OF THE PROHIBITION OF BOOKS AND OTHER ARTICLES.
The opinions of Luther, Carolstadt, Zuingle, OEcolampadius,
Melancthon, Muncer, and Calvin, were first promulgated during the
ministry of Don Alphonso Manrique, the fifth inquisitor-general. These
reformers were called _Protestants_ after the imperial diet at Spire, in
1529.
Leo the Xth had already condemned the opinions of Luther as heretical,
which induced Manrique to enact severe punishments for those who should
openly maintain or write in favour of them.
In 1490 several Hebrew bibles and books written by Jews were burnt at
Seville; at Salamanca more than six thousand volumes of magic and
sorcery were committed to the flames. In 1502 Ferdinand and Isabella
appointed the presidents of the Chanceries of Valladolid and Ciudad
Real, the Archbishops of Seville, Toledo, Grenada, the Bishops of
Burgos, Salamanca, and Zamora, to decide on all affairs relating to the
examination, censure, printing, introduction, or sale of books. In 1521
the Pope wrote to the governors of the provinces of Castile during the
absence of Charles V., recommending them to prevent the introduction of
the works of Luther into the kingdom; and Cardinal Adrian, in the same
year, ordered the inquisitors to seize all books of that nature: this
order was repeated in 1523.
In 1530 the _Supreme_ Council wrote to the inquisitors during the
absence of Cardinal Manrique, on the necessity of executing the measures
which had been ordained; adding, that information had been received that
the writings of Luther had been introduced into the Kingdom under
fictitious titles, or as works entirely composed by Catholics authors;
and in order to repress this intolerable abuse, they were commanded to
visit all public libraries for those books, and to add to the edict of
denunciation, a particular article, to oblige all Catholics to denounce
any person who might read or keep them in their houses. In 1535 Cardinal
Manrique addressed an order to the inquisitors, and another in the same
year prohibiting the universities of the kingdom from explaining,
reading, or even selling the _Colloquies of Erasmus_. In 1528 he
anathematised some other works of the same author, although he had
defended him in 1527, in an assembly which met to examine his writings.
Erasmus was considered in Spain as a supporter of the Catholic faith
against the doctrine of Luther, and his enemies were only a few
scholastic theologians, who were not acquainted with the Greek and
Hebrew tongues. The Spanish theologians who wrote against him were,
Diego Lopez de Zuniga, Sancho de Carranza, professor of theology in the
university of Alcala de Henares, Brother Louis de Carjaval, a
Franciscan, Edward Lee, the English ambassador, and Pedro Vittoria, a
theologian of Salamanca.
After this first attack, in the Lent of the year 1527, two monks
denounced several propositions in the works of Erasmus, as heretical.
Alphonso Manrique (although he was then the friend of Erasmus) was
obliged to submit these propositions to the examination of qualifiers;
but he appointed the most learned men of the kingdom to that office.
This assembly of doctors lasted two months, when the plague, which then
desolated some parts of the kingdom, obliged them to separate, before
they had decided on the judgment to be pronounced; it appears from
several letters written by Erasmus about that time that he hoped it
would be favourable to him.[4]
But the Supreme Council qualified his _Colloquies_, his _Eulogy of
Folly_, and his _Paraphrase_, and prohibited them from being read. In
later times, this prohibition was extended to several other books of the
same author, and the Inquisition recommended in its edicts that the
works of Erasmus should be read with caution.
The emperor Charles V. commissioned the University of Louvain to form a
list of dangerous books, and in 1539 he obtained a bull of approbation
from the Pope. The index was published in 1546 by the university in all
the states of Flanders, six years after a decree had been issued to
prohibit the writings of Luther from being read or bought on pain of
death.[5]
This severe measure displeased all ranks. The princes of Germany openly
complained of it, and offered to assist Charles in his war against the
Turks, if he would allow the people liberty in matters of religion.
Charles paid no attention to their remonstrances, and this bad policy
accelerated the progress of Lutheranism.
In 1549, the inquisitor-general, with the approbation of the Supreme
Council, added some new works to the list of those which had been
prohibited, and addressed two ordinances to the inquisitors, enjoining
them in the first, not to allow any person to possess them, and in the
second, commanding the consultors of the holy office neither to read nor
keep them, though the execution of the decrees might throw them into
their hands.
