SARPI, Paolo.

First edition of this famous manual on how to deal with the Inquisition, commissioned by the Senate of the Republic of Venice. Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623) was a Venetian historian, lawyer, experimental scientist and polymath. His defence of the freedoms of the Serenissima’s institutions crowned him as anti-clerical and anti-Tridentine in Italy and abroad. His works were translated into English almost immediately and pressed into that state’s religious policies. D.E. Rhodes considers both the printing place and printer’s name as fictitious, and traces some initials and typographical ornaments to contemporary Chouët and Stoer eds printed in Geneva (pp.41-3), where other mid-C17 eds of this work were produced. 

‘Historia’ was aimed at ‘councillors, theologians and politicians’, as a summary, requested by the Doge, ‘gathering together systematically all the information concerning the Office of the Holy Inquisition’, and based on archival material of the Venetian Councils. Its main task was to ringfence in detail the authority of the Inquisition so that it would not impinge onto that of the Venetian state. The 39 sections, accompanied by Sarpi’s commentary, address the resolutions and legislation pertaining to the Inquisition in Venice, describing how Inquisitors should interact and cooperate with Venetian officials. The first section clarifies the role of the Senator-Inquisitors for Heresy historically appointed by the Venetian authorities, in charge of monitoring the Inquisition friars, and states that they should be substituted by civic Rectors, or by their deputies, should they be unable to attend trial. Besides, Rectors had to report the activities of the Inquisitors in their cities, and were not allowed to let the Inquisitors enter the city without the Doge’s permission. Venetian authorities had to monitor every single trial, ecclesiastical or secular, in which the Inquisition was involved, with limitations on the Inquisition’s jurisdiction over imprisonment or the punishment of false witnesses. Sec.29 (pp.92-116) is like a short treatise on printing censorship. Sarpi writes: ‘The subject of books may seem of little importance, as it just deals with words. But from those words come the opinions of the world, which cause partiality, seditions, and eventually wars. They are indeed just words, but they can bring with them armed legions.’ There follows an examination of the history of censorship in Italy and Venice with a focus on the previous 100 years, discussing the ‘Index expurgatorius’ and the main reasons for printing censorship (e.g., for their lewd, offensive, defamatory content), highlighting what Inquisitors may or may not regulate and how these regulations may damage the book market and printing presses, through the necessity of an ‘imprimatur’. An important, meaningful work.