This book, edited by Dr Andreas Mazetti Petersson, constitutes the third volume of Antonio Possevino’s Writings, published in the Uppsala Studies in Church History ebook series. The volume is divided into two parts. The first part contains the transcription of Antonio Possevino’s (1533–1611) Il Soldato Christiano. The second is a study by the editor to help the reader understand the rhetorical tools used in the text.
The full title of Possevino’s book is Il Soldato Christiano con l’istruttione de’ capi dell’essercito catolico. Composto da Antonio Possevino della Compagnia di Giesù. Libro necessario à chi desidera sapere i mezi per acquistar vittoria contra heretici, turchi, & altri infedeli.
It was first printed in Rome 1569 (Valerio & Dorici, 8o), requested by Pope Pius V (sed. 1566–1572) to be distributed to the soldier envoys that were to join the army of French king Charles IX (r. 1560–1574) in the war against the Huguenots, as well as among the troops that prepa-red to embark on the fleet that eventually fought the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto (1571).
The second edition of the Soldato Christiano was printed in Mace-rata in 1576 (Sebastiano Martellini, 12o), followed by a third in Mantua in 1582 (Francesco Osanna, 12o), and a fourth in Macerata in 1583 (Sebastiano Martellini, 12o). The latter is the source text for the transcription in this book, as well as for a Spanish translation published in 1588, titled Platica Spiritual para el soldado cristiano. Sacada de las obras del muy R. Padre Antonio Possevino de la Compañia de Iesus (Christophe Plantin, Antwerp, 8o).
A fifth edition in Italian was published in 1604, printed in Venice (Domenico Imberti, 4o), including revisions and additions and with a new subtitle: Con aggiunte et colla forma d’un vero principe e d’una vera principessa nelle vite di Stefano Batori re di Polonia, di Lodovico Gonzaga Duca di Nevers, e di Eleonora Archiduchessa d’Austria, con LXVI avvertimenti di Basilio Imperatore a Leone suo figlio non più nella nostra lingua usciti et altre istruzioni per giusto governo. The added subtitle indicates a shift from a mere guide for Catholic soldiers to one that includes instruction on the art of rule. This edition was dedicated to Cosimo II de’ Medici (r. 1609–1621), heir to the Grand Duchy of Tos-cana at the time of the publication.
The intended readers of Soldato Christiano were captains and soldiers on the Italian peninsula of at least moderate education, rather than the European élite whose lingua franca was Latin. Book V of Possevino’s Bibliotheca Selecta (1593), written in Latin, addresses recurrent themes i Soldato Christiano, such as the justification of war, the instruction in moral conduct for captains and soldiers, and the need for priests to abstain from warfare.
The volume is available here
Magnus Lundberg 