Showcase 4

THE PROHIBITED. The exhibition ends with the fourth and last showcase, set up with the volumes chosen to address the theme of prohibited. Protestant books – also printed in Protestant countries – and the ones which were opposite to Catholic morals, were defined as “forbidden”; the arrow placed on the spine or the front pastedown, often combined with the word prohib., was used to identify – and therefore make clearly recognizable – the volumes listed on the ‘Index of Forbidden Books’ by the Holy Inquisition. Beside the Dissertation sur les maléfices et les sorciers […] and the Epistolae itinerariae[…], chosen as examples, the volume Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon (marked by the arrow) is known for the presence of widespread cuts on sections of text and images: it’s likely that someone tried to destroy the feral depiction of Pope Benedict IX together with the caption related, in order to erase such a serious offense.

CONRAD LYCOSTHENES

Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon

Basel, 1557 

TT.13.8

«Anno Domini 1046. Historians tell – a fact, this, certainly considered monstrous – that the Roman pontiff Benedict IX was seen wandering, after his death, in a terrible guise, with the body of a bear and the tail of an ass. When he was asked the reason for this metamorphosis, he is said to have answered thus: “In this form I err, because I lived the time of my pontificate without any morals, like a beast”. Johannes Nauclerus & Bartolomeo Sacchi called “il Platina”.».

Moved by a fervent religious faith, an unknown hand made widespread cuts on the text and on the sacrilegious representation of the successor of Peter, with the obvious aim of hindering their circulation as well as correct interpretation in posterity. The figure of Pope Benedict IX, much discussed throughout history, becomes the emblem of the moral decadence of the medieval papacy: not only, in fact, the young Theophylact ascends to the papal throne three times, but he is also accused of leading a worldly and dissolute lifestyle, made even more deplorable by the sins of simony, sodomy and concubinage. Stained by these sins, his spirit is condemned to wander in the guise of a beast for eternity.

DE VALMONT

Dissertation sur les maléfices et les sorciers, according to the principles of theology & physique …

Tourcoing, 1752

C.2.16

The symbol of the arrow on the spine of the book indicates that it had been placed on the Index of prohibited books by the Holy Inquisition.