[PAUL III]

Extremely rare document unrecorded in major bibliographies reproducing a papal bull seeking to raise funds for the Ottoman wars, sent by Pope Paul III to Charles V on August 4, 1535 and probably printed by one of the authorised Spanish indulgence presses, Gumiel in Valladolid or Hagembachs successor in Toledo (Norton). It was signed by Garcia de Loaysa, cardinal and bishop of Sigüenza, Johann Poggius, cardinal and apostolic nuncios, and Don Francisco de Mendoca, bishop of Valencia. It was sent in the aftermath of the Ottoman Conquest of Tunis by Hayreddin Barbarossa under the command of Suleiman the Magnificent. Paul III requested that the Churches of the Spanish Empire, including Sardinia, give 252,000 ducats towards a maritime expedition against the Turks, 212,000 coming from ecclesiastical revenues and benefices of religious institutions and individuals in the regions of Castile, Granada, Navarra and the Canary Islands. They would be used to fund 21 ships for two years at the cost of 6,000 ducats each. The last section in Castilian, dated March 6, 1536, is signed by Alonso de Baeça, treasurer of the king, who acknowledged receipt of the original bull. He set a peremptory deadline of 51 days from notification to pay the sum, a payment which the king assented to extend by one year. Should the sum remain unpaid, the benefices and revenues for the year 1536 and 1537 would be seized.