Michel Agnolo Florio did not die at Soglio.

THE PRESUMED DEATH OF MICHEL AGNOLO FLORIO

Introduction

Since the early years of the Millennium began spreading the firstnews about the results of recent research carried out for several yearsby the Istituto Studi Floriani to give answers to many questions aboutthe official biography of William Shakespeare, and the "authorship" ofhis works. So, in our day spread unconfirmed reports about the amazingresults achieved by our Institute, soon followed by interestingeditorials in Italy and abroad; meanwhile, are already online the firstbiographical updates (Google, Wikipedia, Accademia della Crusca, etc.)regarding few historical figures linked to the Elizabethan literature ofthe Sixteenth century.

The innovative results of these researches alerted theinternational literary scene, for the unexpected news call into questionthe factual role played by the legendary William Shakespeare character,by placing the brighting star of the Bard to be on a par with any otherillustrious member of the London drama literary association destined tothe then major theater companies in London.

Today, those advances - which at time appeared as hypotheses to betested and discuss - have become certainties, so that the Instituteaccounts as terminated the first phase of its extensive research, whichis now to be carried on with further studies on many of both historicaland literary aspects, which hopefully young researchers will deepen inthe future. These news are henceforth intended to provoke inevitablecontroversy and debate, since they subvert a deeply entrenched tradition,especially in English-speaking countries.

Although the historical events originate from the time of theElizabethan and Jacobean epic, the cult of the mythical character ofStratford, beloved by generations of fans and idealized romantic all overthe world, dates back only to the mid-Nineteenth century. This fact isnot of little significance because of the importance of the matter, whichcalls into question the consequences that may arise in the area ofhistory, literature and publishing, and the inevitable repercussions ineconomic terms. As a reaction to these sensational news - taken as adesecration of the myth of William Shakespeare by scholars, the theater

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world, enthusiasts and romantics - arose a front of resistance which isnot properly available for the discussions.

The theory of so-called "genius", which is the substrate of thebiography of the character of Stratford - lacking of documentary evidence- has come to transform the true story of his life in a mythologicallegend, in which the majority of scholars adhere as a pure act of faithor choosing of a battlefield, or - with regard to academics - for merecorporate defense of the profession.

In this situation, the scholars’ and academics’ holding off has,however, the matter of necessity to dispute the findings of thisresearch, diminish any news or simply ignore or dismiss any evidence ordocument even if coming from the Archives or precise and irrefutablehistorical or literary references. This condition of things shows itselfanytime the research brings to light new historical elements of whatreally happened during the brilliant period of the English Renaissance.In our day, critics and writers prefer to avoid or ignore any dissent orcriticism to the sacred “stratfordian” dogma, shying away from anyconflicting.

Since their beginning, the first studies in the Twentieth centurywere followed by a general outcry, which impact only the World War IIhostilities were able to mitigate. Many will recall the ineffable andcounter-productive emendation by the prestigious Encyclopaedia Britannicaof the text already present in the "Shakespeare" headword - as I shallsay more later -, occurred in the second half of the Nineteenth century,as well as the alleged irrelevance of certain "interpretations" which the“Shakespearean” works’ author took care to disseminate in the text, witha very specific purpose. These “interpretations” are nothing more thandevices placed by the author who, obliged at that time to cover himselfup for political and religious causes, disseminated the text of his workswith contemporary names, plots of historical events and placesdescriptions closely linked to the period of his life spent in Italy as aReformed Franciscan monk.

These aforesaid “interpretations” are essentially tracesintentionally left to ensure that someone somehow looking for him, hecould have the chance to find him . Just think of the many cities andplaces of the Italian regions described by the author with so manydetails, not only geographical or place names, and of historical eventsof the Italian Renaissance put in many scenarios of his stories: all

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those places are nothing more than the same cities where he was livingand working until 1550, when he was forced moving to England grilled bythe Inquisition. Furthermore: being a Latin scholar, he enhanced the textof his works with about six hundred Latin phrases, an incredible wealthat that time, being specific issues not available.

All that puts of course into question the role played by eachmember of the group of authors who constituted the literary associationwhich operated in London since the last two decades of the Sixteenthcentury. Among the thirty-six “Shakespearean” works, ten of themconcerned the English monarchs’ feats. Certainly, there was among thosemembers someone who could deeply know the lives and fortunes of theEnglish Crown. Now we know that among them there was also the historianand poet Samuel Daniel, John Florio’s brother-in-law 1. As to WilliamShakespeare his biography, as well as English literary institutions havesought to reconstruct it during the Nineteenth century, is for most partlacking in documentary evidences. Many aspects of his life show to bebased on mere assumptions. In addition, the chronology of the period ofhis supposed cultural training seems scarcely credible since he abandonedhis family in Stratford (1588), to his first triumph at the Globe (1592,March 3).

It seems obvious that in a certain historical moment characterizedby the emphasis of military successes against the powers of that time,Spain and France, which losed American and Asian colonies, in somepolitical and cultural circles it was thought to "rework" the chronicleof events that occurred in English society during the light periodbetween the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries.

It was a short period of time, a little more than forty years,during which he claimed the English drama and literature under theinfluence of classical culture and the works of the Italian Renaissance.Only a flash, when you consider that in Italy and France the "languageissue" took more than a century to get to the thesis of Bembo. Something1 Samuel Daniel (1562-1619), English poet and historian. He studied at Oxfordand then devoting himself to poetry and history of the English monarchy. In 1596he completed his training in cultural Italy studying classical languages. Whenhe returned home he translated the Dialogo dell'imprese militari et amorose (“Dialogue ofmilitary and love devices”) by Paolo Giovio. In 1597 he was tutor to thechildren William and Philip, sons of Lord Henry Herbert, Earl of Permbroke, andMary Sidney, Countess of Bedford, a great patron of the arts, relations of theTudor. Daniel Samuel wrote many sonnets, but the major work was The Civil Wars,published in twelve books in 1609. He was a collaborator and a relative of JohnFlorio, who married his sister Rose.

