_Contests in the Netherlands, 1690–1712._ The contest in the Netherlands between the Jansenist and the Jesuit parties in the Church became active after Precipiano, heretofore Bishop of Bruges, had, in 1690, become Archbishop of Mechlin. In 1690, he attempted in union with the other bishops, to put into shape a formula or declaration which went far in advance of that issued by Alexander VII. Innocent XII, in a brief issued in February, 1695, ordered that subscriptions should be required only for the formula of Alexander VII and that demand should be made, on the part of those giving this subscription, for the condemnation of the famous propositions taken from the book of Jansen in their obvious or essential meaning (_in sensu obvio_) without reference to the sense that may have been intended by the author (_in sensu ab auctore intento_). At the same time, the Pope ordered that no further references should be made in regard to the interpretation of the formula or the matter of the five propositions, and the bishops were prohibited from making such question or requirement of interpretation a ground for the exclusion from office or from functions of any ecclesiastics, or that on the same ground any ecclesiastic should be classed as a Jansenist. This decision may be considered as a confirmation of the “Peace of Clement IX.” At this time were prohibited a number of writings containing denunciations of Belgian Jansenists, and a number of other controversial writings, including a treatise by the Jesuit, Jacques de la Fontaine, who was the confessor of Archbishop Precipiano. Precipiano on his part, in a decree of January, 1695, undertook to prohibit Jansenist writings, and he secured in this year orders from the King of Spain (Charles II) under which all those suspected of Jansenist doctrines were to be ruled out of office whether ecclesiastical or civil. As a result of fresh complaints presented in Rome, Innocent XII issues in July, 1696, a second brief confirming the earlier one and declaring specifically that no modifications should be made in the terms of the Bull or of the formula of Alexander VII. In the years succeeding, there continued to be placed in the Index, apparently for the purpose of checking the controversy, a number of writings against the Jansenists. The list of writers includes Palazol and Desirant. In 1703, Precipiano took fresh action against the Jansenists--Gerberon and Quesnel who, since the death of Arnauld (in August, 1694) were held as the leaders among the French Jansenists in Belgium, were arrested under the authority of the Roman Inquisition and of the Spanish Government, were tried and were declared to have fallen under excommunication. There came into the Index lists, in connection with this later outbreak, controversial writings by Opstraet, Henricus a. S., Ignatio, and Fr. Martin. In January, 1695, Bishop Precipiano published, in the form of a diocesan decree, a small Index of his own which was devoted