Chapter III: The Prohibition of Books in the Middle Ages 830–1480

During the period known as the Middle Ages, a period which, for the purposes of this study, can be considered as comprising the centuries from the 9th to the 15th, a long series of condemnations and prohibitions of books were ordered by various ecclesiastical authorities. The brief list here given, as a link in the record of Church censorship, presents certain types or examples of the attempts made, in advance of any system of general Indexes, to supervise, control, and restrict the production and distribution of literature.

_830–840._ During these years, measures were taken against Claudius, Bishop of Turin, and Agobardus, Archbishop of Lyons, on the ground of their heretical writings, but these last were not formally condemned.

_849._ Gottschalk, a German monk, was, at the instance of Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, excommunicated and condemned to imprisonment for life, on the ground of his treatise against certain doctrines of St. Augustine. Gottschalk died in a dungeon about 869. The Index of 1559 places Claudius in the first class, in which he has the honour of being the earliest author. This entry is continued in the Index of 1564 and later. The name of Agobardus first finds place in the Index of 1605, and there only in connection with the _editio princeps_ of his works printed in 1605. The edition of 1666, and the later issues, failed to receive formal condemnation. Gottschalk’s treatise escaped the attention of the Index compilers.

_1050._ _The Synod of Vercelli_ condemns the treatise by Berengar of Tours on the Lords Supper, and also the work by Ratramnus of Corbu (written some two centuries earlier) entitled _De Corpore et Sanguine Christi_.[22] The former book came under various later condemnations.

_1059._ _A Synod at Rome_ compels Berengar himself to burn the thesis he had written in defence of his position.

_1120._ _A Synod at Soissons_ compels Abelard to burn his treatise, _Introductio in Theologiam_.

_1140._ _Innocent III_ orders the burning of the writings of Abelard and of Arnold of Brescia, and the confinement of the two authors in monasteries.

_1148._ _A Synod at Rheims_ condemns four chapters of the Commentary by Gilbert de la Porrée on the treatise by Boethius, _de Trinitate_. Gilbert had proposed to make in the book such corrections as the pope might order; but the pope had refused to assume the task. Hefele speaks of this as the first known instance of an attempt to relieve a text from condemnation by means of expurgation. Gilbert does not find place in any of the official Indexes but is recorded by Lutzenburg.

_1209._ _A Synod at Paris_ condemns the _Physion_ of Amalric (Amaury) of Chartres (who had died five years earlier), excommunicates the writer, and orders his remains to be cast out of their resting place in consecrated ground. Amaury had undertaken to identify the Divine Nature with the primary matter of Aristotle. A number of the followers of Amaury were, in December, 1210, burned under the commands of Philip Augustus.

_1209._ _The Synod of Paris_ condemns the writings of David of Dinant. It also forbids, under pain of excommunication, the reading of the _de Metaphysica_ until it had been expurgated.

_1215._ _The Lateran Council_ condemns the same work.

_1215._ _The fourth Synod of the Lateran_ condemns the tractate written by the Abbot Joachim against Peter Lombard. Joachim had died in 1202. The decree reads: “Any one who shall attempt to defend the heretical utterances of the said Joachim concerning the Trinity shall be thrust out as a heretic.” It was ordered that the writings of Joachim were to be submitted to the Curia for correction.

_1225._ _A Synod at Sens_ passes condemnation on the treatise by Scotus Erigena (written about 860), _De Divisione Naturae_. Pope Honorius confirmed this condemnation and ordered that all persons possessing copies of the book must, under penalty of excommunication, deliver the same, within fifteen days, to the ecclesiastical authorities for burning.[23]

_1231._ _Pope Gregory IX_ writes to the University of Paris directing the prohibition of the _Libri naturales_ of Aristotle, as condemned by the Provincial Council, until they have been freed from heresies.

_1276._ _Bishop Stephen Tempier_, under instructions from the Pope (John XXI), and in council with the prelates of his diocese, publishes a condemnation of 219 propositions which had been under discussion in the Schools. The judgment states, rather naïvely, that while they were true philosophically, they were false when tested by the doctrine of the Church. The bishops condemned at the same time a long series of books on magic and necromancy and ordered all copies to be delivered for destruction within seven days.