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of exceptional importance had occurred in England between the last twodecades of the Sixteenth century and the first of the next century. Inthose shining years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, during which ittook place a compromise of coexistence between Catholicism and theAnglican Reformation, had come to create a class of intellectuals aroundthe Court of Tudor strongly influenced by Renaissance values that camefrom the Italian and French civil society. In the field of literature,poetry and theater were formed intellectuals of the caliber of RobertGreene, Walter Raleigh, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Edward De Vere,Earl of Oxford, John Fletcher, George Chapman, George Peele, MichaelDrayton, Edwart Alleyn, Inigo Jones, Thomas Kyd, John Heminges, CondelHenry and Samuel Daniel, and many others including in fact the youngWilliam Shakespeare.

It is hardly necessary to recall that the first to hurl harshinvective against the new drama school it was Robert Greene, whoaddressed to colleagues Marlowe, Peele and Lodge the famous pamphletentitled Green's Groatsworth, with which - by no means convinced about youngShakespeare’s literary qualities - he rails against John Florioidentifying him as the true author of the works (in the pamphletaddressed him as Johannes Factotum, a nickname he was given by the Frenchambassador, Michel de Castelnau, almost ten years before) and againstShakespeare, who officially signed his works, declaring that ".... in hisskin hides a heart of tiger ", meaning the one of John Florio 2.

Robert Greene died shortly thereafter. In a very different way heexpressed himself instead Sir Walter Raleigh, who testified that thestyle of those new jobs "... stands out from any other way of writing.".

All that explains the project of the Institute, starting again fromthe studies of the previous century on Clara Langworth and Francis A.Yates initiative, whose studies will however be affected by the allegeduntimely death of Michel Agnolo in Soglio. This situation did not allowthose early researchers to attribute the genesis of dramatic plays to thework of his son John, devised on the literary legacy left him by hisfather. Not so Sante Paladino, who expressed strong doubts on MichelAgnolo’s death, despite not having reached the proof of his intuition.

2 Robert Greene (1558-1592) From his deathbed he hurled invectives to hisplaywriter colleagues, especially to John Florio, calling him "rude ... thatraven ... beautified with our pens. You imagine being able to give breath to theheroic verse as the best of you. "

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The presumed death of Michel Agnolo Florio

Given that, it shall be wondered what Michel Agnolo Florio’s deathhas to do with the questioning of the role played by William Shakespeare.At first glance, and especially sliding to his official biography,nothing seems to unite the life of the Bard to the unknown strangers,Michel Agnolo Florio and his son John. Yet this is precisely the point ofissue, the point that the Istituto Studi Floriani wanted and had toresolve in order to reach the sensational conclusions of hisinvestigation.

Following are the reason for this preliminary requirement,considering that:

a) At the beginning of the research, for all researchers MichelAgnolo Florio was a complete stranger meaning that - eventoday - neither the date nor the place of his birth are notcertainly and documentarily known. Only recently it has beenpossible to reconstruct the basic data of his life spent inItaly, Greece, the Grisons Canton in Switzerland, France andEngland. On the basis of deductions and references given bysome of his contemporaries, Michel Agnolo’s birth shouldtake place around the years 1523-25. Until some time ago,there was also uncertainty about the place and date of hisdeath, although strangely some official demographic surveysstill attest that Michel Agnolo’s death would be in theGrisons, at Soglio, in Val Bregaglia, in the year 1567. Iwill talk more over about that.

b) At the beginning of the Twentieth century the firstresearchers who devoted themselves to the revision ofWilliam Shakespeare’s official biography - including theaforementioned Santi Paladino, Clara Langworth de Chambrunand Amalia Francis Yates - provided the first data on MichelAgnolo’s life, and placed in evidence his fundamentalcontribution by transmitting knowledge of the ItalianRenaissance literature in England. In their studies,however, remained in question the hypothesis of his returnto England, where he had previously emigrated fleeing Italyin November 1550 because prosecuted by the Inquisition.

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c) Previously, until 1890, the Encyclopædia Britannica underthe heading "Shakespeare", reported his biography, in whichtook place a section entitled "Shakespeare goes to Londonand continued his education to John Florio", referring interalia to the existence of a literary association formed inLondon by authors of dramatic works. In 1873 the directionof the Encyclopædia had instructed one of the mostdistinguished scholars of the time, Thomas Spencer Baynes,to oversee the edition. Studying the biographical dataaccording to chronicles then known, Baynes confirmed thatShakespeare achieved his success in 1592 with his first workaged twenty-four, and never having attended any school ofhigher grade. Those chronicles reported already of anassociation of scholars who were engaged in the productionof comedies and dramas staged by the major theater companiesin London. Regarding the transfer of Shakespeare fromStratford to London, Baynes referred to a period ofpreparation of the young academic by John Florio for hiscommitment to the literary group. It stands to reason thathe had been working basing himself on the same chronicleseditions on which Paladino, Langworth and Yates had worked.

d) After the publications of the three aformentionedresearchers, and the criticism that followed, in alleditions of the Encyclopædia subsequent to ninth one in1890, the section written by Baynes no more appeared,replaced by texts which will no longer mention nor to anyscholar association, nor to any frequency of Shakespeare inFlorio’s school.

It gets across the interest of those who desired keeping unchangedthe standard opinion about Shakespeare, preventing future historians andresearchers’ longing to deepen the facts and circumstances affording toreveale the relationship actually occurred in London from 1588 onwardsbetween the Florios and other people associated with William Shakespeare,whose position at the center of the literary Olympus should remainintact.

