Valtellina, Reformation and Counter-Reformation In

VALTELLINA, vdIIItel-111na, REFORMATION AND COUNTER-REFORMATION IN: Valtellina, or the upper valley of the Adds, in Northern Italy, early became a coveted possession. In 774 Charle magne gave it to the monastery of

Earlier St. Denis at Paris, but before long it

External wax the bone of contention between

History. the bishops of Como and of Chur, whose dioceses here met. The former prelate already had estates in Valtellina, and in 1006 re ceived from Henry II, half of the county; accord ingly, in 1190, he laid claim to the temporal sover

eignty, and fifteen years later subdued Bormio.

In 1336, however, Bormio again came into the possession of Chur, but in 1350 was taken by the Visconti and remained part of Milan until 1512. In 1404, the fugitive Mastino Visconti presented Valtellina to the diocese of Chur. In the struggles for the duchy of Milan the allies expelled the French from Valtellina, in 1512, and remained there as conquerors until 1797, except for a short time after the "Yaltellina massacre" (see below). Ecclesiastically Valtellina remained dependent on the bishop of Como, who was originally under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Aquileia, and later under that of the archbishop of Milan. The bishop of Chur (placed under the archbishop of Mainz in 843), therefore, had little power in Valtellina, though for a time after 1530 he was given an annual compensation for his loss of jurisdiction.

Valtellina received the "new doctrine" of the Reformation from the south, so that it remained free from the Teutonizing influences of

The Ref- the Reformation proceeding from Zu ormation. rich. In Grisons, of which Valtellina then formed part, the religious and social reform was accomplished under the influence of the Ilanz Articles of 1524 and 1526 (see Komander, Johann), and at Davos in 1526 the diet granted religious freedom to all, with the exception of the Anabaptists. Italian Protestants, driven from their country by the commencement of the Counter-Reformation, took advantage of this tol eration and settled in large numbers in the valley of the Adda and elsewhere, many availing them selves of their asylum to wage war on the Roman Catholic Church. After 1523, in like manner, a number of Waldenses and other Protestants fled from Milan to Valtellina, only to be expelled by the allies at the request of the inhabitants. Reforma tion and Counter-Reformation followed fast in Val tellina. In the second decade of the sixteenth cen tury there were officials with Protestant tendencies there, though the great Protestant movement did not take place until after the issuing of the bull Licet ab initio in 1542. The stream of fugitives into the RhEetian valleys included many restless spirits who disturbed both religious and political condi tions. In 1529 an Italian preacher was brought from Valtellina, to Bans for examination of his teachings, and in 1544 two Calabrian monks, Ill cesco and Hieronimo, were expelled from the En gadine for Anabaptist doctrines Chiavenna was the home of the Neapolitan Camillo Renato, an antitrinitarian antipedobaptiat, and of Laelius Socinus (q.v.), until a church order made it impossible for adherents of heterodox doctrines to remain. A certain Tiziano was banished for antitrinitarianism and antipedobaptism, despite his retractions, and the ex-monk Franciscus Niger of Bassano was not free from suspicion, though he was in close harmony with the position of the Zurich reformers. [Niger was also an antitrinitarian antipedobaptist. A. H. N.] On the other hand, there were among the fugitive Italians many of unquestioned standing in the eyes of the leaders of the Rhaetian Reformation. At first the Italian refugees in Valtellina were permitted only to reside there, not to preach. In 1538, how ever, the latter privilege was granted them, and in

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1544 additional favor was shown Protestant teachers and preachers, though it was still necessary to guard against erroneous doctrines. The Grisons, who were chiefly Protestant, supported the Reformation in Valtellina for political reasons. The result was religious antagonism, the Roman Catholics of Valtellina, both those who had remained true to the ancient faith and those who had been won back by the Jesuits, uniting with the other Roman Catholics of Switzerland, and these in their turn with Austria and Milan. Political and religious antitheses between Valtellina and the Grisons continually became intensified. Valtellina, which had welcomed the Grisons in 1512, was now oppressed by them, and the religious rights of the Roman Catholics were grievously curtailed. In 1551 it was rumored that Austria and Spain planned to invade the region, but Maurice of Saxony came to the aid of the Protestants, who, four months after the treaty of Passau, received a new edict of toleration despite the protests of the pope and of Spain. In the following year, to check the recrudescence of disturbing doctrines, the synod adopted the Confessio RhEetica, which was accepted by the Italians in 1553. The pope, aided by Austria and Spain, now sought to induce the Grisons to consent to the introduction of the Inquisition into Valtellina, and when this effort failed, the Capuchins were sent, while officials of the Inquisition were ever on the watch along the Milan border. In 1557 the edict of equal toleration for Protestants and Roman Catholics in Valtellina was renewed after the Jesuits had already firmly established themselves in the district toward the end of the fifth decade.

