Bullinger writes to Ambrose Blaurer: “In Rome, Paul IV is burning books, and among others, all the writings of Erasmus. Even the works of Cyprian, Jerome, and Augustine are included because they have been rendered pernicious through the notes of Erasmus.”[126] Paul IV died in August, 1559, and after his death, the enforcement of the provisions and regulations of his Index was very materially relaxed. In Venice (a State which in connection with its early and important interests in the production of books maintained from the outset a protest against the efforts of Rome to control the work of the printing-press) this Index was never put into force. The Viceroy of Naples and the Governor of Milan refused to permit the publication of the Index in their territories, but referred the matter to the King of Spain. The magistrates of Basel, Zurich, and Frankfort and of other centres of book-production made application to Cosmo, Duke of Tuscany, to protect the interests of their printers. A report prepared for Cosmo by the jurist Livio Torelli stated that the execution of the papal decree would bring upon Florence an immediate loss in property of 100,000 ducats, and would cause the ruin of the printer-publishers and booksellers whose business was of increasing importance to the city; while it would also call for the destruction of the supplies of Bibles and classics and of other valuable literature which had been produced for Italian scholars by the printers of Germany and of France. Under pressure from the Cardinal of Alessandria, the Duke finally ordered the burning of all books which were opposed to religion and of those having to do with magic and astrology, which order was duly carried out on the 8th of March on the Piazza San Giovanni. The Duke refused to permit the destruction of books outside of those two classes, and (as patron of the monastery) prohibited the monks of San Marco, who wanted to carry out the decree in full, from burning any of the volumes presented by his predecessors to the library of the monastery. Outside of Italy, excepting in the town of Avignon, very little attempt was made to put into force the provisions of the Index. In Spain, it was never brought into print. In France, the application for a privilege to print was referred to a committee of doctors of the Sorbonne, and from this committee no report appears to have been made. Arias Montanus writes November 16, 1571: “This Index has caused indignation to all scholars, and not only in France and in Spain, but in many portions of Italy, they decline to respect its injunctions.”[127] Even in the preface to the Index of Trent, it is noted that the Index of Paul IV had failed to secure acceptance in many provinces because it included in its lists of prohibited books many whose use was essential for scholars. In several respects, the framers of the Index of Trent, which became the authority for the Church, found occasion to modify and to mitigate the