Modern History
Sourcebook:
Index librorum prohibitorum, 1557-1966
[Index of
Prohibited Books]
- "The first official censorship had come in 1559 with the
publication of the Index auctorum et librorum prohibitorum under the
direction of Pope Paul IV. The Pauline index, as it became known, was the first
in a long succession of papal indexes, forty-two in all. The purpose of these
indexes was to guide censors in their decisions of what publications to
authorize and which to disallow, for printers were not free to publish books
without official permission. In January of 1562 the Council of Trent took up the
issue of the Index and was deeply divided. The Pauline index had been seen by
many as too controversial and excessively restrictive. After the opening
speeches, the council appointed a commission to draft a new index. Although the
council closed before the task of the commission was completed, the new
Tridentine index was taken up by Pope Pius IV and published in 1564 by Paulus
Manutius in Rome. This index constituted the most authoritative guide the church
had yet published; its lists formed the basis of all subsequent indexes, while
its rules were accepted as the guide for future censors and
compilers."
[From http://library.lib.byu.edu/~aldine/51Index.html]
The principle of a list of
forbidden books was adopted at the Fifth Lateran Council in 1515, then
confirm!ed by the Council of Trent in 1546. The first edition of the
Index Librorum
Prohibitorum, dated 1557 was published by Pope Paul IV. The 32nd edition,
published in 1948 included 4000 titles. The Index was suppressed in 1966.
[Translated
from http://www.union-fin.fr/~bcourcel/LivresInterdits.html]
It has proved to be
somewhat difficult to get a complete list of books included on the Index.
What follows is at least a partial list, derived from the above French
website.
[See also Catholic Encyclopedia:
Index of
Prohibited Book]
In chronological order of the
books, here is a list of French language writers having the honor of being put
on the index.
CW = complete works
1948 = was in the edition of
1948
Rabelais
(CW)
Montaigne (Essais)
Descartes (Méditations
Métaphysiques et 6 autres livres, 1948)
La Fontaine (Contes et
Nouvelles)
Pascal (Pensées)
Montesquieu (Lettres Persanes,
1948)
Voltaire (Lettres philosophiques; Histoire des croisades;
Cantiques des Cantiques),
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Du Contrat Social;
La Nouvelle Héloïse)
Denis Diderot (CW, Encyclopédie)
Helvétius (De l'Esprit; De l'homme, de ses facultés intellectuelles
et de son éducation )
Casanova (Mémoires)
Sade (Justine,
Juliette)
Mme De Stael (Corinne ou l'Italie)
Stendhal (Le
Rouge et le noir, 1948),
Balzac (CW)
Victor Hugo (Notre
Dame de Paris; Les misérables jusqu'en 1959)
Gustave Flaubert (Mme
Bovary; Salammbô)
Alexandre Dumas (divers romans)
Emile
Zola (CW)
Maeterlinck (CW)
Pierre Larousse (Grand
Dictionnaire Universel),
Anatole France (prix Nobel en 1921, CW à
l'Index en 1922),
Andre Gide (prix Nobel, CW à l'Index en 1952)
Jean Paul Sartre (Prix Nobel (refusé), CW à l'Index en 1959).
one could ask what did the study
of literature look like in religious schools?"
Other Authors
Listed
Peter Abelard,
Erasmus
Nicholas. Machiavelli
John Calvin
John
Milton
Malebranche
Baruch Spinoza
John. Locke
Bishop
Berkeley
David Hume
Condillac
d'Holbach
d'Alembert
La
Mettrie
Condorcet
Daniel. Defoe
Jonathan.
Swift
Swedenborg
Laurence. Sterne
Emmanuek. Kant
H. Heine
J. S.
Mill
G. D'Annunzio
H. Bergson.
"Without any surprise, the
Index also conatined many theologians and translators of the Bible, and
historians of religion. For example:
Richard Simon (17-ième siècle)
whose Histoire critique du Vieux Testament inaugured the critical study
of sacred texts (taken up by E. Renan and many others) and A. Loisy, (excommunicated in
1908).
Source: for this Information:
http://www.union-fin.fr/~bcourcel/LivresInterdits.html
Another list on the net
includes the following:
"In 1966 the Sacred Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith ceased publication of the INDEX but claimed that
it still served as a "moral guide in so far as it reminds the conscience of the
faithful they must avoid writings which can be dangerous to faith & morals."
Today the Church may issue an "admonitum," a warning to the faithful, that a
book might be dangerous. It is only a moral guide, however, without the force of
ecclesiastical law."
The following have been condemned in the INDEX for
being immoral or heretical or both.
SOME NOVELISTS IN THE
INDEX
AUTHOR
Samuel Richardson (ENG) Laurence Stern (ENG)
Stendhal (FR)
Victor Hugo (FR)
George Sand (FR) Honore de Balzac (FR)
Eugene Sue (FR) A. Dumas pere (FR) A. Dumas fil (FR) Gustave
Flaubert (FR)
Gabriele D'Annunzio (IT) Alberto Morovia (IT)
|
YEAR
1744 1819
1828 1834-1869
1840 1841-1864 1852
1863 1963 1864
1911 1952
|
WORK
BANNED PAMELA A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE &
ITALY All his love stories LES MISERABLES NOTRE DAME DE PARIS All
her love stories All his love stories All his love stories All his love
stories All his love stories MADAME BOVARY SALAMMBO All his loves
stories WOMAN OF ROME
|
SOME NON-FICTION WRITERS IN THE
INDEX
Thomas Hobbes
(ENG) Rene Descartes (FR) Francis Bacon (ENG)
Michel de
Montaigne(FR) Benedict Spinoza(NETH) John Milton (ENG) Joseph
Addison (ENG) Richard Steel (ENG)
John Locke (ENG)
Emanuel
Swedenborg (SW) Daniel Defoe (ENG) David Hume (SCOT) Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (FR) Edward Gibbon (ENG)
Blaise Pascal (FR) Oliver
Goldsmith (ENG) Immanual Kant (GER) Giovanni Casanova (FR) John
Stuart Mill (ENG) Ernest Renan (FR) Emile Zola (FR) Andrew Lang
(ENG) Henri Bergson (FR) Benedetto Croce (IT) Jean-paul Sartre (FR)
|
1649-1703
1663 1668
1676 1690 1694 1729 unk
1734-1737
1738 1743 1761-1872 1762-1806 1783
1789 1823 1827 1834 1856 1889-1892 1894-1898
1896 1914 1934 1948
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All
works All philosophical works The ARRANGMENT & GENERAL SURVEY OF
KNOWLEDGE LES ESSAIES All posthumous work THE STATE PAPERS REMARKS
on SEV. PARTS OF ITALY ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
RELIGION ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING THE PRINCIPIA HISTORY OF
THE DEVIL All the works THE SOCIAL CONTRACT DECLINE & FALL OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE THE PROVINCIAL LETTERS AN ABRIDGED HISTORY OF
ENGLAND CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON MEMOIRS PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL LIFE
OF JESUS, etc.. All works MYTH, RITUAL & RELIGION CREATIVE
EVOLUTION Philosophy/History All
works
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