Antonius Palearius--Caesar Baronius--John Michael Bruto--Isaac
Berruyer--Louis Elias Dupin--Noel Alexandre--Peter Giannone--Joseph
Sanfelicius (Eusebius Philopater)--Arlotto--Bonfadio--De Thou--Gilbert
Génébrard--Joseph Audra--Beaumelle--John Mariana--John B. Primi--John
Christopher Rüdiger--Rudbeck--François Haudicquer--François de
Rosières--Anthony Urseus.
Braver far than the heroes of Horace was he who first dared to attack
the terrible Inquisition, and voluntarily to incur the wrath of
that dread tribunal. Such did Antonius Palearius, who was styled
_Inquisitionis Detractator_, and in consequence was either beheaded (as
some say) in 1570, or hanged, strangled, and burnt at Rome in 1566. This
author was Professor of Greek and Latin at Sienna and Milan, where he
was arrested by order of Pope Pius V. and conducted to Rome. He stated
the truth very plainly when he said that the Inquisition was a
dagger pointed at the throats of literary men. As an instance of the
foolishness of the method of discovering the guilt of the accused, we
may observe that Palearius was adjudged a heretic because he preferred
to sign his name _Aonius_, instead of _Antonius_, his accuser alleging
that he abhorred the sign of the cross in the letter T, and therefore
abridged his name. By such absurd arguments were men doomed to death.
The _Annales Ecclesiastici_ of Caesar Baronius, published in twelve
folio volumes at Rome (1588-93), is a stupendous work, which testifies
to the marvellous industry and varied learning of its author, although
it contains several chronological errors, and perverts history in order
to establish the claims of the Papacy to temporal power. The author of
this work was born of noble family at Sora, in the kingdom of Naples,
A.D. 1538, and was a pupil of St. Philip de Neri, the founder of the
Congregation of the Oratory, whom he succeeded as General of that
order. In 1596 Pope Clement VIII. chose him as his confessor, made him a
cardinal and librarian of the Vatican. On the death of Clement, Baronius
was nominated for election to the Papal throne, and was on the point
of attaining that high dignity when the crown was snatched from him by
reason of his immortal work. In Tome IX. our author had written a long
history of the monarchy of Sicily, and endeavoured to prove that the
island rightfully belonged to the Pope, and not to the King of Spain,
who was then its ruler. This so enraged Philip III. of Spain that he
published an edict forbidding the tome to be bought or read by any of
his subjects. Two booksellers who were rash enough to have some copies
of the book on their shelves were condemned to row in the galleys. When
the election for the Papal throne took place, thirty-three cardinals
voted for Baronius, and he would have been made Pope had not the Spanish
ambassador, by order of the King, who was practically master of Italy at
that time, excluded the author of the _Annals_ from the election. This
disappointment and his ill-health, brought on by hard study, terminated
his life, and he died A.D. 1607. The _Annales Ecclesiastici_ occupied
Baronius thirty years, and contain the history of the Church from the
earliest times to A.D. 1198. Various editions were printed at Venice,
Cologne, Antwerp, Metz, Amsterdam, and Lucca. It was continued by
Rainaldi and Laderchi, and the whole work was published in forty-two
volumes at Lucca 1738-57. It is a monument of the industry and patience
of its authors.
Another luckless Italian historian flourished in the sixteenth century,
John Michael Bruto, who was born A.D. 1515, and was the author of a very
illustrious work, _Historia Florentina_ (Lyons, 1562). The full title of
the work is: _Joh. Michaelis Bruti Historiae Florentinae, Libri VIII.,
priores ad obitum Laurentii de Medicis_ (Lugduni, 1561, in-4). He wrote
with considerable elegance, judgment, and force, contradicting the
assertions of the historian Paolo Giovio, who was a strong partisan of
the Medicis, and displaying much animosity towards them.