And it also gets across the purpose of some nationalist circles andinterested groups of the time, to conceal or even alter the circumstances

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of events that occurred. Actually, those were the years in which Englandhad reached its highest level of glory, thanks to its achievements in themilitary, civil, cultural, industrial and imperial expansion, havingdefeated in that century the major competing powers of France and Spain,depriving them of the American colonies and Asia. The Nineteenth centuryhistorical reworking and emphasizing of English glories and achievementsmay also include initiatives such as the establishment in 1892 of the"Shakespeare Trust" for the revival of the Shakespearean epic, and thefoundation of "The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust" purchasing familiesproperty of Shakespeare and Hathaway in Stratford.

The very fact of asserting the death of Michel Agnolo Florio tookplace in the Alpine village of Soglio in 1567 had become functional tothe mystifying project which to be credible had to exclude from thealtered scenario the presence and function of the unknown, but cumbersomecharacter. Even today, the same academic institutions would still becredited as true the fact of his premature death in Soglio just overforty. The intent is to exclude any possibility of his return to Englandto be reunited with his son, who had preceded him in Oxford six yearsbefore. Giving that, the hypothesis of his tiling and contribution toJohn in the final drafting of the texts of his works would have beenimpossible, or at least unlikely, considered that in these texts it isdescribed the life and emesis of Michel Agnolo himself.

With this in mind, researchers from the Istituto Studi Florianihave been facing the problem of the reconstruction of Michel AgnoloFlorio’s life, in order to identify any further element to obtaininformation useful to a reliable reconstruction of his exceptional humanstory. Effectively, with regard to his son John, the researchers hadalready elements and information related to his intense literaryactivity, professional and academic teaching in London and Oxford, whileregarding his father it was necessary to undertake an extensive researchdespite the lack of a precise guidance, just to be able to identify theenvironments of his first education and subsequent cultural and literarymaturation.

This focal point was a task that I hired given the considerabledifficulties and the amplitude of the field on which to carry out theresearch in Italy and abroad. This is also in view of the fact that,given my time-honoured age, I was putting an end to my professionalactivity and devote myself to the task.

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I soon realized that very little information was available onaccount of Michel Agnolo Florio. Apart from the few evidences provided bythe Biographical Dictionary of Italian 3, the only sources were thepartial results in the three studies of the three aforementionedresearchers. Thanks to the strong personality of Michel Agnolo and hisbelonging to the first and most active groups of Italian reformers, Ihave been able to reconstruct much of the route of his maturation at themost literary elite of the Renaissance. Later, after his first exile inLondon in 1550 together with Domenico Tommasini (known as BernardinoOchino) and Pietro Martire Vermigli, the news about him and hisactivities have allowed me to complete the most documented andinteresting part of his exceptional life.

In their studies, Langworth and Yates were already wonder if MichelAgnolo Florio really died in Soglio at that age, in good health, in anAlpine resort at the foot of the high peaks, glaciers and pine forests ofGraubünden. On the other hand Paladino, a more whimsical and insightfulresearcher, stated in his book 4 that Michel Agnolo Florio died"probably" in London in 1605, interpreting some historical circumstanceswhich demonstrate his presence in England up to the age of eighty-fiveyears. We do not know the documentary basis on which Paladino was able tomake this assertion, but in his book he answers the question himselfturning to the question of whether Florio was still alive in 1591, whenit was published Second Fruits, the final result of many years of "his"study and not of his son’s: Paladino’s answer is "... probably yes,because it seems that a Florio died in London in 1605, eighty-five yearsof age."

Paladino relates also of a London chronicle of the period, whichreferring to the "venerable Michele Agnolo Florio" paraphrases a sentenceby the octogenarian preacher: "I just not have a lot of life because I amnow a beaten egg due to my wizened old age"; and about the same time, inSonnet No. 62 (which scholars still ascribe to young Shakespeare) you mayread that "....But when my glass shows me myself indeed,/Beated andchopped with tanned antiquity (…)" 5.

How could a young man in his thirties, which in those years wasWilliam Shakespeare, describe himself as "beated and chopped", with

3 Florio, Michel Agnolo, voice of G. Perini in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 48,Roma 1997, pp. . 379 - 381.4 S. Paladino, Un Italiano autore delle opere Shakespeariane, Milano 1955, p. 20.5 Ibidem, p. 31.

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"parchment" skin? Those words were lamentations that could externalizeand write only the venerable Michel Agnolo Florio in his usual preachingto the faithful Protestants of London. In addition, it could be observedthat is just after 1605 that his son John Florio made to stage thetragedies inspired by the classic Greek and Roman world, so dear to hisfather, Anthony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens and Pericles, the latterwritten in collaboration with John Fletcher, perhaps because of hisfather’s death.

Therefore, all the early researchers had already taken up the issueof establishing with certainty Michel Agnolo Florio’s time of death,because from the starting point of his return in his second homelanddepended the credibility of the subsequent reconstruction of historicalevents yet to be clarified and compared, facing the official biography ofWilliam Shakespeare.

For all the above-mentioned reasons, the Istituto Studi Florianihad the problem to solve in advance, and definitively, the question ofMichel Agnolo’s survival after year 1567, in order to clear up allreserves that could affect the credibility of the subsequent progress ofthe research.

This does not mean, however, that in the meantime other aspects ofthe research program were suspended. Other colleagues, however, who wereconferred with different study fields or particular aspects ofinvestigation, had being proceeding in analysis of texts, lexicography ofthe English language of the time, the origins of euphemism, the Europeanhistory in Elizabethan period. Thus, in the early years of our Millenniumalready outlined the first biographical sketch of Michel Agnolo Florio’slife and, as pieces of knowledge of the facts and of the charactersinvolved added progressively, it appeared more and more clear the shapeof the famous Tuscan literatus, father and son. At that point, it justlacked the fundamental cornerstone on which to rest the architrave of thehistorical truth, for centuries concealed.

Finally in 2012, with the help of the Institute staff, I was ableto achieve the documentary and definitive evidence of Michel AgnoloFlorio’s survival in Soglio, and of his return to England in 1577 to bereunited with his son John.

