Church, Censorship and Culture in Early Modern Italy (review)

Abstract

Early Modern European Church, Censorship and Culture in Early Modern Italy. Edited by Gigliola Fragnito; translated by Adrian Belton. [Cambridge Studies in Italian History and Culture.] (New York: Cambridge University Press. 2001. Pp. x, 264. $59.95.) The most important result of official opening of Archive of Congregation for Doctrine of Faith (ACDF) in January, 1998, was discovery that records of Congregation of Index are extraordinarily rich. Scholars are now able to follow deliberations of censors, cardinals, popes, and others, as they debated which authors and books should be prohibited or expurgated, and whether rules were implemented. This volume of studies by nine well-known Italian historians concentrates on period 1550-1610, crucial years in which indexes of 1559, 1564, and 1596, and single Roman Index expurgatorius of 1602, were drafted, and conflicts resolved. The use of chronologically meaningless early modern in title does not reflect book's content. Gigliola Fragnito begins with an excellent study of decision-making in Congregation of Index, especially failed attempt to decentralize expurgation. At time of Clementine Index of 1596 Congregation wanted local bishops to assume authority in censorship matters, including expurgation. It directed bishops to create and to preside over local committees, which would supervise censorship and expurgate according to rules. Decentralization did not work for several reasons. Many small dioceses lacked expertise or even ecclesiastical structure to expurgate. When they did, quality of expurgation was uneven. Some laymen pressed into service hesitated to mutilate books. University scholars were reluctant to participate. No pay was offered for a time-consuming task. Delays in getting answers from Congregation in Rome on some questions slowed work. Most important, there was feeling that expurgators were laboring on texts that would never be reprinted because market for them had waned, or they would be banned anyway. Eventually Congregation in Rome took over and issued a single Index expurgatorius in 1602 for about fifty authors, only expurgation index produced in Italy. Fragnito tells story well. Along way, she questions some long-held assumptions about deleterious impact of censorship on Italian culture. For example, she notes that evidence suggests that the expulsion of Erasmus from Italian culture was less radical and less rapid than is usually believed (p. 30). Several articles assess impact on different genres. Ugo Baldini surveys condemnation of books on astrology. While astrological books were first condemned in 1559, and denounced again by Sixtus V in 1586, little was done because of their popularity. But eventually Church's prohibitions, even when not enforced, helped bring about decline of astrology in seventeenth century. The prohibitions helped separate astrology from legitimate science of astronomy. As Baldini cautiously notes, this might be a case in which censorship supported a useful scientific purpose. Claudio Donati describes censorship of books on dueling. The Council of Trent banned duels. But Tridentine Index did not ban books about duels, because books telling a gentleman what he must do, and not do, when his honor was impugned were needed. The Clementine Index of 1596 banned books on dueling, but permitted them in expurgated form if they would prove useful in settling controversies and fostering peace. But no expurgation was done. Inquisitors permitted lay persons to hold books on duels, and they continued to circulate. Rodolfo Savelli studies attempts to ban or expurgate law books written by Protestants or containing objectionable material. As might be expected, censors did not like legal treatises promoting conciliarism, or some parts of Roman law dealing with marriage. …