128 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 224. 



The first point on which Novus requires cor- 

 rection is, the name of the pontiff to whom the 

 Consilium purports to be addressed. Novus says 

 Julius III., but the date of this document is un- 

 questionably not later than the beginning of 1538, 

 for Sleidan tells us that editions of it were printed 

 at Rome, at Cologne, at Strasburg, and at another 

 place, in the course of the year 1538 ; and in the 

 title it is distinctly stated to have been presented 

 to Paul III., who was pope in that year, whilst 

 Julius III. was not elected till 1550. 



When Novus says that this Consilium " has just 

 •been once more quoted, for the fiftieth time, 

 perhaps, within the present generation, as a ge- 

 nuine document, and as proceeding from adherents 

 of the Church of Rome," he falls short of the fact. 

 For every writer of the least mark, or likelihood, 

 whose subject has led him that way, has quoted it : 

 thus, e.g., Ranke, who in his great work on The 

 Popes and the Papacy, book ii. § 2., refers to it as 

 indicative of no dishonourable design on the part 

 of the supreme pontiff. 



Amongst the writers of the time when the Con- 

 silium is said to have been drawn up, who regarded 

 it as genuine, we may mention Luther, who, soon 

 after it found its way into Germany, published a 

 translation, with one of his biting caricatures pre- 

 fixed ; and Sturm, who prefaced his translation 

 with a letter to the cardinals to whom it was as- 

 cribed, for which reason alone his edition was put 

 in the " Index," no other edition being similarly 

 honoured ; and this sufficiently refutes a statement 

 of Schelhorn, in his letter to Cardinal Quirinus, 

 upon which much reliance has been placed by 

 those whom Novus would regard as sharers of his 

 opinion. 



The appearance of the editions at Cologne and 

 Strasburg in 1538, testifies to the speed with 

 which the Consilium reached Germany. Sleidan 

 asserts that, when it was published there, some 

 fancied it to be fictitious, and intended to ridicule 

 both the Pope and the Reformation ; but others, 

 that it was a device of the Pope to gain credit for 

 not being hostile to the correction of certain con- 

 fessed abuses. In the next year, on July 16th, 

 Aleander wrote to Cochlaeus thus : 



" Multa haberem scribere de Republic.!, sed rnali 

 custodesestis rerum areanarum, — Consiliis Cardinalium 

 promulgatis, cum invectiva Sturmii, manibus hominum 

 teritur, antequam vel auctoribus edita, vel exocutioni 

 fuerit demandata." 



Which passage might be regarded as decisive of 

 the question of genuineness, since Aleander was 

 one of the Cardinales delecti whose names are ap- 

 pended to the Consilium. 



That Le Plat should insert a copy in his Monu- 

 ment, ad Hist. Concil. Trident, potius illnstr. sped., 

 may, perhaps, be considered an unsatisfactory ar- 

 gument ; and the same will certainly be thought 



of the use of it by Sarpi. But Pallavicini is a 

 witness not obnoxious to objections which apply 

 to them, and he says : 



" It happened by Divine Providence, that this Con- 

 silium was published, since it showed what were in fact 

 the deepest wounds in the discipline of the Church, as- 

 certained with great diligence, and exposed with the 

 utmost freedom by men of incomparable zeal and know- 

 ledge. And these were neither falsity of dogmas, nor 

 corruption of the Scriptures, nor wickedness of laws, 

 nor politic craft beneath the garb of humility, nor im- 

 pure vices, as the Lutherans asserted ; but too great 

 indulgence towards violations and abrogations of the 

 laws, which Luther far more licentiously abrogated," 

 &c. — Vide book iv. ch. v., at the end. 



But Ranke's note upon a casual reference to 

 this document in book i. ch. ii. § 2. of his History 

 of the Papacy, completely disposes of the question 

 of its genuineness, and therefore of its " serious- 

 ness " (to use one of Novus' phrases), when taken 

 in conjunction with what has gone before. 



" Consilium, §-c.; printed more than once even at the 

 time, and important as pointing out the evil, so far 

 as it lay in the administration of discipline, precisely 

 and without reserve. Long after it had been printed, 

 the MS. remained incorporated with the MSS. of the 

 Curia." 



Were it not that the assertion of Novus is so 

 roundly made, and in a form that is sure to adhere 

 in the memories of readers sufficiently interested 

 in the subject to notice his communication, it 

 would have been enough to quote from one of the 

 works he refers to, as containing copies of the 

 Consilium, to expose the origin of his error ; and 

 this, now that I have shown it to be an error, I 

 crave your permission to do. This, then, is what 

 Brown says in his Appendix ad Fascicul. Per. 

 Expetend. et Fugiend. (commonly cited as Fascicul. 

 vol. ii.), ed. 1G90, pp. 230, 231. : 



" Sapius excusum est Consilium sequens, cum alibi, 

 turn hie Londini, a. d. 1 609, ex bibliotheca Wilh. 

 Crashavii, qui in Epistola. dedicatoria ad Rev mom D. 

 Tobiam Matthasum Archiep. Eboracen. citat qua?dam 

 e Commentariis Espencaei in Tit. cap. i. ad hoc Con- 

 silium ab omni fraudis et fictionis suspicione liberandum ; 

 quasi prcesensisset Crashavius fore aliquando ut pro re, 

 omnino ficta et falsa censentur ; cum id in novissimis 

 Concil iorum editionibus desiderari, et astute sup- 

 pressum esse viderat, ut est in admonitione sua ad 

 Lectorem. Sed longe aliter res habebit ; suo enim se 

 sorex prodidit indicio ; et Cochlceus ipse (qui nesciit pro 

 nobis mentiri, quantumvis in causa sua parum probus 

 aliquando), hujusce Consilii fidem ab omni labe impro- 

 bitatis vindicavit et asseruit in historia sua de Actis et 

 Scriptis Lutheri, ad annum 1539, fol. 312. &c. edi- 

 tionis Colonien. 1568. editum est prasterea, hoc idem 

 Consilium, Parisiis, publica authoritate, una cum 

 Guliel. Durandi tractatu de modo Generalis Concilii 

 celebrandi ; Libello Clamengii de corrupto Ecclesise 

 statu ; Libello Cardinalis de Alliaco, de emendatione 



