| CAUSA ANGLICA Petition of the Nobility of England to Pope Clement VII asking for the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage with Catherine of Aragon London British Library, 2009 september 3 , at 6.00 pm Scrinium presents to Her Majesty the Queen the “Petition of the Nobility of England to Pope Clement VII asking for the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage with Catherine of Aragon” On September 3, the perfect replica of the “Address of the Peers of England to Pope Clement VII asking for the annulment of King Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon”, produced by Scrinium, the Vatican Secret Archives’ trust company for the project Exemplaria Praetiosa, will be presented to Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II via the Royal Librarian, Hon Lady Jane Roberts and will become part of the Royal Library’s heritage at Windsor. The gift is the reproduction of a key document in the history of the English Church and of the later relationships between England and Europe, standing at a turning point in the history of the Anglican schism. Timing the five-hundredth anniversary of the sovereign’s accession, this outstanding historical testimony is finally restored to England in the shape a facsimile perfectly reproducing the ancient document. The original parchment letter bears an extraordinary set of 83 wax seals and is currently conserved in perfect conditions by the Secret Archives of the Vatican. Scrinium, the publishing company which supported the project and achieved the work in cooperation with the Vatican Secret Archives, decided to take on such an important initiative which will allow the highest cultural institutions in England to have at their disposals, after 500 years, an invaluable tool for the study of a crucial page of history. The document, before its final acquisition as a property of the Royal Library, the Royal House’s private collection, will be exhibited at the British Library in a special glass case, purpose-made by the famous glassworks Venini of Murano. The event of the presentation to the Queen Elizabeth II of the Petition sets forth the cultural relevance of the Project “Exemplaria Praetiosa Archivi Secreti Vaticani” and the worldwide attention that Scrinium’s work keeps receiving for the extraordinarily high quality of its achievements which are the result of long and accurate researches by most qualified scholars and art historians. Press Office: Studio Systema - Venice (Italy) ufficio.stampa@scrinium.org |