The exile in Soglio, Val Bregaglia, Switzerland

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My complete biography of this great man of letters is supposed tobe publish within the next year. It is an analytical exposition, whichconsiders his relations with the main Italian and British historicalfigures of that time. It will be a historical-literal new, to dividethose who will show scandal and rejection from those who - showingmembership - will find in these news a confirmation to their own doubts,never openly expressed.

The long life of Michel Agnolo Florio takes place through threemajor phases which are placed first in Italy where, as a Franciscanfriar, he devoted himself to preaching, going from convent to convent inmany cities. Later, in Naples, he acceded to the group of de Valdes as aCapuchin friar, from then on disseminating new ideas to reform theCatholic Church. Persecuted by the Inquisition, he was arrested inValtellina in 1548 and imprisoned in Rome in the prison of Tor di Nona.Sentenced to death, he escaped thanks to his patrons’ help, who eitherfacilitated his traveling abroad.

Then, in a nutshell: Michel Agnolo flied to England as an exile;there he was welcomed to the Court for its cultural qualities, andassigned as educator to the Crown children, young King Edward VI, hishalf-sister princess Elizabeth, Lady Jane Grey and her cousin HenryHerbert earl Pembroke, all of them still minors. Later, Michel Agnolomarried a lady of the court, with whom he had a son named John. In 1554,with royalty accession the Catholic Queen Mary Tudor, he was forced totake refuge in Switzerland, where he will remain twenty-three years.Finally, Queen Mary dead and Reformed princess Elizabeth as Queen, hecould return to London where he dedicated himself - along with his son,now an adult and an appreciated scholar popular also at Court - to theproduction of many literary texts.

Therefore, the topic at issue here takes part in the second periodof his life, when Michel Agnolo was forced to leave England and come backto Europe, in Switzerland, at Soglio. This further exodus was dued to theuntimely death of King Edward VI, succeeded by his elder half-sisterQueen Mary Tudor in 1553. This time, his exile condition was far moreprecarious than the first time in London in 1550, having with him alsohis wife and his just one-year olded son. He landed in Antwerpen, thanksto the support of his former patrons in Italy, and obtained anappointment as pastor in the alpine village of Soglio, on the border ofthe Duchy of Milan, where he could get support and help for himself andhis family by the number of Italian Reformed friends who lived in the

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neighboring valleys of Valtellina. Among those persecuted fellow, the onewho had been proving to always be a near and prodigal friend it wasPietro Paolo Vergerius, former Bishop of Koper, who intervened earlier inFlorio’s behalf to obtain, thanks to the intermediary of the Zurichtheologian Heinrich Bullinger, the Swiss destination in Soglio, whichMichel Agnolo aspired because it was the closest one to the Duchy ofMilan, and to the locations where lived the majority of Italian Reformedexiles.

The ministry's home in Soglio was a large house at the entrance ofthe village, just across the evangelical church of St. Laurentius. Today,this ancient residence has been restored in part as an hotel, and in partas a place of celebration of the two leading men of letters: in thoserooms, effectively, they were conceived the early sonnets and the firstdraft of the texts of works which, once back in London, would have beenelaborated by John Florio and his contributors.

In that alpine village Michel Agnolo Florio was pastor of thevalley inhabitants, reformed as Lutherans only a few years before, andthere he oversaw the education of the young John, accompanying him up tohigher education. Unfortunately, he failed in reaching the peace heimagined to find in the quiet and isolated alpine environment because ofthe violent religious conflicts already emerging among the Reformedpeople, and he himself, against his will, had been involved in variousprocesses by the religious authorities in Zurich. Disillusioned by thisunexpected situation, he escaped it by abandoning his theologicalposition, and taking refuge in the introspection of the human soul. Fromthen on he mainly devoted himself to literary studie,s resuming contactswith his former followers and friends, many of whom, like him, had takenrefuge in the neighboring countries of the alpine valleys.

Meanwhile, John, whom his father gave his early education inSoglio, thanks to Bishop Vergerius’ effort obtained in May 1563 ascholarship from the local Evangelical Community to attend the Universityof Tubingen, in the neighboring German region of Württemberg.

His father, while not neglecting his pastoral service in theterritory of the valley, devoted his spare time to his studies and tocollect and reorganize his literary notes, which he had been collectingthorugh his preaching years in Italy with Bernardino Ochino. He patientlykept a collection of literarly works transcriptions, precious syllogisms,aphorisms, proverbs and idioms in the various Italian dialects. There

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were thousands of cards and sheets on which the then young friar tooknotes, and transcribed whole passages and phrases which in the followingyears in London would be useful to his son John, who described them inhis book as "... a garden of recreation in which grow leaves, flowers,and fancy, graceful and sweet fruits under the name of six thousandItalian proverbs and pleasant wisecracks, chosen and collected by Florio,not only useful, but delectable for every spirit having a fancy for thenoble Italian idiom " 6.

While digging through ancient papers of Chur, a colleague of minewas lucky enough to find several loose pages of notes, in which MichelAgnolo Florio, his own hand, listed various phrases in Latin on the studyof syllogisms, which I will reproduce in my book, among other documents.Along with that material, Florio begun to collect many books ranging fromclassical literature to the history of the Roman Empire, from ItalianRenaissances’ masterpieces to short-story writings. In this collectionthere were also popular theater pieces, and especially the works of majorwriters such as Giovanni Boccaccio, Matteo Bandello, Gian BattistaGiraldi, Giovanni Fiorentino, and others.

However, the first engagement which he devoted himself since theearly days of his arrival in Soglio, it was to expose in a book the crimecommitted by Queen Mary in decreeing the death of her cousin, Queen JaneGrey 7. Michel Agnolo, despite his political and personal tragedy thatfollowed the death of the young King Edward VI, was traumatized by thehorrible and unjust death of one of his pupils, to whom he was, asmentioned above, Italian and Latin teacher along with the Royal Childrenand the future second earl of Pembroke, who was to become his patron inmaturity.

