In the beginning of 1445, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, secretary in the Roman Chancery of Emperor Friedrich III, arrived at the papal court in Rome on a mission from the emperor. The mission was part of ongoing negotiations between the imperial court and the papal court aiming at ending the German state of Neutrality between Pope Eugenius IV and the Council of Basel, and at Germany returning to the obedience of the Roman pope. Formerly in his career, Piccolomini had been a fervent conciliarist and had written and spoken much against the pope. During his years in Austria/Germany from 1442 and onwards, however, he had slowly migrated to a papalist position, and he was now able to use the imperial mission to submit to the pope and seek his forgiveness. This he did in an oration “Prius sanctissime praesul”, delivered before the pope and some trusted cardinals, before he took up the emperor’s matter.