DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71557#0299
VITTORIA COLONNA.
269
familiar with Isaac Walton's Life of the pious
George Herbert, since that good man published a
translation of one of his works, and paid a high
tribute in it to the soundness of his views on the
doctrine of justification.
A Spaniard by birth, Valdez was a man of
family, of considerable learning, and of a highly
intellectual cast of mind. He had been knighted
for his military services by the Emperor, who
placed great confidence in him, and had often sent
him on missions to Germany, where it is supposed
he made acquaintance with the writings of Luther,
and became a convert to his opinions. He was
a perfect gentleman, of winning manners and ad-
dress, and of great powers of conversation ; and as
his heart was deeply affected by the new principles
he had embraced, he spared no pains to commu-
nicate them to others. He thus drew over many to
his views, and in a short time became the centre
of a sort of religious association, whose members
held private meetings, which were confined, in the
first instance, to the higher classes.
" Not only," says Giannone, " had the poison
penetrated the breasts of some of the nobility,
but it had reached the ladies ; and it was believed
that the highly celebrated Vittoria Colonna, widow
of the Marquis of Pescara, and Julia Gonzaga
(judging from the intimate terms on which they
lived with Valdez), had become contaminated with
269
familiar with Isaac Walton's Life of the pious
George Herbert, since that good man published a
translation of one of his works, and paid a high
tribute in it to the soundness of his views on the
doctrine of justification.
A Spaniard by birth, Valdez was a man of
family, of considerable learning, and of a highly
intellectual cast of mind. He had been knighted
for his military services by the Emperor, who
placed great confidence in him, and had often sent
him on missions to Germany, where it is supposed
he made acquaintance with the writings of Luther,
and became a convert to his opinions. He was
a perfect gentleman, of winning manners and ad-
dress, and of great powers of conversation ; and as
his heart was deeply affected by the new principles
he had embraced, he spared no pains to commu-
nicate them to others. He thus drew over many to
his views, and in a short time became the centre
of a sort of religious association, whose members
held private meetings, which were confined, in the
first instance, to the higher classes.
" Not only," says Giannone, " had the poison
penetrated the breasts of some of the nobility,
but it had reached the ladies ; and it was believed
that the highly celebrated Vittoria Colonna, widow
of the Marquis of Pescara, and Julia Gonzaga
(judging from the intimate terms on which they
lived with Valdez), had become contaminated with