In 1546 the emperor commanded the University of Louvain to publish the
index, with additions. This work appeared in 1550, and the prince
remitted it to the inquisitor-general, and it was printed by the order
of the Supreme Council, with a supplement composed of books prohibited
in Spain; some time after the council framed another index, which was
certified by the secretary.
All the Inquisitions received copies, and a bull from Julius III., which
renewed the prohibitions and revoked the permissions contrary to the new
bulls: he charged the inquisitors to seize as many books as they could;
to publish prohibitory edicts, accompanied by censures; to prosecute
those who did not obey them, as suspected of heresy; and to give an
account of the books which they had read and preserved.
The Pope added, that he was informed that a great number were in the
possession of librarians and private persons, particularly the Spanish
Bibles mentioned in the catalogue, and the Missal and Diurnal in the
supplement.
The Council of Trent, after acknowledging the necessity of treating the
writings of heretics with great severity, commissioned the celebrated
Carranza to compose the catalogue. After having examined the great
number of books submitted to the council, he sent all those which did
not contain any thing reprehensible to the Dominican convent in the city
of Trent, and caused the rest to be burnt, or torn, and thrown into the
Adige.[6] Carranza soon after accompanied Philip II. to England, where
he not only converted many Lutherans, but caused many bibles which had
been translated to be burnt.
Some bibles, which had been introduced into Spain, and were not upon the
list, were also prohibited; and the inquisitors were commanded to
publish the interdict, and to employ severe measures against those who
refused to obey it. The ordinances of the Council of Castile, composed
by the order of the king, and approved by him, were published in the
same year; they gave the council the privilege of permitting books to be
printed, on the condition that they should be examined previously, if
the subject of which they treated was important.
Charles V. and Philip II. had regulated the circulation of books in
their American states. In 1543 the viceroys and other authorities were
commanded to prevent the introduction or printing of tales and romances.
In 1550 a new decree obliged the tribunal of the commerce of Seville to
register all the books destined for the colonies, to certify that they
were not prohibited.
In 1556 the government commanded that no work relating to the affairs of
America should be published without a permission from the council of the
Indies, and that those already printed should not be sold unless they
were examined and approved, which obliged all those who possessed any to
submit them to the council. The officers of the customs in America were
also obliged to seize all the prohibited books which might be imported,
and remit them to the archbishops and bishops, who, in this case,
possessed the same powers as the inquisitors of Spain.
Lastly, Philip II. in 1560 decreed new measures, and the _surveillance_
was afterwards as strictly observed in the colonies of the New World as
in the Peninsula.
Although Charles V. and Philip II. neglected nothing that could prevent
the introduction of prohibited books into Spain, several which were
favourable to the Lutheran heresy penetrated into the kingdom. In 1558
the inquisitor-general published an edict more severe than any of the
preceding; and also drew up an instruction for the use of the
inquisitors; importing, that all books mentioned in the printed
catalogue should be seized; that a public _auto-da-fe_ should be made of
those tending to heresy; that the commentaries and notes attributed to
Melancthon should be suppressed in all the treatises on grammar where
they were introduced; that the bibles marked as being suspected should
be examined; that no books should be seized except those mentioned in
the list; that all the books printed in Germany since 1519 without the
name of the author should be examined; that the translation of
_Theophylact_ by _OEcolampadius_ should be seized; likewise some
volumes of the works of St. John Chrysostom, which had been translated
by that arch-heretic and _Wolfang Nusculus_; that the commentaries by
heretics on works composed by catholics should be suppressed; and that a
book on medicine might be seized, although it was not mentioned in the
index.
When this edict was published, Francis Sanchez, professor of theology in
the university of Salamanca, wrote to inform the Supreme Council, that
he had occupied himself for several years in examining dangerous books,
and gave his opinion on the course which ought to be pursued.
