The censorship of the Church of Rome and its influence upon the production and distribution of literature, volume 1 (of 2)Putnam, George Haven
History
The censorship of the Church of Rome and its influence upon the production and distribution of literature, volume 1 (of 2)
Putnam, George Haven
Freedom of the press; Liberty of conscience; Prohibited books
The character of the criticism of the Church which Petrarch had
expressed in certain of these objectionable sonnets and which, while
extenuated by the Roman censors, had aroused the indignation of those
of Madrid, is indicated in the following lines:
_Fontana di dolore, albergo d’ira,
Scola d’errori; e tempio d’heresia,
Gia Roma, hor Babilonia, falsa e ria,
Per chi tanto si piagne, e si sospira._
_7._ _1584._ _Toledo._ _Quiroga._ _Index Librorum Expurgatorum._
The original is reported as exceedingly scarce. The work is known
through the reprint in Bonn, 1601, and that in Hanover, 1611. Mendham
reports[164] that the Earl of Essex brought to Thomas Bodley a copy
that he had secured, at the taking of Cadiz, from the library of Bishop
Osorius. This was the text utilised by Thomas James (first librarian
of the Bodleian) for the edition printed at Bonn. Llorente states[165]
that the work of compiling the Index was done by the Jesuit, Juan de
Mariana. The introduction states that the task has been undertaken as a
beginning and with the hope that it may serve as a suggestion to godly
and learned men to continue the all-important work of the purging of
literature; for there are many books calling for expurgation, because
on the one hand the heretics are always busying themselves with the
task of corrupting the writings of accepted authors; while on the
other, it is borne in mind that the heretics themselves have produced
works which can be made of service for science or for scholarship, when
they have been freed from pernicious passages or errors. Pains should,
therefore, be taken so to plan the necessary corrections that these can
be made with the smallest possible expenditure of labour or of money.
The thirteenth rule of the Quiroga Index of 1583 directs that any
heresies or errors that may be found in new books are at once to be
reported to the Inquisition, but that the reader must not take upon
himself the responsibility of cancelling the passages or of burning
the copies. The expurgation of the books whose titles are given in the
Index is to be undertaken only by those delegated by the Inquisition
for the purpose. The schedule of heresiarchs (chief heretics) contains
seventy-six names. The list was reduced by Sandoval to eighteen names.
These may be specified if only to indicate the basis of the Spanish
classification of heresy: Wyclif, Huss, Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli,
Calvin, Beza, Carlstadt, Osiander, Brenz, Bucer, Oecolampadius, Servet
(Servetus), Stancarus, Pacimontanus, Schwenkfeld, Rotmann, Georgius. In
the Roman Indexes, only that of Sixtus presents a similar list.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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