This book aroused the ire of the powerful family of the Medicis, and was
suppressed by public authority. Bruto encouraged the brave citizens of
Florence to preserve inviolate the liberties of their republic, and
to withstand all the attempts of the Medicis to deprive them of their
rights. On account of its prohibition the work is very rare, for the
chiefs of the Florentines took care to buy all the copies which they
could procure. In order to avoid the snares which the Medicis and other
powerful Italian factions knew so well how to weave around those who
were obnoxious to them--an assassin's dagger or a poisoned cup was not
then difficult to procure--Bruto was compelled to seek safety in flight,
and wandered through various European countries, enduring great poverty
and privations. His exile continued until his death, which took place in
Transylvania, A.D. 1593.
The Jesuit Isaac Joseph Berruyer was condemned by the Parliament of
Paris in 1756 to be deposed from his office and to publicly retract his
opinions expressed in his _Histoire du Peuple de Dieu_. The first part,
consisting of seven volumes, 4to, appeared in Paris in 1728, the second
in 1755, and the third in 1758. The work was censured by two Popes,
Benedict XIV. and Clement XIII., as well as by the Sorbonne and the
Parliament of Paris. Berruyer seems to have had few admirers. He
delighted to revel in the details of the loves of the patriarchs,
the unbridled passion of Potiphar's wife, the costume of Judith, her
intercourse with Holophernes, and other subjects, the accounts of which
his prurient fancy did not improve. His imaginative productions caused
him many troubles. The Jesuits disavowed the work, and, as we have said,
its author was deposed from his office.
The French ecclesiastical historian Louis Elias Dupin, born in 1657
and descended from a noble family in Normandy, was the author of
the illustrious work _La Bibliothèque Universelle des auteurs
ecclésiastiques_. Dupin was a learned doctor of the Sorbonne, and
professor of the College of France; and he devoted most of his life
to his immense work, which is a proof of his marvellous energy and
industry. He gives an account of the lives of the writers, a catalogue
of their works, with the dates when they were issued, and a criticism
of their style and of the doctrines set forth therein. But the learned
historian involved himself in controversy with the advocates of Papal
supremacy by publishing a book, _De Antiqua Ecclesiae disciplina_, in
which he defended with much zeal the liberty of the Gallican Church. He
lived at the time when that Church was much agitated by the assumptions
of Pope Clement XI., aided by the worthless Louis XIV., and by
the resistance of the brave-hearted Jansenists to the famous Bull
_Unigenitus_. For three years France was torn by these disputes. A large
number of the bishops were opposed to the enforcing of this bull, and
the first theological school in Europe, the Sorbonne, joined with them
in resisting the tyranny of the Pope and the machinations of Madame de
Maintenon.
Dupin took an active part with the other theologians of his school in
opposing this _Unigenitus_, and wrote his book _De Antiqua Ecclesiae
disciplina_ in order to defend the Gallican Church from the tyranny
of the Bishop of Rome. In this work he carefully distinguishes the
universal Catholic Church from the Roman Church, and shows that the
power of the Papacy was not founded on any warrant of Holy Scripture,
nor on the judgments of the Fathers. He allows that the power of keys
was given to St. Peter, but not to one man individually, but to the
whole Church represented by him. The authority of the Pope extends
not beyond certain fixed boundaries, and the temporal and civil power
claimed by the Papacy is not conjoined to the spiritual power, and ought
to be separated from it. This plain speaking did not commend itself
to the occupier of the Papal throne, nor to his tool Louis XIV., who
deprived Dupin of his professorship and banished him to Châtelleraut.
Dupin's last years were occupied with a correspondence with Archbishop
Wake of Canterbury, who was endeavouring to devise a plan for the
reunion of the Churches of France and England. Unhappily the supporters
of the National Church of France were overpowered by the Ultramontane
party; otherwise it might have been possible to carry out this project
dear to the hearts of all who long for the unity of Christendom. Dupin
died A.D. 1719.
A companion in misfortune was Noel Alexandre, a French ecclesiastical
historian who lived at the same period and shared Dupin's views with
regard to the supremacy of the Pope. His work is entitled _Natalis
Alexandri Historia Ecclesiastica Veteris et Novi Testamenti, cum
Dissertationibus historico-chronologicis et criticis (Parisiis,
Dezallier, 1669, seu 1714, 8 tom en 7 vol. in-fol.)_. The results of
his researches were not very favourable to the Court of Rome.
