These editions of reports sent back by Venetian ambassadors to the Great Council of the Republic in the sixteenth century were edited by Eugenio Alberi (1807-78) and published between 1839 and 1863. As Alberi 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 both 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 12 (Volume 4 of the first series), published in 1860, contains reports dating from 1492 to 1600, and focuses on Venice's relations with France. It includes a detailed account by ambassador Giovanni Michiel of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre at Paris in 1572.