The Secret Archives of the Vatican PDF
Preview The Secret Archives of the Vatican
1!I[GR[I ARGHlSOri MARIA LUISA AMBRDSINI thrills ofmysteryand discoveryper- The vade this intimate account of one writer's lengthy encounter with the secret archives oftheVatican,avast collec- tion ofreligious and historical documents covering more than a thousand years of history. The book, an outcome of the author's rare chance to visit almost all the — archives "twenty-five miles of shelved — documents" describes how this awe- some collection of knowledge came into being. In telling the story of the development of the archives, which were established in their present form by Pope Paul V in 1612 and opened to scholars in 1881,theauthor provides fascinating glimpses ofwhat they contain. These glimpses make forsome of the book's most riveting reading. Brought to life are events that led to such docu- ments as the original report on the trial of Galileo and to papal attacks on Pico della Mirandola. The author penetrates thecol- lection of avvisi, or newsletters, which were gossip columns that began appearing in 1565 and were illicit, anonymous, con- demned by everyone, and read by every- one,especiallythecardinals. Her look into — the papal register official and personal (cotttimialon Inukflop) THE SECRET ARCHIVES OF THE VATICAN m MARIA LUISA AMBROSINI by wHh MARY WILLIS Barnes &^NOBLE BOOKS NEW YORK Copyright© 1969by MariaLuisaBoggeri Ambrosini. ThiseditionpublishedbyBarnes&Noble, Inc. byarrangementwithLittle Brown &Co. Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthisbookmay beusedorreproducedinany mannerwhatsoever withoutthewrittenpermissionofthePublisher. 1996Barnes&NobleBooks ISBN0-76070-125-3 PrintedandboundintheUnitedStatesofAmerica. M98765432 FG To Vivina and Stefania Approach IN the time that I have be—en working on this book, friends who are historians have asked me sometimes in a spiritof amused incredu- — lity just how I went about researching such an extensive subject. With twenty-five miles of documents, partly explored and partly unex- plored, where does one begin? I had to answer that I had begun by following the method of trial and error. On my first visit to a large museum or archaeological site, I seldom take a guidebook, but wander for a while, led by curiosity and random interest. It is only later that I use a systematic approach. I began this study of the Secre—t Archives in the same way. I examined—the indexes in the indexroom orrather, those more easily deciphered and made a long list, following a generally chronological plan, of documents that caught my interest. As time went on, the nature and structure of the Archives that lay behind the long shelves of indexes absorbed me more and more. The hundreds of documents that I had studied seemed hke a few leaves fallen from the forest. I now did what a professional historian would have done in the first place, and examined what has been written on the Secret Archives and on their separatefondi. There are excellent works by Fink, Brom, Giusti, BattelU, Mercati, and Macfarlane, among others. Now and then, in these highly technical studies for the use of archivists and historians, there were ghmpses of the history of the Secret Archives, gUmpses that I found fascinating. I came to realize that the history of the Secret Archives was the history of the papacy, of the Church; that the Archives were a dark mirror of the world. The plan of my work finally began to — take shape it was to be an overview of the development of the Ar- chives as part of history, illustrated by close-ups of individual events viii Approach and documents. With the example of medieval manuscripts before me, I have not hesitated to decorate my margins. A book of this length cannot be inclusive, and I have tried to empha- size the periods most closely related to the history of the Secret Archives and the events that illuminate their times. Many subjects that would be part of a work on general history have been omitted. Most of my research has been done in the Secret Archives and in the Vatican Library. In the Secret Archives particular use has been made of the papal registers, the Archivum Arcis (the archives of Castel Sant' Angelo), and the Miscellanea and Instrumenta Miscellanea fondi, which contain individual ancient documents. Since the indexes are incomplete, I have often found, in the large bound volumes that were brought to me, manuscripts not listed in the indexes, such as the legend of the re- pentance and death of Judas, which is quoted in Chapter 13. The Vatican Library was used for background, for examination of documents which in the past were part of the Secret Archives, and for published studies and translations by various historical institutes and by individual scholars. In background reading, and especially for the early historical periods, English and American as well as continental references have been used. Only selected notes are given. Complete docimientation would greatly lengthen the book, and some references, such as works on the Secret Archives in general and works on Rome, run throughout the period covered. Also, some paragraphs, particularly those relating to the history of the Archives, have been built up from many fragmentary references and from personal inquiry. To simplify the matter I am giving a selected bibliography and, in the notes, pointing out some of the sources used. For Archives documents I have normally indicated the fondo or other source from which they were drawn, but have not always given the "Archivistic collocation," roughly corresponding to a call number, since this bookis not intended forthe specialist. In some cases my collaborator, Mary Willis, and I have used material already in English, such as that quoted from Fremantle's collections, but in large part the English translations are our own. They have been We done freely, and are often greatly summarized. have not used dots to indicate ellipses except when necessary to retain the meaning. Space was a consideration, and the number of ellipses required for these often verbose documents would have impeded the flow of thought and given a granulated appearance to the pages. My grateful acknowledgments are offered to the Secret Archives and to the Vatican Library, which have allowed me so many years of study
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