The Inquisition examined and condemned the work. Its author was
excommunicated by Innocent XI. in 1684. This sentence was subsequently
removed, as we find our author Provincial of the Dominican Order
in 1706; but having subscribed his name to the celebrated _Cas de
Conscience_, together with forty other doctors of the Sorbonne, he was
banished to Châtelleraut and deprived of his pension. He died in 1724.
Italian historians seem to have fared ill, and our next author, Peter
Giannone, was no exception to the rule. He was born in 1676, and resided
some time at Naples, following the profession of a lawyer. There he
published in 1723 four volumes of his illustrious work entitled _Dell'
Historia civile del Regno di Napoli, dopo l'origine sino ad re Carlo
VI., da Messer P. Giannone (Napoli, Nicolo Naro_, 1723, in-4), which, on
account of certain strictures upon the temporal authority of the Pope,
involved him in many troubles.
This remarkable work occupied the writer twenty years, and contains
the result of much study and research, exposing with great boldness
the usurpations of the Pope and his cardinals, and other ecclesiastical
enormities, and revealing many obscure points with regard to the
constitution, laws, and customs of the kingdom of Naples. He was aware
of the great dangers which would threaten him, if he dared to publish
this immortal work; but he bravely faced the cruel fate which awaited
him, and verified the prophetic utterance of a friend, "You have placed
on your head a crown of thorns, and of very sharp ones."
This book created many difficulties between the King of Naples and
the occupant of the Papal See, and its author was excommunicated and
compelled to leave Naples, while his work was placed on the index of
prohibited books. Giannone then led a wandering life for some time, and
at length imagined that he had found a safe asylum at Venice. But his
powerful enemies contrived that he should be expelled from the territory
of the Venetian republic. Milan, Padua, Modena afforded him only
temporary resting-places, and at last he betook himself to Geneva. There
he began to write Vol. V. of his history. He was accosted one day by a
certain nobleman, who professed great admiration of his writings,
and was much interested in all that Giannone told him. His new friend
invited him to dinner at a farmstead which was situated not far from
Geneva, but just within the borders of the kingdom of Savoy. Fearing no
treachery, Giannone accepted the invitation of his new friend, but the
repast was not concluded before he was arrested by order of the King of
Sardinia, conveyed to a prison, and then transferred to Rome. The fates
of the poor captives in St. Angelo were very similar. In spite of a
useless retractation of his "errors," he was never released, and died in
prison in 1758. His history was translated into French, and published
in four volumes in 1742 at the Hague. Giannone's work has furnished
with weapons many of the adversaries of Papal dominion, and one Vernet
collected all the passages in this book, so fatal to its author, which
were hostile to the Pope, and many of his scathing criticisms and
denunciations of abuses, and published the extracts under the title
_Anecdotes ecclésiastiques_ (The Hague, 1738).
The work of Giannone on the civil history of the kingdom of Naples
excited Joseph Sanfelicius, of the order of the Jesuits, to reply to the
arguments of the former relating to the temporal power of the Pope.
This man, assuming the name of Eusebius Philopater, wrote in A.D. 1728 a
fatal book upon the civil history of the kingdom of Naples, in which he
attacked Giannone with the utmost vehemence, and heaped upon him
every kind of disgraceful accusation and calumny. This work was first
published secretly, and then sold openly by two booksellers, by whom it
was disseminated into every part of Italy. It fell into the hands of
the Regent, who summoned his council and inquired what action should be
taken with regard to it. With one voice they decided against the book;
its sale was prohibited, and its author banished.
