Index Librorum Prohibitorum
Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press with mechanical movable type around 1440 instigated the dispersal of information throughout Europe as never before. Printed books and pamphlets began to appear in the hands of commoners who had not previously enjoyed access to the precious few hand-copied books in monasteries and the personal collections of the rich. The printed word thus became an effective means of spreading new ways of thinking. Martin Luther serves as a clear example. His beliefs first drew widespread attention because copies of his Ninety-Five Theses were printed and dispersed throughout Europe. Luther went on to produce a wealth of printed material, including treatises, pamphlets, and a German translation of the Bible.
Although the printing press greatly benefited medieval society by facilitating the exchange of ideas and information, the Roman Catholic Church recognized the threat this novel, uninhibited form of communication posed to its authority. For this reason, the Edict of Worms (1521) condemned Luther’s writings and, as a preventive measure, forbid all printers from mentioning or interpreting the Bible without the previous consent of
the city clerk and a university theologian. Nonetheless, these measures and subsequent ones failed to put an end to the printing of heretical material. In 1559, Pope Paul IV decided to take action by issuing an Index librorum prohibitorum, meaning “Index of forbidden books” in Latin. The Pauline Index was considered excessively severe in its rejection of 550 authors’ entire body of works, along with numerous individual titles.
Authors listed in the 1559 Pauline Index librorum prohibitorum encompassed a host of reformers, including John Wycliffe, John Huss, Martin Luther, Philip Melancthon, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, and Nicholas Ridley. Erasmus, though not a reformer himself, was also among the number of authors listed in the Index. Anyone who dared to disregard the Index librorum prohibitorum and read any of the forbidden books or authors faced excommunication.
A few years later at the Council of Trent, a new index was proposed, drafted, and afterwards completed by Pope Pius IV in 1564. The Tridentine Index contained a set of ten rules used to determine whether a specific work should be put on the list of forbidden books. Condemned books included writings banned before 1515, works written by heretics, vernacular translations of the Bible or theological writings, obscene or immoral books, and books on superstition, astrology, magic, or occult practices. Within the Tridentine Index, works could be categorized within one of three classes. Class I included books authored by heretics whose entire body of writings were prohibited, Class II listed individual books that were forbidden, and Class III contained all anonymously written works that were banned. In contrast to the Pauline Index, the Tridentine Index made space for the expurgation of non-religious works written by heretics. In these cases, portions of the text that did not meet the Church’s standards were edited out for the benefit of Catholic readers.
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