The council, in consequence, decreed that those theologians in the
university who had studied the Oriental languages, should be obliged, as
well as other persons, to give up their Hebrew and Greek Bibles to the
commissaries of the holy office, on pain of excommunication; that the
proprietors of Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew books, not mentioned in the
list, should not be molested; that the order concerning the books
printed without the name of the author, related only to modern
productions; that the request made by some persons to be allowed to keep
_Pomponius Mela_, with the commentary of _Nadicano_, should be refused;
that these books should be remitted to the council to be examined; that
the order to seize all works containing errors should only be applied to
modern books; and that the _Summa Armata_ of Durand, of Cajetan, Peter
Lombard, Origen, Theophylact, Tertullian, Lactantius, Lucian, Aristotle,
Plato, Seneca, and other authors of that class, should be allowed to
circulate; that the council, being informed that several catalogues of
prohibited books existed, would unite them, and compose one general
catalogue.
In the year 1558 the terrible law of Philip II. was published, which
decreed the punishments of death and confiscation for all those who
should sell, buy, keep, or read, the books prohibited by the holy
office; and, to ensure the execution of this sanguinary law, the index
was printed, that the people might not allege ignorance in their
defence.
A bull of 1559 enjoins confessors to interrogate their penitents on this
subject, and to remind them that they were obliged to denounce the
guilty on pain of excommunication. A particular article subjects the
confessors to the same punishment if they neglected this duty, even if
their penitents were of the highest rank.
This severe law was however mitigated in 1561, when the Cardinal of
Alexandria, inquisitor-general of Rome, published a decree, announcing,
in the name of Pius. IV., that some of the prohibitions of books had
been withdrawn. This decree also granted permission to read and possess
some books which had been suppressed only because they were written by
heretics.
Valdes, the inquisitor-general of Spain, immediately wrote to the
inquisitors of the provinces, to suspend the execution of the edict,
until he had received the orders of the king, to whom he had represented
the danger arising from a measure which annulled the punishment of
excommunication; but Valdes had another motive in the proceeding.
In 1559, this inquisitor had published a printed catalogue of prohibited
books, which was much more extended than that of 1558, and in which,
according to the advice of Francis Sanchez, he had introduced all the
works mentioned in the catalogues of Rome, Lisbon, Louvain, and those of
Spain of an earlier date. He divided them into six classes. The first
consisted of Latin books; the second of those written in Castilian; the
third of those in the Teutonic language; the fourth of German books; the
fifth of French; and the sixth of Portuguese. Valdes, in a note at the
end of his index, gave notice that there were many books subject to the
prohibition, not mentioned in the list, but that they would be added.
He appointed the punishment of excommunication, and a penalty of two
hundred ducats, for those persons who should read any of these books,
and in this number were included some which were permitted to be read by
the last edict of the Pope.
Valdes had inserted in his catalogue some books which had not only been
considered catholic, but were in the hands of everybody and full of true
piety, particularly some works of Don Hernand de Talavera, the venerable
Juan d'Avila, Bartholomew Carranza de Miranda, Archbishop of Toledo;
Hernand de Villegas, Louis de Granada, a Dominican; and St. Francis
Borgia.
The catalogue of Valdes contained other general prohibitions. This
proscription included all Hebrew books, and those in other tongues which
treated of the Jewish customs; those of the Arabs, or those which in any
way treated of the Mahometan religion; all works composed or translated
by an heretic, or a person condemned by the holy office; all treatises
in the Spanish language with a preface, letter, prologue, summary,
notes, additions, paraphrase, explanation, glossary, or writing of that
nature added by an heretic; all sermons, writings, letters, discourses
on the Christian religion, its mysteries, sacraments, or the Holy
Scriptures, if these works were inedited manuscripts.
Lastly, the same prohibition was extended to a multitude of translations
of the Bible, and other books which had been written by men of great
piety, and had always been considered at proper guides to virtue: of
this number were the works of Denis, _the Carthusian_; the author known
by the same of _the Idiot_; the Bishop Roffense, and many other writers.
In the eighteenth session of the Council of Trent (which began on the
26th February, 1562), the bishops found that it was necessary to examine
the books which were denounced as suspicions, on account of the
complaints which had been made on the prohibition of the great number
of works which had been unjustly enrolled in the decree of Paul IV. The
council appointed commissioners to examine them, and they made a report
of their labour in the last session in 1563: they had drawn up a
catalogue of the works which they considered necessary to be prohibited.
