The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

266 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
it without the permission of the bishop. Pius V. strengthened
this law in both respects, ordering that the enclosure must be
set up even when this had not been contemplated in the rule,
or had not been observed from time immemorial.^ It was
Borromeo and Ormaneto who had asked for this bull.^ A
further edict declared that abbesses and prioresses came under
the law of enclosure, even when they were of royal blood.
The Pope adhered strictly to what he had laid down,^ and it
was only with great difficulty that Serristori was able to
obtain leave for the Duchess of Florence to be admitted to
convents with two or three ladies when she was travelling in
places where she could not find a lodging elsewhere.^
Since the co-operation of the secular arm was necessary
for the enforcement of his bull on the enclosure, Pius V.
addressed briefs on the subject to several of the Italian
princes.^ In Rome Ormaneto and the other reformers began
at once to make strict use of their powers.'^ The nuns were
obHged to set up the enclosure, and small convents were
united to large ones i^
thus, for example, five convents were
1 Bull of May 29, 1566, Bull. Rom., VII., 447. Cf. *Avviso di
Roma of May 25, 1566, Urb. 1040, p. 231b, Vatican Library.
2 Bascape, I, 2, c. I, p. 26.
=> Of January 24, 1570, Bull. Rom., VII., 808 ; cf. 450. B. Pia
*reports a new bull to enforce the enclosure on April 29, 1570,
Gonzaga Archives, Mantua.
* Examples in Corresp. dipl., II., 105, n. 2.
® Serristori on September 29, 1568, Legaz. di Serristori, 455.
* *Arco, July 12, 1567, State Archives, Vienna.
' *" Attendono hora li riformatori a voler serrar le monache."
(*Avviso di Roma of June 7, 1567, Urb. 1040, p. 399b. Vatican
Library). *" Alphonso Binarino vicepres. vicarii almae arbis et
Nitolao Ormaneto notaria nostro et loanni Olivae et Leoni
Carpano comrnissariis nostris " November 12, 1567, on the
visitation and reform of the rehgious women in Rome ;
* brief of
January 20, 1568, on the reform of S. Maria di Campo Marzo,
ibid. *of July 7, 1568, and February 22, 1570, on the convent of
Poor Clares at S. Silvestro in Rome, ibid.
8 *Avviso di Roma of March 8, 1567, Urb. 1040, p. 366, Vatican
Library.