One of the teachers whose influence was most potent during the middle of the 13th century against the heresies that were disturbing university circles was the great schoolman Thomas Aquinas. A writer in the Dublin _Review_ says that by his astounding powers of reasoning, he turned the tide of scepticism in Paris, “whose vocation it was to teach the world!”--Before the lectures of Aquinas began, other measures had been used against the heretics: “Ten disciples of the misbelieving David Dinanto were given over to the civil arm and had perished in the flames.” Archbishop Vaughan says naïvely, “several fanatics of low rank had to be burnt.”[24]

In 1300, Gherardo Segarelli, of Parma, the founder of the Apostolic Brothers, was burned, together with such copies of his writings as had been collected.

_1311._ The writings of Segarelli were formally condemned by the _Council of Vienna_, a condemnation which was a year or two later confirmed by John XXII. In 1471, that is, more than a century and a half later, these same writings were formally approved by Sixtus IV, the condemnation having been recalled.[25] This appears to be the first instance on record in which a work condemned by one pope has later received the approval of another.

_1316._ _The Inquisition in Tarragona_ condemns fourteen treatises of the physician Arnold of Villanova (who had died in 1310), and orders copies to be delivered under penalty of excommunication.

_1321._ _John XXII_ condemns twenty-eight propositions selected from the writings of the Dominican Eckart. Seventeen are classed as heretical and eleven as suspicious and dangerous.

_1325._ _John XXII_ issues a Bull against conjuring and exorcism, and orders the delivery for destruction of all writings which contained any teachings on these pernicious subjects.

_1327._ _John XXII_ issues a Bull condemning as heretics Marsilius of Padua and John of Jaudun, and as heresy the book _Defensor Pacis_ of which they were joint authors and which he had had examined by cardinals and canonists.

_1328._ _The Inquisition of Rome_ condemns as a heretic Cecco d’ Ascoli, who is burned together with his offending treatise, _de Sphaera_.

_1328._ _John XXII_ condemns and orders destroyed the writings of the Minorite Petrus Johannes Oliva, which had been examined and reported upon by nine theologians. The bones of Oliva were disinterred and were burned with copies of his books.[26] _In 1471_, _Sixtus IV_ (who was himself a Minorite) orders the writings of Oliva to be again examined and declares them to be sound in their doctrine.

_1328._ _John XXII_ condemns in like manner the Minorite General Michael of Cesena, William of Occam, and Bonagratia of Bergamo, and all their writings.

_1330._ _The Theological Faculty of Heidelberg_ condemns the teachings of Eckart.

_1348._ _Pope Clement VI_ condemns a series of the theological propositions of the Paris theologian, Nicholas de Ultricuria (de Autrecourt). Nicholas was ordered to abjure these heresies and to burn all copies of the writings.[27]

_1374._ _Pope Gregory XI_, as a result of an examination made by certain cardinals and theologians, condemns as false, schismatic, and heretical, and as _contra bonos mores_, fourteen articles of the _Sachsenspiegel_. The Bull was directed to the Archbishops of Mayence, Cologne, Bremen, Magdeburg, Prague, and Riga. The _Sachsenspiegel_ was, however, never placed on the Index.

_1378._ _Gregory XI_, as a result of a denunciation by the Inquisitor, Nicholas Eymeric, condemned two hundred propositions selected from twenty treatises of Raymond Lully (who had died in 1315). In 1419, the papal legate in Spain characterises this Bull as having been secured under false representations, and as not to be regarded. After that time, there were numerous bitter controversies over the precise status of Lully’s writings, controversies in which the orthodoxy of Lully was maintained by the Franciscans, while the soundness of the denunciation of Eymeric was upheld by the Dominicans. Paul IV placed Lully in Class II of his Index: but his name was omitted from the Index of Trent. In 1580 and in 1620, question again arose as to placing Lully on the Index, but the suggestion was withdrawn at the instance of the Spanish court.

_1387._ _King Richard II_ prohibits, under penalty of imprisonment and confiscation of property, the sale or purchase of the heretical writings of Wyclif (who had died in 1384) and of Nicholas Hereford.

_1408._ _The Convocation of Canterbury_, under the direction of Archbishop Arundel, prohibits the reading of any writings of Wyclif, or of “any other writings of his time,” until the same had been passed upon and expurgated by censors appointed by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the expurgated texts had been approved by the archbishop.[28]

_1415._ _The Council of Constance_ condemns as heretical the writings of John Wyclif. It is forbidden, under pain of excommunication, to read them or to make citations from them (except for the purpose of refuting their errors); and the bishops are ordered to cause all copies to be collected and burned.

The council takes similar action in regard to the writings of John Huss, copies of which were publicly burned. In the year following, the same fate came upon Huss himself, and also upon Jerome of Prague.