A book entitled _Histoire de la tyrannie et des excès dont se rendirent
coupables les Habitans de Padoue dans la guerre qu'ils eurent avec ceux
de Vicence, par Arlotto, notaire à Vicence_, carries us back to the
stormy period of the fourteenth century, when Italy was distracted by
war, the great republics ever striving for the supremacy. Arlotto wrote
an account of the cruelties of the people of Padua when they conquered
Vicenza, who, in revenge, banished the author, confiscated his goods,
and pronounced sentence of death on any one who presumed to read his
work. Happily Vicenza succeeded in throwing off the yoke of Padua, and
Arlotto recovered his possessions. This book was so severely suppressed
that its author searched in vain for a copy in order that he might
republish it, and only the title of his work is known.
Genoa too has its literary martyrs, amongst whom was Jacopo Bonfadio,
a professor of philosophy at that city in 1545. He wrote _Annales
Genuendis, ab anno_ 1528 _recuperatae libertatis usque ad annum_ 1550,
_libri quinque (Papiae_, 1585, in-4). His truthful records aroused the
animosity of the powerful Genoese families. The Dorias and the Adornos,
the Spinolas and Fieschi, were not inclined to treat tenderly so daring
a scribe, who presumed to censure their misdeeds. They proceeded to
accuse the author of a crime which merited the punishment of death by
burning. His friends procured for him the special favour that he should
be beheaded before his body was burnt. The execution took place in 1561.
The annals have been translated into Italian by Paschetti, and a new
Latin edition was published at Brescia in 1747.
Books have sometimes been fatal, not only to authors, but to their
posterity also; so it happened to the famous French historian De Thou,
who wrote a valuable history of his own times (1553--1601), _Historia
sui temporis_. [Footnote: The title of the edition of 1604 is _Jacobi
Augusti Thuani in suprema regni Gallici curia praesidis insulati,
historiarum sui temporis (Parisiis Sonnius, Patisson, Drouart,
in-fol._).] This great work was written in Latin in one hundred and
thirty-eight books, and afterwards translated into French and published
in sixteen volumes. The important offices which De Thou held, his
intimate acquaintance with the purposes of the King and the intrigues of
the French Court, the special embassies on which he was engaged, as well
as his judicial mind and historical aptitude, his love of truth, his
tolerance and respect for justice, his keen penetration and critical
faculty, render his memoirs extremely valuable. In 1572 he accompanied
the Italian ambassador to Italy; then he was engaged on a special
mission to the Netherlands; for twenty-four years he was a member of
the Parliament of Paris. Henry III. employed him on various missions to
Germany, Italy, and to different provinces of his own country, and on
the accession of Henry IV. he followed the fortunes of that monarch,
and was one of the signatories of the Edict of Nantes. But his writings
created enemies, and amongst them the most formidable was the mighty
Richelieu, who disliked him because our author had not praised one
of the ancestors of the powerful minister, and had been guilty of the
unpardonable offence of not bestowing sufficient honour upon Richelieu
himself. Such a slight was not to be forgiven, and when De Thou applied
for the post of President of the Parliament of Paris from Louis XIII.,
the favourite took care that the post should be given to some one else,
although it had been promised to our author by the late monarch. This
disappointment and the continued opposition of Richelieu killed De Thou,
who died in 1617. But the revenge of the minister was unsated. Frederick
Augustus de Thou, the son of the historian, and formerly a _protégé_ of
Richelieu, was condemned to death and executed. Enraged by the treatment
which his father had received from the minister, he had turned against
his former patron, and some imprudent letters to the Countess of
Chevreuse, which fell into Richelieu's hands, caused the undying
animosity of the minister, and furnished a pretext for the punishment of
his former friend, and the completion of his vengeance upon the author
of _Historia sui temporis_. Casaubon declares that this history is the
greatest work of its kind which had been published since the Annals of
Livy. Chancellor Hardwicke is said to have been so fond of it as to have
resigned his office and seals on purpose to read it. The book
contains some matter which was written by Camden, and destined for his
_Elizabeth_, but erased by order of the royal censor. Sir Robert Filmer,
Camden's friend, states that the English historian sent all that he was
not suffered to print to his correspondent Thuanus, who printed it all
faithfully in his annals without altering a word.
