The letter to Alfonso de Valdés
After the Sack of Rome, in May 1527, Castiglione, who was in Spain as the apostolic nuncio at the court of Charles V, was involved in a very violent doctrinal and ideological clash with Alfonso de Valdés. The latter, in fact, though only in the form of a manuscript, wrote and divulged a booklet entitled Diálogo de las cosas occurídas en Roma, in which, taking up themes typical of Lutheran preaching, the barbarous destruction of Rome, carried out by the Emperor’s troops present in Italy, was legitimised as divine punishment of the corrupt Roman court. Baldassarre replied to this with a very long letter, of strong rhetorical character, not too distant from the tones of a furious invective or accusation. First of all it pointed out that the work of Valdés, contrasting the pacifying messages sent out by Charles V, had been written and diffused under his very eyes.
Castiglione conceded to his interlocutor that there were many clergymen in Rome who were unworthy, due to ignorance or scarce morality. However, he underlined that nothing could justify such barbarous and savage violence perpetrated against innocents and damaging the most sacred symbols of the Christian religion. “E se i sacerdoti – wrote Castiglione – fussero tali che ingannassero il volgo, e per questa via cercassero di guadagnar denari, che ha che fare in questo caso al castigo loro spogliare e rubar quella croce e il resto della chiesa, ammazzare uomini e donne e fanciulli, violar donzelle, e metter ogni cosa a sacco, a fuoco e a sangue?”(And even if they did trick the people, to try to gain money, what has their punishment got to do with stealing the cross and all else from the church, killing men, women and children, violating young girls, and setting everything to fire, flame and blood) (B. Castiglione, Lettere, edited by di P. Serassi, II, Padua 1771, 180).
To the nuncio it was an intolerable monstrosity that such acts had been carried out by the army of Charles V, Emperor of the Christians, and then justified by his Secretary. He therefore found himself forced to defend the Church of Pope Clemente VII, though also not forgetting to recognise his errors, admitting that, due to the circumstances, he had had to resort to extreme measures. The controversy risked devastating Christianity and positioning Madrid against Rome, and this is why Valdés should have been be referred to the Inquisition as a heretic. In the final part of the letter, Castiglione himself gives in to resentment and unleashes personal attacks to denounce the ill faith of his adversary: Valdés, in fact, had malice painted “nella pallidezza di quel volto pestilente e in quegli occhi velenosi e risi sforzati, che par che sempre spirino tradimenti” (in the paleness of his face and in those poisonous eyes and forced laughter, that always seems inspired by betrayal).
