SUMMARY

Christopher Plantin has prepared the characters for the re-edition of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible and has requested funding from the King of Spain to buy the paper. After receiving a printing test of the Bible, the King submits the project for the approval of the various experts. The evaluation is very favorable. After being chosen as the Spanish editing supervisor, BAM has to go to Antwerp to coordinate the whole project. Due to the wars in France, the route will be by sea. When BAM arrives in the Low Countries, he first has to visit the Duke of Alba to inform him of his mission, so that the Governor can help him in practical matters. Secondly, BAM has to deliver Philip II's letter to Plantin and discuss with him some highly relevant issues about the Polyglot: the Vulgate -and not the Latin translation of the Hebraist Pagnino- must be printed together with the Hebrew text, just like it was made in the Bible of Alcalá; the new Polyglot will include the Chaldean text from the Pentateuch onwards, the Syriac New Testament, and Hebrew, Chaldean, Syriac, and Greek dictionaries. The King orders six parchment Bibles. The reasons for the project must be exposed in the preface, whose draft must be sent to Madrid to be corrected. BAM will control the six thousand ducats granted to Plantin as a loan for the purchase of paper. When parts of this amount are returned by the printer, BAM will use this money to purchase books and manuscripts for the Library of El Escorial. In addition to his salary as royal chaplain, BAM will receive a stipend of 300 escudos del sol per year during his stay in Antwerp.

COMMENT

The two documents published below contain the official appointment of BAM as royal commissioner for the printing of the Antwerp Polyglot Bible, with detailed instructions from Philip II for the successful execution of the project. The testimonies preserved in Simancas are the original minutes or drafts of this communication, written in Spanish, which were preserved among the official papers. The original document that was sent to BAM was written in Latin and a minute or draft of it is preserved in the Manuscript of Stockholm, ff. 183-186 (1568 03 25b).

Given the relevance of this appointment, we consider it justified to publish separately the Spanish version of Simancas (1568 03 25a), on the one hand, and the appointment written in Latin and preserved in Stockholm (1568 03 25b), on the other one.