The censorship of the Church of Rome and its influence upon the production and distribution of literature, volume 2 (of 2)Putnam, George Haven
History
The censorship of the Church of Rome and its influence upon the production and distribution of literature, volume 2 (of 2)
Putnam, George Haven
Freedom of the press; Liberty of conscience; Prohibited books
as a political machine but still renouncing none of its religious
pretensions, came forth with its last _Index expurgatorius_ to
meet the invasion of French philosophy and insubordination. Acting
under express instructions from the powers of the State, it instituted
against men of letters, and especially against those connected with the
universities, an immense number of denunciations which, though rarely
prosecuted to conviction and to punishment, were still formidable
enough to prevent the public expression of opinions on any subject that
could endanger the social condition of the individual who ventured to
entertain them.
[Sidenote: University of Paris]
=5. France.=--Duke Philip Augustus in an edict issued in 1200,
confirmed by St. Louis in 1229 and by Philip the Fair in 1302,
directed that the cases of university members be brought before the
Bishop of Paris. The university found disadvantages in being under the
jurisdiction of the bishop (whose censorship later proved particularly
troublesome for the publishers) and applications were made to replace
the authority of the ecclesiastical courts with that of the royal
courts. In 1334, letters patent of Philip of Valois directed the
Provost of Paris, who was at that time considered as the _conservateur_
of the royal privileges, to take the university under his special
protection, and in 1341, the members of the university were forbidden
to enter proceedings before any other authority. This action brought
the control of literary production in the university directly under the
authority of the Crown and constituted a precedent for the contention,
maintained through the 15th and 16th centuries, for the direct control
by the Crown of the printing-presses. The claim on the part of the
university, however, to control as a portion of the work of higher
education the business of the makers and the sellers of books, while
sharply attacked and materially undermined during the 17th century,
was not formally abandoned until the beginning of the 18th. At this
time, the Crown took to itself all authority to regulate the press, an
authority which terminated only with the Revolution of 1789.
[Sidenote: Paris]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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