284 - Letter written and signed in Sigismund Báthory’s own hand, Prince of Transylvania, addressed to Alfonso Visconti, Bishop of Cervia, in Italian, 28 April 1598, paper, black ink, red wax, Sigismund Báthory writes to Alfonso Visconti, Bishop of Cervia, about his departure from the court at Alba Iulia and his safe arrival in Kisvárda, from where he writes to ask him to intercede on his behalf for the protection of the Holy See. The document is signed in the hand of Prince Sigismund Báthory. Brief historical note: Sigismund Báthory (Zsigmond Báthory, 1573–March 1613) was Prince of Transylvania from 1586 to April 1598, then again from August 1598 to 1599 and from 1601 to 1602. At the time this letter was written, he was in Kisvárda, in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, during his first abdication, which had taken place on 6 April 1598. At the end of the sixteenth century, Europe was engulfed in conflicts between the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires, later known as the Long War or the Fifteen Years’ War (1593–1606), which ended with the Peace of Zsitvatorok. Sigismund had abdicated the throne of Transylvania in favour of Emperor Rudolf II, receiving Silesia (the duchies of Racibórz and Opole) in return. Alfonso Visconti (1550–1608) served as papal nuncio to Transylvania from 1596 to 1598, specifically until April 1598, when Sigismund Báthory departed for Poland. This is also the reason for the correspondence between the two. By 28 April, Visconti was already in Rome. This letter confirms that the prince had left Alba Iulia and was already in Hungary, and that, before reaching the duchies (i.e. Opole and Racibórz, in Poland), he wrote to the Bishop of Cervia asking him to convey to the Pope (Clement VIII, born Ippolito Aldobrandini) his devotion and his wish to place himself under the Pope’s protection, 32 x 42, This lot is being classified by the Romanian Ministry of Heritage.