It was submitted to Pius V., who published it in 1564, with ten general
rules for the solution of any difficulties which might be discovered. A
great number of books, which had been unjustly condemned by Valdes, were
omitted in this index, and the Catechism of Carranza was declared to be
orthodox by an assembly of theologians who had been appointed to examine
it.
In 1565 the Doctor Gonzales Illescas published the first part of his
_Pontifical History_. It was immediately seized by the holy office, and
the second part, printed at Valladolid in 1567, shared the same fate. A
short time after, Illescas was persecuted by the inquisitors of
Valladolid; and, to preserve himself from becoming their victim, was
obliged to suppress his work and write another, omitting the articles
against some of the popes: this work appeared in 1574. Although the holy
office had so carefully suppressed the first edition, it was inserted in
the index of 1583, as if some copies had been still in existence.
In 1567 the council commanded the theological works of Brother John
Fero, a Franciscan of Italy, to be seized, with the notes and
corrections of Brother Michael de Medina, and some other works of the
same author, who ended his days in the dungeons of the Inquisition in
1578, before his sentence had been pronounced. After his death, his
_Apology for John Fero_ was inserted in the expurgatory index.
In 1568 the Supreme Council charged the officers of the Inquisition to
watch the frontiers of Guipuscoa, Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia, with
the greatest vigilance, to prevent the introduction of prohibited books.
This resolution was adopted, because information had been received that
a great number of Lutheran books in the Castilian tongue were packed and
sent in hogsheads of the wines of Champagne and Burgundy, with so much
art, that the officers of the customs could not discover the deception.
In 1570 the council prohibited a work on the Pentateuch by Brother
Jerome de Holcastro; and the _Petit Office_, printed at Paris in 1556.
The motive for this suppression was singular: the frontispiece was
decorated with a cross and a swan, with the motto, "IN HOC CIGNO
VINCES." It is plain that the _Petit Office_ was prohibited, because a C
was used instead of the S in the word _signo_. The same severity was
shewn in all cases where the books had this symbol, or any allegories of
that nature.
In 1571 the inquisitors caused a Spanish Bible, printed at Baste, to be
seized, and Philip II. wrote to the Duke of Alva, the governor of the
Low Countries, to compose an index for the use of the Flemish people,
with the assistance of the learned Arias Montanus. He presided in an
assembly of theologians, who judged that the new index should only
consist of the Latin prohibited by the Inquisition, or which it was
necessary to correct. This measure was applied only to some well-known
authors who were dead, and to some others, still living; but more
particularly to the works of Erasmus, and with circumstances which might
lead to the supposition, that his books were the principal objects of
the prohibition, and that of the other authors merely a pretext to
conceal the injury done to him. This catalogue was printed at Antwerp in
1571, with a preface by Arias Montanus, a royal decree and a
proclamation of the Duke of Alva enforcing the execution of it. This
list is known by the name of the _Expurgatory Index of the Duke of
Alva_. The holy office had no part in this affair, as the Flemings had
refused to recognise their authority.
In 1582 the inquisitor-general, Don Gaspard de Quiroga, published a new
_Prohibitory Index_. It is remarkable _that the Index of his predecessor
Valdes is mentioned in this list_.
That which was published in 1584 was drawn up by Juan de Mariana, who
soon after had some of his own works prohibited. In 1611, a new index
was formed under the inquisitor-general Don Bernard de Roxas de
Sandoval.
The Cardinal Zapata, who succeeded Roxas, adopted one more extended in
1620, and it was used by his successor, Don Antonio de Sotomayer, in
1630. This catalogue was the first which the inquisitors presumed to
publish from their own authority, and without being commissioned by
government. Don Diego Sarmiento Valladares, inquisitor-general, in 1681,
began to reprint it with additions, and it was finished by Don Vidal
Marin, who published it in 1707.
