Censorship

Pope Gregory IX (ca. 1145–1241). 
Decretales Gregorii Noni Pont. Max. cum glossis ordinariis
.
Venice: [s.n.], 1572. (BRB0832)

Gaspar de Quiroga, General Inquisitor of Spain (1512–1594). 
Index librorum expurgatorum
.
Saumur: Thomas Portau, 1601. (AFW8268)

In this 1572 edition of the Decretales of Gregory IX, a page-for-page reprint of the 1553 Lyon edition, a Catholic censor has expurgated much of the accompanying commentary, obscuring the text with opaque white ink that has darkened with age. The expurgations precisely follow the instructions of the Spanish Inquisition’s Index of Expurgations, first issued in 1584. A copy of the 1601 Index, exhibited with the censored book, indicates precisely which passages were to be deleted.

The expurgated passage is erroneous or obsolete commentary on a decision by Pope Honorius III (1150–1227) concerning “juramentum calumniae.” In canon law this term defines the oath taken by both parties to a litigation, by which they swear that their claims are offered in good faith.

BRB0832_354-355_1200.jpg

Pope Gregory IX (ca. 1145–1241). 
Decretales Gregorii Noni Pont. Max. cum glossis ordinariis
.
Venice: [s.n.], 1572. (BRB0832)

AFW8268_35-36_1200.jpg

Gaspar de Quiroga, General Inquisitor of Spain (1512–1594). 
Index librorum expurgatorum
.
Saumur: Thomas Portau, 1601. (AFW8268)

Altered Texts
Censorship