journey to the
south. 1
While Commendone was working in the interests of the
Council, with skih, moderation, and in a spirit of conciliation,
in the northern and western parts of the Empire, ^ his colleague
and fellow countryman, Delfino, was showing no less zeal in
the legatine district assigned to him.^ He had left Naumburg
in the middle of February, 1561, and had passed through
Voightland in Franconia. As an ItaUan, he suffered a great
deal from the unaccustomed climate, the roads being soaked
with snow and rain, so that the journey was very difficult,
yet in spite of all obstacles, Delfino did everything in his
power to proceed quickly. He visited Bamberg first, and
then Nuremberg and Wiirzburg, whence he made a detour
to Mergentheim to visit the Grandmaster of the Teutonic
Order.'* He then proceeded by way of Frankfort, to Mayence,
Worms, Spires,^ and at length, at the beginning of May,
reached Strasbourg. With regard to the Council, he found
opinion generally agreed as to the necessity for such an as-
sembly, but only very few of those who were invited were
willing to put in an appearance at Trent. All the bishops,
it is true, declared that they would submit to the Council,
yet they were averse to the idea of personally undertaking
the long journey. Some excused themselves on the ground
of ill-health, or the weight of years, others by reason of their
1 According to *Ruggieri, lo:. cit., Conimendone left Munich
on February 27, 1562. After he had made a report to the legates
of the Council at Trent, he left there on March 1 5, and arrived at
Mestre-Venice on the 17. Commendone's final report to Borromeo
of March 8, 1562, is printed in Ehses, VIII., 281 seq.
^ Cf. the opinion of Ehses, Ein Nuntius, 44.
^ The sources for Delfino's legation are much less full than those
for Commendone ; they exist, however, in an excellent edition
in Steinhekz, I., 341-398.
* Cf'. the report of Delfino to Card. E. Gonzaga on March 19,
1 561, in Steinherz, I., 346. The reply of the council of Nurem-
berg to Delfino in Sickel, Konzil, 182 seq.
* See Steinherz, I., 350 seq.