_1435._ _The Council of Basel_ condemns a work by Augustinus Favorini, Prior General of the Augustinian Eremites. The book was characterised by Cardinal Torquemada as unwholesome and heretical. The author appealed to the Pope (Eugenius IV) who, against the protest of the council, referred the book to a committee of investigation. The report of the committee is not on record, but it was probably unfavourable, as the book (which was never printed) stands, since 1559, on the Index.

_1459._ _Pope Pius II_, at the demand of the Inquisition, condemns the writings of Pecock, Bishop of Chichester (charged with Wycliffian heresies), and orders copies of the same to be delivered for burning.

_1460._ _Pius II_ condemns certain “Hussite” writings of Gregory of Heimburg and, in _1461_, the condemnation is repeated in a _Bulla Coenae_.

_1463._ _Pope Pius II_ (_Aeneas Sylvius_) issues a Bull entitled _In Minoribus Agentes_, directed to the University of Cologne. In this Bull, Pius takes the ground that the tractate on the Council of Basel, written by him before his elevation to the Papacy, (which he points out he had previously withdrawn) is to be considered as cancelled. He disapproves of the opinions therein presented. He says further to the university: “In case you may find among writings of mine (and I have in my younger days been responsible for many) any that are unsound or are likely to prove pernicious, these should be pointed out and condemned.”[29]

In the Index of 1559 is placed not the work above referred to, but the _Commentarium de Concilio Basileensi_, by Aeneas Sylvius. In the Index of Trent is the entry:

“_In Actis Aeneae Sylvii prohibentur ea quae ipse in Bulla retractationis damnavit, Ben. in: Piccolominens, Commentariorum de concilio Basil. Corrigantur ea quae ipse in B. r. d._”

Reusch points out that, as no corrected edition was ever issued, these two works of Pius II must be considered as still under condemnation. His “Letters” and other writings (some of which he had also disavowed) escaped formal condemnation.

_1468._ _Paul II_ excommunicates Gregory of Heimburg on the ground of his treatise on the Papacy. Gregory’s name fails, however, to find a place either in the catalogues of Lutzenburg, or in any of the Indexes, although this treatise was reprinted in 1555.[30]

_1479._ _Sixtus IV_ gives authority to Carillo, Archbishop of Toledo, to bring to trial Pedro Martinez de Osma, professor in Salamanca, by reason of the heresies in his tract _De Confessione_. Pedro recants his heresies, and the archbishop orders all copies of the book to be burned. The university is enjoined to take measures to such end. Sixtus confirms this proceeding in 1480, by a Bull. In the same year, Pedro dies. His name is not included in any Index, either Spanish or general.

_1480._ _The Inquisition of Mayence_ brings to trial Johann Ruchrath of Overwesel (de Wesalia) on the ground of certain _Paradoxa_ contained in his sermons, and of his tractates on the authority of the Church, absolution, etc. Ruchrath recanted and was, therefore, spared from death but condemned to imprisonment for life. He died in 1481. The books were burned. The name of Wesalia appears, since 1559, in the first class of the papal Indexes.

* * * * *

=Prohibitions of Hebrew Writings.= In the centuries preceding the institution of the Indexes, the _Talmud_ and the other doctrinal writings of the Hebrews came repeatedly under the prohibitions of the Church.

_1239._ _Pope Gregory IX_ orders the burning of all copies of the _Talmud_. Graetz states that the antagonism of the authorities was at the outset directed against the Babylonian _Gemara_, and against the _Mischna_ only when this was associated with the _Gemara_.[31] As a result of a denunciation by the converted Jew, Nicholas de Rupella, Gregory sent, in 1239, letters to the kings and archbishops of France, England, Spain, and Portugal, ordering that, on a specified day, all copies of these books were to be delivered to the Dominicans and the Minorites, and that if they were found to contain the heresies described by Nicholas, they were to be burned. Reusch says that this order was carried out only in France.

_1244._ _Innocent IV_ orders Louis IX to burn all copies of the Talmudic writings to be found in his kingdom. Later, on the protest of the Jews of France, the Pope directed Cardinal Odo to make a fresh examination of the texts, and in so far as it could be done without injury to the Christian faith, to permit copies to be retained by the Jews themselves. In 1248, after a further investigation by Odo and forty scholars (including Albertus Magnus), Odo again orders the destruction of the books.

