, an Italian annalist, was born in 1613, and was a monk of Parma,
, an Italian annalist, was born in 1613,
and was a monk of Parma, where he employed the leisure
hours which a monastic life afforded, in writing- the history
of his times. The confidence placed in him by political
men, and the correspondence to which he had access, enabled him to penetrate into the secret motives and causes
of actions and events, and gave an air of authenticity and
consequence to his public communications. He is said to
have been the first, in Italy at least, who published a kind
of political journal under the name of “Memorie recondite,
” afterwards collected into volumes. The first two having found their way into France, induced cardinal Mazarine to entertain a very high opinion of the author, and by
his persuasion, Louis XIV. invited Siri to Paris. On his
arrival, he was preferred to a secular abbey, and quitting
his ecclesiastical functions, lived at court in great intimacy
and confidence with the king and his ministers, and was
made almoner and historiographer to his majesty. There,
in 1677, he published the 3d and 4th volumes of his journal, and continued it as far as the eighth, 4to. This, says
Baretti, is as valuable a history as any in Italian, though
the style and language are but indifferent, and it is very
difficult to find all the volumes. The period of time they
include is from 1601 to 1640. He published also another
work of a similar kind, called “11 Mercurio, owero istoria de' correnti Tempi,
” from 1647 to 1682, which extends to fifteen 4to volumes, the two last of which are more
difficult to be found than all the rest. The former work,
however, is in most estimation on account of the historical
documents it contains, which are always useful, whatever
colouring an editor may please to give. Siri has not escaped
the imputation of venality, especially in his attachment to
the French court, yet Le Cierc observes (Bibl. Choisie, vol. IV.) that no French writer dared to speak so freely of
the public men of that nation as Siri has done. There is
a French translation of the “Memorie recondite,
” under
the title of “Memoires secrets,
” which, Landi says, might
have been much improved from Siri’s extensive correspondence with almost all the ministers of Europe, now extant
in the Benedictine library of Parma, and among the private
archives of Modena. Siri died in 1683, in the seventieth
year of his age.