6 John Florio, Second Fruits, to be gathered of Twelve Trees, of divers but delightsome Tastes to the Tongues of Italian and English men. Londra, 1591.7 Michel Agnolo Florio,Historia de la vita e de la morte dell’illustrissima Signora Giovanna Graia, giàRegina eletta e pubblicata d’Inghilterra e de le cose avvenute in quel Regno dopo la morte del re EdoardoVI, Venezia, 1607.

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Together with the loyal Giovanni Battista Castiglione 8, MichelAgnolo lived the last days of captivity of Queen Jane in the Tower ofLondon, by assisting her until the day of her execution. In his book hedescribes the psychological trauma of the innocent girl, his acceptanceof human injustice, and the pitiful preparation of his pupil to directher towards her ultimate step towards death 9. His work – a denunciationand testimony of those terrible events - was intended to be published inthe Netherlands to be distributed clandestinely in the England of MaryTudor.

Michel Agnolo, as well as all English Protestants and reformedexiles, hoped that the political and military events bring to an end thebloody reign of Queen Mary Tudor. The book was long ready to be given tothe press, probably in 1555. It was clearly accusatory against theCatholic Queen. But already in the following year, it began to appear inEngland the first signs of public discontent especially directed to theimposition of religious rigor and executions that followed one another.Soon first signs of a plot against the Queen appeared. In those daysMary’s half-sister, Princess Elizabeth, was relegated to the countryestate of Hatfield; she was physically away from the Court, but at thesame time took as the center of a conspiracy by the same people who atthe time favored to Mary's crowning. She was charged of many faults anderrors: her marriage to King Philip II of Spain, a Catholic also, theloss of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, conqueredby Henry II of France, the deadly disease mistaken for maternity, whichproved to her subjects the Queen’s sterility, and finally the uncertaintyof dynastic continuity for England Kingdom. All this fueled hope in theminds of the people of a possible next succession in favor of Elizabeth.

For these reasons, the news that came on the Continent and thus toSoglio suggested caution just to avoid the fueling of further tensions,hoping that unforeseen events could change the situation. Albeitreluctantly, Michel Agnolo was persuaded to wait for events, and beinghimself a probable persecuted by the Ecclesiastical authorities of Chur

8 Lombard man-at-arms. He lived at the court of Edward VI. Appreciated by theking, he entered the sympathies of Princess Elizabeth. After Thomas Wyatt revolt(1554) he was imprisoned in March of the same year in the Tower of London alongwith the Princess herself. After Mary Tudor’s death he became the confidant ofQueen Elizabeth I and her bodyguard. The Queen rewarded him with the recognitionof his privileges and titles. His two daughters grew up as ladies of the court.See the entry Castiglione, Giovanni Battista edited by M. Firpo in Biographical Dictionary ofItalians, vol. 22, Rome 1979.9 Florio, Historia de la vita e de la morte, cit., which will be commented far on.

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and Zurich, he thought to be prudent entrusting his friend Pier PaoloVergerius with his book manuscript, understanding with him that it was tobe published only if the obstacles that dissuaded the publication wouldhave been removed. So the document remained at Tubingen in the trustedhands of Vergerius, professor at the University and holder of theBiblical Institute of Urach, in the vicinity of the city. Hopes werequite right, and in fact Queen Mary fell ill and died November 17, 1558,and unexpectedly Princess Elizabeth ascended the throne. However, inQueen Elizabeth Ist’s England the transition to Protestantism was notpeaceful nor bloodless, so not all the exiles believed to immediatelyreturn there, waiting the peace in the country to be accomplished.

As is known, Queen Elizabeth Ist was crowned on January 15th, 1559,but ever since that day Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland and the Islands,as well as Dowager Queen of France, was a serious danger for the TudorCrown. If Queen Mary’s Tudor death finally gave a future to PrincessElizabeths’ aspirations, the bulky presence of the Queen of Scotlandstill constituted an open wound from the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’sreign, given the fact that France counted on her for his aims to expandits influence in Catholic Scotland.

In the Reformed Elizabethan England, Catholicism remained dormantfor over a decade; but the apparent acquiescence of the English Catholicsto the official Anglican Church was misleading, not only in the Northcountry, but throughout all of it. At the center of foreign plots againstElizabeth Ist there were the Church of Rome, and Mary, Queen of Scots;everything was a risk that can precipitate events with theexcommunication of the English Queen (which effectively occurred her in1570), or the invasion of the country by the Invincible Armada and groundforces of King Philip II in Spain, ready for landing. For all thesereasons, the manuscript of Michel Agnolo on the death of Queen Jane Grey,although completed, was placed at the time among the private papers ofVergerius.

In the same years Michel Agnolo Florio was involved in legaldisputes over theological issues promoted by the Synod of Chur againsthim and some of his followers. He realized that, after having had toreconsider his youth belonging to the Church of Rome, even in the neworder of the Reformed Church conflicting theological positions flowed inno less ruthless penalties and sentences. Therefore he decided to notfurther expose himself, so as not to jeopardize the future of his childat the beginning of his career: he would have been waiting then,

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preparing for all his things ready for the moment to decide his return toEngland.

Since then, Michel Agnolo did not participate in any publicmeeting, as well as did not take part in the most important ceremonies,deserting any religious or political forum. In the silence of thissecluded mountain valley, he was confident that his persecutors were tolose his memory. This was an opportunity to concentrate in his studiesand in literary works favorites. The long idle in the alpine valleyallowed him to prepare a new book with the intention of dedicating it tohis former pupil, Queen Elizabeth Ist, in anticipation of his longed-forreturn to England. It was the translation of the book of the Germanerudite Georg Bauer, said Giorgio Agricola, a precursor of the metallurgyindustry, entitled De re metallica. The original work of Agricola wasprinted in Latin, and illustrated the first innovative industrialprocesses of metallurgy, strategic matters in those years in the field offirearms, in particular the ones conceived for galleons militaryequipment, a very up-to-date technology in that moment in which KingPhilip of Spain presided over the English Channel with his InvincibleArmada. Florio's translation, published in Basel in 1563, was in Italianlanguage, and in the dedication to Queen Elizabeth, Florio declaredhimself certain that his former pupil would be able to read it thanks tohis Italian language lessons during years since 1550, when she was stilla girl. With this gentle and patriotic initiative, Michel Agnolo intendedto send a signal to his Queen of his imminent return.

