“For the Sake of the Truth of History and of the Catholic Doctrines”: History, Documents, and Dogma in Cesare Baronio’s Annales Ecclesiastici

Abstract

Abstract This article explores the relationship between theology and documentary criticism in Cesare Baronio’s Annales Ecclesiastici in their own historical and intellectual context. The first two sections of this article are devoted to analyzing two episodes in Baronio’s work, which most clearly show the role of erudition and historical criticism in articulating crucial and controversial political and theological positions in post-Reformation Rome. The third and final section assesses the significance of Baronio’s historical methodology in the context of post-Reformation Catholicism and its importance for our understanding of the relationship between post-Humanist historiography and post-Reformation apologetics and, more generally, for our understanding of the nature of ecclesiastical history.