The focus of this chapter is Gregory’s ordering of exegetical, spiritual, administrative, intellectual, emotional, and gendered knowledge across his oeuvre. The sections are organised by genre into three groups according to the kind of knowledge ordered within. Gregory’s homilies and commentaries on scripture were primarily intended to convey exegetical knowledge within a framework that prioritised divine law as the primary ordering principle in the social hierarchy. His Pastoral Rule and the Dialogues both employed knowledge of the human passions to teach spiritual truths and offer practical advice for living a Christian life in emotional communities. Gregory’s many letters inscribed his strictly hierarchical social order, with special attention to networks of women of influence outside Rome. A constant feature across Gregory’s oeuvre was the coupling of spiritual and intellectual knowledge for the benefit of all levels of society and for the sake of the church.

Late Renaissance conflicts drew mercenaries of knowledge to act as informal mediators in a wide range of diplomatic interests and territories located around the Holy See. Since the sixteenth century, Rome had become a refuge for foreign subjects, many of whom Romanized themselves while securing their patrimonies across and beyond the city. Nogueira offered his services from Rome to patrons and correspondents in Paris and Lisbon as well as in the Eternal City. This chapter discusses the multivalent position he occupied as a bibliopolitician in Rome after his return from Bologna in 1640 and the beginnings of his involvement with the politics of the Portuguese Restoration.