The return to England

In the years that followed, with his wife's death, Michel Agnoloremained alone in Soglio because his son John, having completed hisstudies at Tubingen, had started from 1566 to travel in Northern Italyregions, but especially in France, where he remained five years in theSouth, from Provence to Aquitaine, from Languedoc to the Rhône Valley.His father was already devoted to preparations for his long-awaitedreturn to London, taking care not to show his expectations or arise theattention of the authorities.

In the years that followed, the situation in England improvedconsiderably, as well as the political continental scenario was notmanifesting imminent crisis. Even the life at Court became more sereneand in the country it began to prevail normality, which ment interest inthe arts, desire to have fun and granting of worldliness at Court.

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Elizabeth was considering the possibility of her marriage. Negotiationsfor his planned marriage had begun in favour of Charles of Habsburg,Archduke of Austria, while still persisting the romance with RobertDudley, the “Sweet Robin." In 1570 Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, hadcome on a mission in Tubingen to meet the Duke Christopher ofWürttemberg, in order to establish through his contacts in Vienna thewillingness of the Imperial court.

Now it was definitely time to return to England, at least for JohnFlorio, who still awaited in France. He in fact returned there thefollowing year and settled at Oxford, where he enrolled at MagdalenCollege.

The new situation also convinced his father remained in Soglio toresume preparations to organize in turn his coming back. First, It wasnecessary to find a viable substitute to his pastoral charge, provide forthe organization of the trip for himself and for the delivery of not onlythe numerous documents, but the most part of his extensive library, forwhich a single expedition would have taken part. This was a real problemin the days when people used to travel the horse-drawn carriages; thesignificant weight and size to carry was remarkable; it is likely that,in addition to the papers, the load counted about three hundred books. Wenow know the size of the library to the fact that, a few decades later,in his last will his son John numbered those books as three hundred andforty: being them for the most part classical texts of Greek and Romanliterature and authors of Italian Renaissance, it may be supposed thatany additional publications subsequently purchased in England should nothave been many.

A further caution to Michel Agnolo was to ensure an immediatecontinuation of his pastoral service; the solution was at hand for thepresence at that time in Valtellina of Giovanni Marcì, of Sienaextraction as he was, and willing to reside in Soglio as soon as Florioleft from there. This allowed him to devote completely to theorganization of his return, entrusting the care of the house with agoverness, a poor local alone woman, perhaps a widow or single mother,with a daughter named Constantia, to whom he will leave everything elseof value remained in the house. It was not then a last will. MichelAgnolo Florio left Soglio incognito probably in autumn 1577 going toOxford, where his son John had already taken residence.

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At that time, during the winter months, the passage of carriagesthrough the Alpine passes was almost impossible, and in the course ofthat year 1577 a fact just happens, that will be analyzed by those who,after me, will continue this research in the framework of a project 'sdeepening of our results. It is an historical fact which has reflected inthe English chronicles of the time, and that corroborates the return toEngland of Michel Agnolo Florio the same year.

We look at the facts as they result from the chronicles of thetime. Philip Sidney, the English poet and brave soldier, who alsoattended Magdalen College at Oxford and was a John Florio’s friend andequal in age, at the end of 1576 assumed command of the League of theProtestants against the Papacy and Spain. As a first assignment, he wassent on a diplomatic mission to Paris and then to Italy to establishalliances. He had been joining on the long journey by his sister MarySidney, poet herself and protector of arts, just married to Sir HenryHerbert, second Earl of Pembroke, all of them eager to visit Italy. Thegroup of three English noblemen stopped in Paris some time, and then wentto visit and have meetings in Florence, and stay longer in Venice andPadua. It just happens that in those same days Giordano Bruno repaired inVenice on the run from Rome. As is known, some time before in his cell inthe convent of Naples had been found works of Erasmus and JohnChrysostom, which led the Holy Office, after John de Valdes’ death, topursue his Neapolitan followers. Summoned to Rome and assessing thedanger, Bruno saw fit to evade investigation, obviously avoiding headingto Rome. He thus reached Noli, in Liguria, and subsequently Turin,seeking protection in the cities where the presence of the Reformed hadbeen able to secure a support. With this purpose, he went first to Milanand then continue by river in safer Venetian Republic.

The question is whether there would be a connection among thesepeople and their journey in the same destination places of in the sameperiod of year 1577, them all with the same final destination, Venicefirst, and then England. In fact, shortly thereafter all of them wouldfind themselves in London, including Michel Agnolo Florio. There is alsoto be considered a not unimportant circumstance regarding theirrelationship: Sir Henry Herbert, as a boy, was a pupil of Michel AgnoloFlorio, when in 1550 he lived at Court with Princess Elizabeth and LadyJane Grey in the group of Royal children 10. The common and fortuitouspresence in Venice, after many years, may have been the occasion of an

10 M. M. Reese, Shakespeare. His World and his Work, London 1953.17

exceptional meeting – preordained, perhaps - between the old master andthe one who by then will be among Florio’s most generous patrons. Infact, from that hypothetical meeting would be established in Englandimportant relationships between them, which will give beginning to anintense collaboration of the two Florio, Giordano Bruno and PhilipSidney, auspice the Earl of Pembroke who also gave to Samuel Daniel theoffice of tutor to his sons William and Philip.