The most powerful factor in the crushing of Protestantism in this district, however, was the great archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Borromeo (q.v.), while the external dangers confronting

The the adherents of the new tenets were Counter- complicated by internal doctrinal dis- Reforma- putes. In 1564 Philip II. made an un- tion. successful demand of the Grisons for the surrender of Protestant heretics, and in 1579 Borromeo established at Milan the Collegium Helveticum, largely to provide priests for Valtellina, whereupon the Grisons renewed their exclusion of foreign priests. Another power ful agency in the reorganization of the Roman Cath olic Church here was found in the resumption of ecclesiastical visitations, interrupted since 1532. Two visitations were made by Giovanni Francesco Bonhomini in 1578 and by Borromeo himself in 1580. Nine years later Feliciano Ninguarda, bishop of Como, made a more extensive visitation, since, as a native of Valtellina, the Grisons were un able to forbid him to exercise pastoral activity in the Adds, valley. In 1639, moreover, the chapter of Milan conferred upon the bishop of Como pleni potentiary powers for ecclesiastical visitations and for the execution of papal bulls. Closely associated with the Reformation and Counter-Reformation here were the fortunes of the school established by the Grisons for the education of both Protes tants and Roman Catholics (apparently the first school of this character) at Sondrio, though Milanese opposition forced its transference to Chur in 1585. In 1584 an armed foray from Milan was planned for the destruction of the Valtellina Protestants and their school, but it was betrayed and failed. In 1621, however, the Spaniards invaded the region, killed 600 Protestants (the so-called " Valtellina massacre "), and with one blow ended the school and the domination of the Swiss Grisons. For nineteen years the latter strove in vain to recover their subjects, but in 1639 Valtellina passed under the control of the chapter of Milan, which forbade all exercise of the Reformed religion. Every effort, even with the help of England and Prussia, to se cure mitigation was in vain. Temporary relief was given by the edict of toleration of Joseph II., but in 1796 Napoleon entered Milan, and in the follow ing year made Valtellina part of the Cisalpine re public, since which time its fortunes have been those of upper Italy.

C. Camenisch.

Bibliography: Sources are: Eidgesssaische Abachiede, vols. iv.-v., ed. J. Strickler, Srugg, 18'73 sqq.; the Relazioue of Giacomo and Girolamo Soranzo, included in N. Barozzi and G. Berehet, Relazion% degl% atat% europei, Venice, 1856 sqq.; E. Roth, Mery de Vic et Padavino, in Quellen zur SchweizerPeschichte, Vol. v., Basel, 1881; the Historia Rcelica, in the same, Vol. ix., ib. 1890; Wirz, Akteu der riYrrcischen Curie, in the same, Vol. avi., ib. 1895; as well as Bullinger's correspondence in vols. aviii.-aav. of the same; Nuutiaturberichte ~aus der Schweiz, ed. F. Steffens and H. Reinhardt, Vol. i.. Solothurn, 1906; G. Alberti, Antichith di Bormio, and F. F. Ninguarda, Atti dells v%sita pastorale diocesans, in "Publications of the Como Historical Society," Como, 1890 sqq.; Paolo Sarpi, Breve Relatione d% Yaltelliud, in Appendix, Vol. ii. of his Opere, Verona, 1758, and in U. Martinelli, La Campagna del marcheae d% Ceeuvres, Citth d% Castello, also Sarpi's HisE. of the Council of Trent, London, 1676. Consult also: the literature under Borromeo, Carlo (biographies of him contain much from the sources); Komander, Johann; and the works on the Reformation in Switzerland; C. Cameniseh, Carlo Borromeo und die (legenrejormat%on %m Yeltlin, Chur, 1901; P. A. Lavizari, Memorie dells Valtellius, Coira, 1716; C. Cantu, RivoEuzione dells Yalteliina, Como, 1831; idem, Il sacro macello d% Yaltellina, Milan, 1885; G. Romegialli·Storia delta Valtellina, Sondrio, 1834; B. Anhorn, .WiedergeburE der evangelischen %%rche %n den 3 Burden, Chur, 1860; E. Haffter and Georg Tenatseh, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Bündner W%rrea, Davos, 1894; J. G. Mayer, Dos %onzal von Trient und die Gegenreformation in der Schweiz, Stars, 1901-03; J. Dierauer, Geschichte der achweizerischen Eidpenoasenschaft, Vol. iii., Gotha,1907; Schaff, Christian Church, vii.146,157,160.