He was born Pietro Sarpi in Venice. His father was a merchant, although not a successful one, his mother a Venetian noblewoman. His father died while he was still a child. The brilliant and precocious boy was educated by his

The republic rewarded Sarpi with the distinction of State Counsellor in Jurisprudence and the liberty of access to the state archives. These honours exasperated his

In 1619 his chief literary work, Istoria del Concilio Tridentino (History of the Council of Trent), was printed at London, published under the name of Pietro Soave Polano, an anagram of

Sarpi was the center of a vast political and scholarly network of eminent correspondents, from which about 430 of his letters have survived. Early letter collections were: "Lettere

Clement VIII died in March 1605, and the attitude of his successor Pope Paul V strained the limits of papal prerogative. Venice simultaneously adopted measures to restrict it: the right of the secular tribunals to take cognizance of the offences of ecclesiastics

The remainder of Sarpi's life was spent peacefully in his cloister, though plots against him continued to be formed, and he occasionally spoke of taking refuge in England. When not

In 1615, a dispute occurred between the Venetian government and the Inquisition over the prohibition of a book. In 1613 the Senate had asked Sarpi to write about the history and procedure of the Venetian Inquisition. He argued that this had been set up in 1289, but as a