Meanwhile, in Oxford, John Florio completed his studies at MagdalenCollege and achieved his first major professional duties, which placedhim in view of both the Court and the Government. In fact, in 1583, afterthe failed mission to Vienna by Edward De Vere, the powerful FirstCounselor of the Queen, William Cecil, Baron Burghley, bestowed on JohnFlorio the role of Consultant to the French Ambassador, Michel deCastelnau-Mauvissière, for negotiations finalized to the drafting of themarriage contract between the English Queen and the French prince Francisof Anjou, Duke of Alençon, the King of France’s brother. In the group ofFrench advisers also Giordano Bruno came from Paris; both the Italianphilosopher and John Florio resided as guests in the same embassy inLondon until the end of the negotiations in the year 1585, consolidatingmutual relations. After this prestigious position at the ElizabethanCourt, Lord Burghley entrusted to John Florio to be the tutor of youngHenry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton 11, to prepare him foradmission to Cambridge St. John's College, a very delicate task giventhat the Queen gave special and constant attention to the then thirteenboy 12. John Florio left his Oxford home and moved to London with hiswife Rose Daniel and his father Michel Agnolo, taking up residency therein Shoe Lane Street.

In the new house the two Florio spent several years of literarysilence, during which it may be presumed they had devoted themselves tothe elaboration of all notes, rough drafts and writings since then

11 S. Gerevini, William Shakespeare, ovvero John Florio: un fiorentino alla conquista del mondo,Aulla (MS), 2008.12 Certain circumstances reported by the chronicles of the time suggest that theyoung Henry Wriothesley was the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth and Edwardde Vere, Earl of Oxford. After his birth he would have been entrusted to the"Court of Wards and Liveries" with the name of a noble of Titchfield, who lost achild. The aforementioned charitable institution had risen to London for thegrowth and education of the children and orphans of the aristocracy. The same deVere, orphaned at age eleven, had been entrusted to the same educationalinstitution, which - for its particular activity - was chaired by the Secretaryof State itself.

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collected, to form the basis for theatrical scenery where the plotsremembered places dear to Michel Agnolo, punctually described in texts,in which historical Renaissance characters were moving whom he met inlife, stories of local lordships took place, written in a languageenriched with precious idiomatic expressions, witty aphorisms andscholarly Latin phrases. In those sublime texts you can see the path of alifetime through the places and the major cities where Michel Agnololived and worked, described in landscape and detail the mostcharacteristics: Florence, Venice, Padua, Verona, Bergamo, Milan, Pavia,Soglio, Sabbioneta , Mantova, Lucca, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Messinaand the island of Vulcano. They are what we call the "Città Floriane"(Florios’ Cities), places which author of the works took in whole or inpart as Italy locations, where the majority of the works occur. But thevarious texts also rely on other places where Michel Agnolo went thanksto the fact that at the time they were the Republic of Venice subject, asfor the Greek islands, Rhodes and Cyprus, as well as Ragusa in Illyria(now Dubrovnik). By the authors, the so collected literary materialconstituted the source to create, along with John’s brother-in-law SamuelDaniel, his friends William Shakespeare, John Fletcher and others, theplays that will enrich the literary heritage of the English drama.

Anyway, there were difficulties in interpreting these writings,expressed in polished Tuscan language and to be translating into a meagerlanguage such as the one in use in England in the Sixteenth century: theauthors had to intervene both in criteria for adaptation to poor syntaxand in creation of English neologisms for the lack of lexical itemsdesigned to express abstract concepts or words designating intangiblethings. Therefore, they had to create new terms, never appeared before inthe English lexicon. After publishing several works for English writersengaged in translation of classical texts of the Renaissance 13, theybegan a lexicological search just to turn in English vocabulary idioms,aphorisms, proverbs and syllogisms coming not only from Tuscan- but alsoVenetian- and Sicilian dialect.

It has been calculated that in this impressive translation work theFlorio had been using about twenty-one thousand words, four thousand ofwhom were on their first appearance in the English language. Just forcomparison, be considering that the King James Bible had a vocabulary ofsix thousand and five hundred words, and in his poems John Milton had

13 J. Florio, First Fruits, Oxford 1578, Id., Second Fruits cit.; Id., A World of Words,London, 1598.

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about eight thousand, including latinisms. In this way it took shape welleven in England an English idiom development, which for some time on thecontinent was known as the "language issue". This huge work should havetaken to the Florio at least seven years, because already in 1591 thefirst theatrical works may have been ready for the scenes. This can begathered given that the first of them, Henry VI-Part I, was performed at theGlobe on March 3, 1592. During following years, the authors were able toproduce an average of three new works.

Conclusions

The documentary evidences

The first effort was to test the reliability of an identitydocument shown by a local historian of the Valtellina, which indicatedthe death of Michel Agnolo Florio in Soglio in the year 1567. I was notmoved by excessive prudence, but knowing the history of the Sforza Duchyand of the sad events described in Alessandro Manzoni’s novel TheBetrothed, I hesitated. More, I still feel skepticism and controversyabout my research to make assessments on what is traditionally supportedby the official biographies, so pragmatism requires me to investigatethings that are not convincing. For this reason, the first thing I didwas to go back to visit the Val Bregaglia, to consult historicalarchives, both secular and ecclesiastical. I realized that in the Grisonsthe whole documentation was collected and centralized in Chur. Thereforeit was necessary to extend any research in the Regional administrativecentre. In this task it was determining my friend’s Bondo collaborationas well as the gentle journalist Silvia Rutigliano’s and pastor Stefanod’Archino ones; they come across to a document in German language, signedby pastor Jakob R. Troug and dated 1935, the year when historicalarchives were centralized. The work in which this document was foundentitled Die Pfarrer der evangelischen Gemeinden in Graubünden und seinen ehemaligenUntertanenlanden, edited in Chur by Eggerling & Co. in 1935.

