202 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No.. 122. 



Chapel, Chancery Lane, and can be readily searched if 

 the name of grantee and date is known. In the Aug- 

 mentation Office, a branch of the Carlton Ride Record 

 Office, are the "particulars" for those grants, which 

 give considerable information. See 8th Report of 

 the Deputy-keeper of the Public Records.] 



" Smecft/mnus " — Who wera the five divines who 

 united their powers in writing against episcopacy 

 under the above title, which is said to be com- 

 posed of the initial letters of their names ? 



O. P. Q. 



[They were ■S'tephen Afarshall, Edmund Calamy, 

 Tliomas Jbnng, Matthew A'ewcomen, and JTilliam 

 iSpurstow : their followers were called Smectymnuans. 

 See Butler's [ladibras, with Grey's notes, Part I. 

 canto iii. line 1166.] 



LIBER COXFORMITATUM. 



(Vol. iii., p. 321.) 



Bavthdlomajo dt^gli Albizzi, or Bartholomew of 

 Pisa, who wrots the famous Book of Coxformi- 

 TiES, was born at Rivano in Tuscany, and died 

 in 1401. ]\Ir. Rnsii's admirable i?«oo-r«^^icaZ D/c/. 

 (12 vols. 8vo. 18.50) contains the fallowing passage 

 relative to this work, under the name Albizzi : — 



" The LiBKR CoNFORMiTATUM was first printed at 

 Venice, folio, ivithout date or printer's name ; 2nd edition, 

 folio, b'ack h ttar, Milan, 1510; Sri, Milan, 1513. In 

 1593, Father Bucchi (a Franciscan) published another 

 edition at B ilogna, but with considerable curtailment ; 

 an 1 as it did not sell, it was republished in 1620 with 

 the first tw) leives charged, in order to disguise it. 



" The approbation of the Chapter of the Order is 

 found in this edition, bearing date Aug. 2, 1.S99. 

 Tiraboschi (i. ISl.), who is very angry with Marchand 

 for occupying sixteen columns of the Dict. Hist. 



WITH AX ENUMERATION OF THE EDITIONS OF THIS WORK 



AND ANSWERS TO IT, sbould havc remembered that after 

 such an approbation, it is no longer the mere work of 

 an individual. 



" In 163'2. it was publ'she-l at Cologne with a new 

 title; and in 165S at Liege, but very much altered. 

 Wading {Bill. Ord. Min.) has given a catalogue of 

 Albizzi's o'hsr works, which has been copied by Ca- 

 cimir, Ojdin, and Fabricius." 



A Venice elitinn, then, it would appear ac- 

 coniinT: to this writer, is the original edition; and 

 that of Milan, 1510, is but the second. Will any 

 one give me some accurate information on this 

 point ? Brunet and the publishers of the various 

 editions of " L' .Alcoran," seem quite ignorant of 

 the existence of any edition previous to that of 

 Milan, 1510. 



Dr. Erxsmus Alber, the compiler of the Al- 

 coranus Franciscorum, was " a warm friend and 

 violent partizanof Luther; his chief characteristic 

 is severe, but broad, coarse satire." 



The Amsterdam edition of 1734 commences the 

 1st vol. with a preface in French, by Conrad 

 Badius, which is succeeded by one from Luther in 

 Latin : at the end of the same vol. occurs another 

 and longer Prcefatio Martini Lutheri, Germanico 

 libello prcefixa utcumque translata ; then follow 

 Typographus Lectori, and Ex Epistola Erasmi 

 Alheri, qui hunc lihellum ex detestando illo Con- 

 formitatum volitmine contexuit. 



To any one who is acquainted with the Book of 

 Conformities, which has been justly denominated 

 Thesaurus Blasphemi>e, the propriety and apt- 

 ness of the title of The Franciscan Koran is 

 very obvious. Luther (and there seems no reason 

 to doubt the genuineness of these prefaces), after 

 commenting on the expressions used in this book 

 with reference to our IBlessed Lord, and the great 

 exemplar of the " minors" and " minims," ob- 

 serves : 



" Hinc seqxitur quod Christus veluti figura Francisci, 

 nihil fit amp/ius .• trfciuoD TuRCi sentiunt. Atfiguratus 

 il/e Franciscus, omnia est in omnibus. Ex qvo jam 

 altera hccresis manat, quod Franciscum, ut verum Mcssium, 

 Mediatorem, Advocntiim ac Patronum invocunt, et vitani 

 eeternam ab ipso petunt." 



Alber, after quoting some of the Conformities, 

 adds — ■ 



" Et, ut paucis dicam, Christus nihil fecit quod von 

 item Franciscus fecerit, et longe plura etium. Itaque et 

 in Alcorano Franciscanorum scepe reperitur, Franciscum 

 Christo esse similfm. Nam quod sit supra Christum, 

 perquam vellent quidem dicere, sed diabolus mduit ne 

 nimium se prodat et agnosci possit." 



The mere facts of this monstrous book having 

 been turitten, approved by the highest authority, 

 and for a century and a half receiving universal 

 applause (with the exception perha[)s of a few 

 jealous Dominicans), nay, the mere toleration of 

 such a book, would have been amply sufficient to 

 show the corruption of the Western Church, and 

 call loudly for reformation. This — • 



" Abominationem [says Luther] quam non ipsi solum, 

 exercuerunt ac in summo pretio habuerunt, sed ipse etiam 

 Sanctissimus earn confirmavit, commendavit, privilegiis 

 ornnvit, ac omnibus Christe fidelibus pro focis et oris de- 

 fendendam mandavit." 



Southey says : 



" I believe the Franciscans designed to follow the 

 example of the Moslem, and supersede Jesus Christ. 

 At one time they attempted to leave ofF the vulgar 

 aera, and actually dated from the infliction of the Five 

 Wounds." 



In the Romish calendar, the I7th of September 

 Is dedicated to " Impresslo Stigm. S. Francis." 

 Of the Geneva editions of the Cordelier Alcoran, 

 Brunet (last edition) mentions 1556, 1560, and 1578. 

 In Leislie's Catalogue for 1852, under the heading 

 " Luther,'' the Geneva edition of 1556 occurs ; the 

 title is worth giving : 



