De Tribus Impostoribus, A. D. 1230: The Three Impostors: Translated (with notes and comments) from a French manuscript of the work written in the year 1716, with a dissertation on the original treatise and a bibliography of the various editions
Religion
De Tribus Impostoribus, A. D. 1230: The Three Impostors: Translated (with notes and comments) from a French manuscript of the work written in the year 1716, with a dissertation on the original treatise and a bibliography of the various editions
De tribus impostoribus -- Bibliography; Rationalism
It is stated that the action took place when Frederick II. was Emperor
of Germany, and Honorius III. presided over spiritual conditions; but
this Pope, according to Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, reigned 1216-1227,
and the dissertation on the pamphlet names Gregory IX., successor
to Honorius, (1227-1241) as the Pope against whom the treatise was
written. The infamous book mentioned in the representation no one
seemed to have any knowledge of. Inquiry made concerning the treatise
at various libraries supposed to possess it, and of various individuals
who might know something of it, elicited but the information that it
was purely "legendary," that, "it had no existence except by title,"
and that "it was an item of literature entirely lost."
Having been a book collector and a close reader of book catalogs for
over twenty-five years, I had never noted any copy offered for sale,
but a friend with the same mania for books, had seen a copy mentioned
in a German catalog, and being interested in "de tribus Impostoribus"
for reasons herein mentioned, had sent for and procured the same--an
edition of a Latin version compiled from a Ms. 1598, with a foreword
in German. The German was familiar to him, but the Latin was not
available.
About the same time I found in a catalog of a correspondent of
mine at London, a book entitled "Les Trois Imposteurs. De Tribus
Impostoribus et dissertation sur le livre des Trois Imposteurs,
sm. 4to. Saec. XVIII.," and succeeded in purchasing it.
The manuscript is well written, and apparently by two different
hands, which would be probable from the facts set forth in the
"Dissertation." A copy of the translation from the Latin is probably
deposited in the library of Duke Eugene de Subaudio as set forth in
the colophon at end of the manuscript.
The manuscript is written in the French of the period, and is dated in
the colophon as 1716. The discovery of the original Latin document is
mentioned in the "Dissertation" as about 1706. It has been annotated
by another hand, as shown by foot notes, and several inserted sheets
containing notes in still another hand, were written evidently about
1746, as one of the sheets is a portion of a letter postmarked 4e
Aout in latter year.
I append a bibliography from Weller's Latin reprint of 1598 which will
show that the pamphlet has "been done before"; but it will be noted
that English versions are not so plenty as those in other tongues,
and but one is known to have been printed in the United States.
I must acknowledge my indebtedness to Doctissimus vir Harpocrates,
Col. F. Montrose, and Maj. Otto Kay for valued assistance in languages
with which I am not thoroughly familiar, and also to Mr. David
Hutcheson, of the Library of Congress, for favors granted.
Ample apologies will be found for the treatise in the several
introductions quoted from various editions, and those fond of literary
curiosities will certainly be gratified by its appearance in the
twentieth century.
A. N.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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