The Synod Protocol of years from 1571 to 1608 lists the names ofthe Reformed churches’ titulars in various cities and towns of Graubündenregion. On page 213, number 103, there are listed the names of thepastors whom succeeded one another in Soglio. The first pastor wasLactantius of Bergamo, who died in 1555; the second one is indicated inthe following synthetic note:

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“ 2. 1555 – 77 Mich. Angelus Florius von Florenz, 1548 in Romgefangen, als Flüchtling in London 1550-54/Nachfolger von Bern.Ochino,/1554-55 in Antwerpen,/kam 27.V 1555 nach Soglio, zog 1577nach England. – Apologia. Chamogasko 1557.” 14.

From these synthetic references reported by Jakob Truog, it ispossible to go back to the documents from which they were taken. Aboutthe methodology by which Truog drew up his list some considerationsresult:

a) The list recalls archival documents for each mentioned name,indicating also the period of pastoral assignment;

b) If Michel Agnolo had actually died in 1567, the list would miss thethird period from year 1607, when he was replaced by his confrereGiovanni Marcì;

c) When the church titular died, next to the name of the deceased is asign of the cross (+). In the case of Michel Agnolo that indicativesign does not appear, as for other many other pastors who leavedtheir pastoral service by transfering to other ecclesial locations,or thanks to any impediments.

The precious list gave me confirmation that behind Michel Agnolo’spresumed death should hide some specific interest not to mentioncircumstances that were not to be disclosed. The “no-death certificate”was there to confirme my suspicions. What kind of interest should riseagainst that wretched life of a poor pastor exiled for years in a remotealpine valley? On this subject, and on interests which are yetcontrasting the historical reality even after five centuries, I refer thereader to the climate of fear in which Reformed people in Valtellinalived as described in Michel Agnolo Florio’s biography, a book that Ihope to be published soon.

For the moment, we focus again on the topic of the evidence ofFlorio's survival after 1577, and this because there’s still no shortageof literary critics and historians who rather than accepting theevidence, argue that - from the archival point of view - those not all

14 2.1555 -77 Michel Angelus Florius, from Florence, imprisoned in Rome, then in exile in London from 1550 to '54, then from Berne (with) Ochino 1544-55, came toAntwerp 27 May 1555 [settled] in Soglio, is moved to England in 1577 / [wrote] the book "Apology" [published] in 1557 to Chamogasko”.

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acts would supplement the formal prerequisites to be considered absoluteproof. Knowing these strengths, still stubbornly present, I hoped that Icould offer a fortuitous time with a solution free from spurious caution.

So it was that luck or perseverance unexpectedly came to my rescue.One day, gleaning through the pages of my books, I came to a stretch inthe absolute solution of the problem. It was a book of the Seventeenthcentury, well known to researchers, including those of the last centurymentioned in the introduction to this article. The saving intervention,which solves - deus ex machina - any doubt, it was in the pages of MichelAgnolo’s manuscript which remained in Urach, in Pier Paolo Vergerius’archive. Obviously, this manuscript has always been well known to anyonewho was and is interested in Michel Agnolo’s death problem, being theonly document - partly autobiographical - after the most important one,his book titled Apology. Evidently, as sometimes can happen, the attentionof researchers has always been very focused on the full text of themanuscript, neglecting the contours and details of things. In our case, Ihave to believe that no one has ever paid attention to the preface of theeditor, who sought to justify the considerable delay - only in 1607 - inpublishing a work dating back to 1562. The solution, it was right in hispreface, in those words escaped at all!

For reasons I will hereinafter specify, the publication came out aboutfifty years after the author wrote it; then it ran to the publisher anobligation to justify so an unusual delay. What happened after MichelAgnolo had to deliver his manuscript to Vergerius in 1555?

As we know, Pietro Paolo Vergerius taught at Tübingen University, anddirected the Biblical Institute in nearby Urach, and strived to allowJohn Florio attending the athenaeum in May 1563. Unfortunately, aboutthree years after Vergerius died; some time later, rearranging papers anddocuments of the deceased, his heirs found Florio’s manuscript, anddocuments reporting the author's will, so they conserved it until theyheard about the new of family friend’s death in London in 1605.Remembering the good friendship between their illustrious joint andFlorio, they finally decided to publish the manuscript, having longceased impediments, and being concerned people died.

Everything else I leave to what the Dutch publisher R. Schilders ofMiddleburg wrote in his preface to the book he published in the Italianlanguage as it was originally written:

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"The authentic book, written in his own hand by the Author, it was found, afterhis death, in the house of a person of honor and great benefactor, exiled duringthe time of persecution of true Christians in England, after the death of theblessed memory of the Most Serene King Edward VI. Now, since this book came intomy hands, it has been deemed worthy of publication by men well exercised intheology. This was also the intention of the Author, so that every persondesirous of good education, especially among Italians, could benefit from it(...). I did not want, as well as the custodian of the Author’s will, to lack infulfilling his wish. He would surely publish it himself if he had not beenprevented, at the time and in the place where he resided, by most savagepersecution. "(...). In fact, he has deposed it in safe hands for over fiftyyears, and it has been preserved from the fire of the Antichrist and of anyother corruption that could easily consume it, and disperse. ".

Finally, I declare the following fundamental points:

a) Michel Agnolo Florio did not die in Soglio, but moved to England in1577;

b) He died in London in 1605, aged over eighty years;

c) His for that time considerable library moved with him to London,and was part of the assets transferred by his son John to hispatron Lord Pembroke with his last will signed in Fulham, MiddlesexCounty, dated July 20, 1625, which I will publish in the originalEnglish and Italian translation in my next book. I will alsopublish Shakespeare’s testament, in order to allow the comparisonbetween the two texts, which content is the measure of the culturallevel of the two characters.

These fundamental points and the updated biography of the characterswill henceforth legitimate further studies by scholars and researcherswho will follow us in reaffirming historical truth about the "authorship"of the theatrical works written during that exciting Renaissance periodwhich, however, we will continue to call “Shakespearean Works”, due tomnemonic inertia and tradition habit.

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