Existing comment:
Index Librorum Phohibitorum
List of books banned by the Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition; 1574 edition
Issued in 1559 at the direction of Pope Paul IV -- and often called the Pauline Index -- this proclamation was one of the first official acts of censorship of printed books in the Western world. It was drafted in response to challenges to papal authority arising from the printing press and the Protestant Reformation, and listed more than 500 authors, including Erasmus and Machiavelli. The index was opposed as excessively restrictive in Frankfurt, Milan, Naples, Venice, Zurich and other European cities. |