These editions of reports sent back by Venetian ambassadors to the Great Council of the Republic in the sixteenth century were edited by Eugenio Albèri (1807-78) and published between 1839 and 1863. As Albèri notes in his preface, a law of 1296 decreed that all embassies and legations should submit a written report to the Council at the end of their mission, and the surviving records provide an invaluable resource for political and economic historians. The fifteen volumes are divided into three series, on relations with European states outside Italy; with other Italian states; and with the Ottoman Empire. Volume 13 (Volume 5 of the first series), published in 1861, contains reports dating from 1563 to 1598, and focuses on Spain and its empire in the reign of Philip II. The Revolt of the Netherlands and the alliance against the Turks in the Mediterranean appear in these accounts.
