The Lux in Arcana exhibition at the Musei Capitolini from 1st March to September 2012 will reveal for the first time codes, files, scrolls, records and manuscripts of remarkable historical value, preserved for 400 years in the Vatican Secret Archive.
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Thoughts from prison
One of the documents included in the exhibition is a letter by Marie Antoinette, written in 1793 while she was in prison to an individual thought to be Louis XVI’s brother Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, who in 1824 became Charles X, King of France.
The letter, which is only ten lines in length, is handwritten on a sheet of ordinary paper folded in two. It reads, “The sentiments of those who share my pain, my dear brother-in-law, are the only consolation I can receive in this sad circumstance.” The letter is then signed, “Your loving Sister-in-Law and Cousin Marie Antoinette.”
The clear and regular handwriting confirms that it was penned by Maria Antonia of Habsburg-Lorraine, daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria, who in 1770 had married the future King Louis XVI of France, and from then on was always called Marie Antoinette.
Ten months after this note’s supposed date, Marie Antoinette’s curse fate unfolded: early on October 16, 1793, she was taken to the guillotine on a squalid barrow.
1200 years of documents to explore
Other documents which visitors to the exhibition will be able to view date from the eighth century through to the twentieth century. These include:
- A letter from the British Parliament to Pope Clement VII about King Henry VIII’s impending divorce
- A silk cloth from the Empress Helena of China on her conversion to Catholism dated 4 November 1650
- A letter from Michelangelo to Monsignor Christopher Spirits, Bishop of Cesena and the future patriarch of Jerusalem
- The acts from the trial of Galileo Galilei
- A letter written on birch bark by American Indians to Pope Leo XIII
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Mary Queen of Scots last letter to pope Sixtus V.
From the very first day that she donned the crown of England, in 1558, Elizabeth saw her cousin Mary Stuart – the woman who was dubbed by the English court the “monstrous Scottish dragon” – as a dangerous rival. As the queen of Scotland, the granddaughter of Henry VIII’s sister and a faithful follower of the Church of Rome, Mary was indeed a threat to the queen of England, who subscribed wholeheartedly in Protestant teachings and was considered by the English Catholics to be the “bastard” daughter of Henry VIII and his “concubine” Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth had only to await the right moment to thwart the threat.
A chance came in 1568, when a revolt by the Scottish lords forced Mary to flee her kingdom. In that dramatic circumstance, Elizabeth offered Mary comfort and protection. But as soon as the “Scottish woman” reached Carlisle, in northwest England, Elizabeth had her arrested under a pretext. This was the beginning of the eighteen long years of Mary’s detention, which she spent in six different places, not always comfortable ones: Bolton, Tutbury, Wingfield Manor, Chatsworth, Chartley Hall and finally Fotheringhay. Here, at the end of a trial in which she was charged with high treason for complicity in Anthony Babington’s plot to kill Queen Elizabeth, Mary was found guilty and ordered to prepare herself to die.
The exiled queen of Scots was told the verdict and the sentence on November 23, 1586, and that same day she decided to write to pope Sixtus V to inform him of her inexorable fate. “Now, Holy Father,” she wrote (in French), “it hath pleased God to allow, because of my sins and those of the people of this unfortunate island, that after twenty years of imprisonment, I (sole descendant of the house of England and Scotland to profess this faith) be shut up in a narrow prison and finally condemned, by the States and the heretical assembly of this country, to die.” In this long letter, the queen then described her sufferings, professed her Catholic faith again, and recommended her soul to God.
Elizabeth hesitated at length before signing the order of execution; never before had a sovereign “anointed by God” been sent to the scaffold
More than two months went by before Mary came to her tragic end. Elizabeth hesitated at length before signing the order of execution; never before had a sovereign “anointed by God” been sent to the scaffold. At last Elizabeth ended the delay and signed the decree. On February 8, 1587, Mary stepped courageously up to the block. The axe fell repeatedly on her neck before the executioner could display her severed head to the crowd.
Mary Stuart’s death did not mark the end of her dynasty. Her son, James VI of Scotland, took up her legacy and, as James I of England, accomplished the eternal dream of that country’s rulers: to unite England and Scotland under a single sceptre. And the motto that Mary had embroidered on her garments during the long years of prison – En ma fin gît mon commencement, “In my end lies my beginning” - was accomplished, to the letter.
Making information accessible
The exhibition’s main sponsor is the EMC Corporation as part of their ‘Information Heritage Initiative‘, which works to protect and preserve the world’s information for future generations and make it globally accessible in digital form for research and education purposes. Many of the exhibits from ‘Lux in Arcana’ will be displayed on the exhibition’s website, and as projections, dynamic graphics and video at the exhibition itself. This will provide visitors with the historical context of the unveiled documents.
Source: EMC Corporation press release
More information:
- Read more about ‘Lux in Arcana’ at http://www.luxinarcana.org
- Musei Capitolini
- For the last letter of Mary Queen of Scots : http://digital.nls.uk/mqs/ written 8 hours before her execution