Don Francis Perez del Prado, another inquisitor-general, commissioned
the Jesuits Casani and Carrasco to compose a new catalogue. Although
these monks were not authorized by the Supreme Council, they inserted in
the list all the books which they supposed to be favourable to the
Jansenists, Baius and Father Quesnel. Their conduct was denounced to the
Supreme Council by the Dominican Concina, and some other monks; the
Jesuits were examined, and defended themselves: the council, though it
could not approve, did not carry the affair further; it had not
sufficient power to balance the influence of the Jesuit Francis Rabago,
who was confessor to Ferdinand VI.
Among the books which they prohibited were the works of Cardinal
_Norris_, which were held in general estimation by the learned
throughout Christendom. Benedict XIV., in 1748, addressed a brief to the
inquisitor-general, commanding him to revoke the prohibition; as this
order was not obeyed, the Pope complained to the king, but was unable to
obtain his request until ten years after, when the Jesuit Rabago no
longer directed the conscience of the monarch.
The index of the Jesuits also contained several treatises of the
venerable Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Archbishop and Viceroy of
Mexico. The congregation of rites afterwards declared that there was
nothing in them worthy of censure, and the inquisitor-general was
obliged to revoke the prohibition in an edict, the copies of which were
immediately bought up by some friends of the Jesuits. To give an idea of
the criticism of Perez del Prado, it is sufficient to say that he
bitterly lamented the misfortunes of the age he lived in, saying, "_That
some individuals had carried their audacity to the execrable extremity
of demanding permission to read the Holy Scriptures in the vulgar
tongue_, without _fearing to encounter mortal poison therein_."
In 1792 a new index was published, without the consent, and even in
opposition to the Supreme Council, by Don Augustine Rubin de Cevallos,
inquisitor-general. It is this index which is still in force, but the
prohibitions and expurgatory measures have since been multiplied.
The prohibitory decrees are preceded by _qualification_. The process is
instituted before the supreme council; but as the information is
generally laid before the inquisitors of the court, they appoint the
qualifiers who censure the book. A copy of the work and the denunciation
is sent to the first qualifier, and afterwards to the second, unsigned
by the opinion of the first; if they do not accord, copies are sent a
third time before it is submitted to the Supreme Council. The
inquisitors of the provinces have likewise the privilege of receiving
informations: they proceed in the same manner; but the council always
commission the inquisitors of the court to censure books, because they
were more sure of their qualifiers.
If any person presumed to buy, keep, or read prohibited books, he
rendered himself liable to be suspected of heresy by the inquisitors,
although it might not be proved that he became an heretic from such
reading; he incurred the punishment of major excommunication, and was
proceeded against by the tribunal: the result of this action was the
absolution _ad cautelam_.
During the last years of the eighteenth century, no person has been
imprisoned for reading prohibited books, unless he was convicted of
having advanced or written heretical propositions. The punishment
inflicted was merely a pecuniary penalty, and a declaration that the
individual was slightly suspected of heresy; it must be acknowledged
that this qualification was omitted, if there was any reason to suppose
that the accused had erred from motives of curiosity, and not from a
tendency to false doctrine. Nevertheless all these proceedings are
arbitrary, and the inquisitors have the power of pursuing the infringers
of this law as if they were heretics.
The permission to read prohibited books, rendered all actions instituted
against those who violated the law ineffectual. The Pope granted it for
a sum of money, without inquiring if the person who demanded it was
capable of abusing the permission. The inquisitor-general of Spain acted
with more prudence; he took secret informations on the conduct of the
solicitor, and required him to state in writing the object of his
demand, and the subject on which he wished to consult the prohibited
books. Where the permission granted was general, the books mentioned in
the edicts were excepted. In this sense the works of Rousseau,
Montesquieu, Mirabeau, Diderot, d'Alembert, Voltaire, and several other
modern philosophers, among whom was Filangieri, were excepted from the
privilege. During the last years of the Inquisition, the permissions
granted by the Court of Rome did not defend the persons who received
them from the inquisitorial actions; they were subject to revision, and
the inquisitor-general did not authorize the use of them without great
difficulty, and as if the Court of Rome had never granted them.
The Inquisition also prohibited pictures, medals, prints, and a number
of other things, with as much severity as books. Thus fans, snuff-boxes,
mirrors, and other articles of furniture, were often the cause of great
troubles and difficulties to those who possessed them, if they happened
to be adorned with the mythological figure which might be considered as
indecent.