_1254._ _Louis IX_ issues renewed orders for the burning of copies of the _Talmud_ and of other Hebrew books containing blasphemies.

_1267._ _Clement IV_ sends, by the hand of the Dominican Paulus Christianus, a converted Jew, letters to the Archbishop of Tarragona, ordering the destruction of the books of the Jews, and especially _librum quem vocant Talmutz_.

_1415._ _Benedict XIII_ orders all copies of the Talmudic books to be delivered to the bishop of the diocese and by him to be preserved, subject to the instructions of the Curia. The Jews are forbidden to possess copies of any works which contain assaults on the Christian faith.[32] In the quarter-century between 1495 and 1520 (a term which included the Papacy of Leo X), on the other hand, there was in Italy a keen interest in Cabbalistic studies. Editions of the _Mischna_ and of the Jerusalem _Talmud_ were printed in Venice and in Florence; the Babylonian _Talmud_ was printed by Bomberg in Venice in 1520, 1522, with a papal privilege, and the demand proved sufficient to call for a reprinting in 1546.[33]

_1555._ _The Inquisition of Rome_ orders the confiscation of copies of the Talmudic books from the houses of the Jews, and the investigation of the texts by theologians. The rabbis were themselves interrogated as to the purport of the books. As a result of this investigation, the books were burned on the 9th of September (the Jewish New Year’s day).

_1555._ _Julius III_ publishes an edict directing all princes, bishops, and inquisitors to confiscate and destroy by fire all copies of the “Talmuds” of Jerusalem and of Babylon. Christians are forbidden, under pain of excommunication, to possess or to read these books, or to aid the Jews in producing copies by script or by printing.[34]

_1559._ _Paul IV._ The Roman Index of this year includes among books prohibited the _Talmud_ of the Jews, with all commentaries, glosses, and interpretations. In the same year, Ghislieri, Inquisitor-General, orders the burning of all copies. Sixtus of Siena was sent to Cremona, where there was a great Hebrew school and where was kept in store a supply of copies of the Talmudic books. Sixtus reports that he destroyed of these 12,000 volumes.[35]

_1564._ _Pius IV._ In the Index of Trent, the prohibition of Paul IV is repeated, with the proviso that if the Talmudic scriptures (referring probably to the _Talmud_ of Jerusalem rather than to that of Babylon) are printed without the name of _Talmud_, and have eliminated from them all assaults on the Christian faith, they may be permitted. Graetz states that in October, 1563, the Jewish congregations had sent two deputies to Trent to secure the omission from the Index of the _Talmud_ and the other works of Hebrew doctrine; or if this could not be accomplished, that the decision concerning the form of prohibition or regulation should be reserved for the authority of the Curia. The latter course was adopted by the council, and the Pope, for a substantial consideration in money, issued a Bull (March 24, 1564) permitting the printing and the circulation of an expurgated _Talmud_.[36]

_1565._ _The Inquisition of Rome_ (according to the tractate of Sixtus printed in 1566) condemns and orders destroyed all books having to do with the “Cabbala.”

_1592._ _Clement VIII_ issues a Bull forbidding both Christians and Jews from owning, reading, buying, or circulating the Talmudic and Cabbalistic books and other godless writings, whether written or printed, in Hebrew or in other languages, which contained heresies or assaults upon Christian doctrines or upon the practices of the Church. The possessors of such books were not to be excused on the plea that the texts had been expurgated or were to be expurgated. The authority extended by Pius IV for such expurgation was recalled. The substance of this Bull was printed in the Index of Clement issued in 1596. In the same year, however, Clement issued a brief permitting the use of certain specified rabbinical books, when they had been verified as containing nothing directly antagonistic to the doctrines of the Church. In the Index of 1596, and in the succeeding Roman Indexes, stands a special provision concerning the book _Mazazor_ (_Machsor_) which contains in part the offices and ceremonials of the synagogue. This is forbidden in any editions printed in the vernacular, that is in any language other than Hebrew.

_1775._ _Pope Clement XIV_ issues an edict in which are cited the Bulls of Innocent IV, Julius III, and Clement VIII, and their prohibitions are confirmed. Rabbis and Jews generally were forbidden to possess copies of the Talmudic and Cabbalistic books and of any others which contained heresies or utterances against the Christian faith. No Hebrew books were to be bought or sold until they had been examined and approved by the _Magister Palatii_ in Rome, or, outside of Rome, by the bishop or inquisitor. The penalty was a fine of one hundred scudi and seven years’ imprisonment.[37]