the Roman Curia, the church administration, and public worship; and proffering bold proposals aimed at abolishing such abuses. The report was widely printed, and the Pope was in earnest when he took up the problem of reform. He clearly perceived that Emperor Charles V would not rest until the problems were grappled with in earnest. But to the Protestants the report seemed far from thorough; Martin Luther had his edition (1538) prefaced with a vignette showing the cardinals cleaning the Augean stable of the Roman Church with foxtails instead of brooms. In the end, no results followed from the committee's recommendations. As a consequence of the extensive campaign against "idolatry" in England, culminating with the dismantling of the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury, the Pope excommunicated Henry VIII on 17 December 1538 and issued an interdict. In 1534 a decision by Paul III favoured the activity of merchants of all nationalities and religions from the Levant and allowed them to settle with their families in Ancona, which had become part of the Papal States under his predecessor Clement VII - a decision which helped make Ancona a prosperous trading city for centuries to come. A Venetian travelling through Ancona in 1535 recorded that the city was "full of merchants from every nation and mostly Greeks and Turks." In the second half of the 16th century, the presence of Greek and other merchants from the Ottoman Empire declined after a series of restrictive measures taken by the Italian authorities and the pope. Around this time, family complications arose. In order to vest his grandson Ottavio Farnese with the dukedom of Camerino, Paul forcibly wrested the same from the duke of Urbino (1540). He also incurred virtual war with his own subjects and vassals by the imposition of burdensome taxes. Perugia, renouncing its obedience, was besieged by Paul's son, Pier Luigi, and forfeited its freedom entirely on its surrender. The burghers of Colonna were duly vanquished, and Ascanio was banished (1541). After this, the time seemed ripe for annihilating heresy. In 1540, the Church officially recognized the new society forming about Ignatius of Loyola, which became the Society of Jesus. In 1542, a second stage in the process of Counter-Reformation was marked by the institution, or reorganization, of the Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. On another side, the Emperor was insisting that Rome should forward his designs