On the tomb of our next author stands the epitaph _Urna capit cineres,
nomen non orbe tenetur_. This writer was Gilbert Génébrard, a French
author of considerable learning, who maintained that the bishops should
be elected by the clergy and people and not nominated by the king. His
book, written at Avignon, is entitled _De sacrarum electionum jure
et necessitate ad Ecclesiae Gallicanae, redintegrationem, auctore G.
Genebrardo_ (_Parisiis, Nivellius_, 1593, in-8). The Parliament of Aix
ordered the book to be burned, and its author banished from the kingdom
and to suffer death if he attempted to return. He survived his sentence
only one year, and died in the Burgundian monastery of Semur. He loved
to declaim against princes and great men, and obscured his literary
glory by his bitter invectives. One of his works is entitled
_Excommunication des Ecclésiastiques qui ont assisté au service divin
avec Henri de Valois après l'assassinat du Cardinal de Guise_ (1589,
in-8). Certainly the judgment of posterity has not fulfilled the proud
boast of his epitaph.
Joseph Audra, Professor of History at the College of Toulouse, composed
a work for the benefit of his pupils entitled _Abrégé d'Histoire
générale, par l'Abbé Audra_ (Toulouse, 1770), which was condemned, and
deprived Audra of his professorship, and also of his life. He died from
the chagrin and disappointment which his misfortunes caused.
The author of _Mémoires et Lettres de Madame de Maintenon_ (Amsterdam,
1755, 15 vols., in-12) found his subject a dangerous one, inasmuch as
it conducted him to the Bastille, a very excellent reformatory for
audacious scribes. Laurence Anglivielle de la Beaumelle, born in 1727,
had previously visited that same house of correction on account of his
political views expressed in _Mes Pensées_, published at Copenhagen in
1751. In his _Mémoires_ he attributed to the mistress-queen of Louis
XIV. sayings which she never uttered, and his style lacks the dignity
and decency of true historical writings. Voltaire advised that La
Beaumelle should be fettered together with a band of other literary
opponents and sent to the galleys.
Among Spanish historians the name of John Mariana is illustrious. He
was born at Talavera in 1537, and, in spite of certain misfortunes which
befell him on account of his works, lived to the age of eighty-seven
years. He was of the order of the Jesuits, studied at Rome and Paris,
and then retired to the house of the Jesuits at Toledo, where he devoted
himself to his writings. His most important work was his _Historiae de
rebus Hispaniae libri xxx_., published at Toledo 1592-95. But the work
which brought him into trouble was one entitled _De Mutatione Monetae_,
which exposed the frauds of the ministers of the King of Spain with
regard to the adulteration of the public money, and censured the
negligence and laziness of Philip III., declaring that Spain had
incurred great loss by the depreciation in the value of the current coin
of the realm. This book aroused the indignation of the King, who ordered
Mariana to be cast into prison. The Spanish historian certainly deserved
this fate, not on account of the book which brought this punishment
upon him, but on account of another work, entitled _De Rege ac Regis
institutione Libri iii. ad Philippum III., Hispaniae regem catholicum_.
Toleti, apud Petrum Rodericum, 1599, in-4. In this book Mariana
propounded the hateful doctrine, generally ascribed to the Jesuits, that
a king who was a tyrant and a heretic ought to be slain either by open
violence or by secret plots. It is said that the reading of this book
caused Ravaillac to commit his crime of assassinating Henry IV. of
France, and that in consequence of this the book was burned at Paris in
1610 by order of the Parliament.
The historian of the Dutch war of 1672 endured much distress by reason
of his truthfulness. This was John Baptist Primi, Count of Saint-Majole.
His book was first published in Italian, and entitled _Historia della
guerra d'Olanda nell' anno 1672_ (_In Parigi, 1682_), and in the
same year a French translation was issued. The author alludes to the
discreditable Treaty of Dover, whereby Charles II., the Sovereign of
England, became a pensioner of France, and basely agreed to desert his
Dutch allies, whom he had promised to aid with all his resources. The
exposure of this base business was not pleasing to the royal ears. Lord
Preston, the English ambassador, applied to the Court for the censure of
the author, who was immediately sent to the Bastille. His book was very
vigorously suppressed, so that few copies exist of either the Italian or
French versions.
