The historical endeavor often pursues a curious, apparently inexplicable path. Some subjects receive prompt, continuous, even inordinate attention; others, for lack of a sympathetic public, readily accessible source material or of proper conceptualization, remain buried, ignored indefinitely, perhaps forever. When there is a conjunction of all three impediments – the absence of an audience which has some sort of vested interest in the subject, the unavailability of important sources and the inability to fashion effective lenses to perceive the dimensions of the issues involved, then the historical exposition of the subject surely falters and is left unachieved. In the case of Charles V's Grand Chancellor all three of these factors have conjoined to obstruct the historical recovery of this major Renaissance figure. For only in these terms can we begin to understand why historians have ignored until the last few decades a man who appears to be one of the leading statesmen of early modern Europe and an outstanding architect of Habsburg hegemony.

Certainly since the seventeenth century Mercurino de Gattinara has not lacked biographical sketches that emphasized an aspect of his career or local studies made by a regional patriot or enthusiast. Yet the decisive step toward a more critical and comprehensive knowledge of the Piedmontese statesman occurred only with the archival investigations of Carlo Bornate at the beginning of the present century and his editing of Gattinara's autobiography together with some of his memoranda and correspondence.