Amongst historians we include one writer of biography, John Christopher
Rüdiger, who, under the name of Clarmundus, wrote a book _De Vitis
Clarissimorum in re Litteraria Vivorum_. He discoursed pleasantly
upon the fates of authors and their works, but unhappily incurred the
displeasure of the powerful German family of Carpzov, which produced
many learned theologians, lawyers, and philologists. The chief of this
family was one Samuel Benedict Carpzov, who lived at Wittenberg, wrote
several dissertations, and was accounted the Chrysostom of his age
(1565-1624). Rüdiger in Part IX. of his work wrote the biography of this
learned man, suppressing his good qualities and ascribing to him many
bad ones, and did scant justice to the memory of so able a theologian.
This so enraged the sons and other relations of the great man that they
accused Rüdiger of slander before the ecclesiastical court, and the
luckless author was ordered to be beaten with rods, and to withdraw all
the calumnies he had uttered against the renowned Carpzov. On account of
his books Rüdiger was imprisoned at Dresden, where he died.
Haudicquer, the unfortunate compiler of genealogies, was doomed to the
galleys on account of the complaints of certain noble families who
felt themselves aggrieved by his writings. His work was entitled _La
Nobiliaire de Picardie, contenant les Généralités d'Amiens, de Soissons,
des pays reconquis, et partie de l'Election de Beauvais, le tout
justifié conformément aux Jugemens rendus en faveur de la Province. Par
François Haudicquer de Blancourt_ (Paris, 1693, in-4). Bearing ill-will
to several illustrious families, he took the opportunity of vilifying
and dishonouring them in his work by many false statements and patents,
which so enraged them that they accomplished the destruction of the
calumniating compiler. The book, in spite of his untrustworthiness, is
sought after by curious book-lovers, as the copies of it are extremely
rare, and few perfect.
It is usually hazardous to endeavour to alter one's facts in order to
support historical theories. This M. François de Rosières, Archdeacon
of Toul, discovered, who endeavoured to show in his history of Lorraine
that the crown of France rightly belonged to that house. His book is
entitled _Stemmatum Lotharingiae et Barri ducum, Tomi VII., ab Antenore
Trojano, ad Caroli III., ducis tempora_, etc. (_Parisiis_, 1580,
in-folio). The heroes of the Trojan war had a vast number of descendants
all over Western Europe, if early genealogies are to be credited. But De
Rosières altered and transposed many ancient charters and royal patents,
in order to support his theory with regard to the sovereignty of the
House of Lorraine. His false documents were proved to have been forged
by the author. The anger of the French was aroused. He was compelled to
sue for pardon before Henry III.; his book was proscribed and burnt; but
for the protection of the House of Guise, he would have shared the fate
of his book, and was condemned to imprisonment in the Bastille.
The learned Swedish historian Rudbeck may perhaps be included in our
list of ill-fated authors, although his death was not brought about
by the machinations of his foes. He wrote a great work on the origin,
antiquities, and history of Sweden, but soon after its completion he
witnessed the destruction of his book in the great fire of Upsal in
1702. The disappointment caused by the loss of his work was so great
that he died the same year.
Rudbeck is not the only author who so loved his work that he died
broken-hearted when deprived of his treasure. A great scholar of the
fifteenth century, one Anthony Urseus, who lived at Forli, had just
finished a great work, when unhappily he left a lighted lamp in his
study during his absence. The fatal flame soon enveloped his books and
papers, and the poor author on his return went mad, beating his head
against the door of his palace, and raving blasphemous words. In vain
his friends tried to comfort him, and the poor man wandered away into
the woods, his mind utterly distraught by the enormity of his loss.
Few authors have the bravery, the energy, and amazing perseverance
of Carlyle, who, when his _French Revolution_ had been burned by the
thoughtlessness of his friend's servant, could calmly return to fight
his battle over again, and reproduce the MS. of that immortal work of
which hard fate had cruelly deprived him.