HISTORY
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HISTORY
Fant, "Scriptores rerum Suecicarum medii a-vi" (3
vols., Upsala, 1818-76); Rietz, "Scriptores Suecici
medii sevi" (3 vols., Lund, 1842). Other important
collections are: L. d'AcMry, "Spicilegium veterum
aliquot scriptorum " (13 vols., Paris, 16.55); Mabillon,
"Acta Sanctorum ordinis S. Benedicti " (9 vols., Paris,
1668) ; " Acta Sanctorum Bollandistarum " (see Bol-
LANDisTs). The best guide to the sources of medi-
eval history is Potthast, "Bib. hist, medii aevi: Weg-
weiser durch die Geschichtswerke des europiiischen
Mittelalters bis 1500" (Berlin, 1896).
(C) The Church Historians of the Third Period. — With the sixteenth century a new epoch dawned for ecclesiastical history. Under fresh and vigorous im- pulses it perfected its methods of investigation and narration, and assumed a daily more important place in the intellectual life of the educated classes. His- torical criticism went hand in hand with the growth of humanist education. Henceforth, before their testi- mony was accepted, the sources of historical events were examined as to their authenticity. Incrca.s- ing intimacy with the authors of Gra-co-Roman antiquity, also of the primitive Christian ages, devel- oped the historical sense. The religious controversies that foUowetl the rise of Protestantism were also an incentive to historical study. Printing made possible a rapid distribution of all kinds of writings, so that the sources of church history soon became known and studied in the widest circles, and new works on church history could be circulated in all directions. In this period also the development of church history may be considered in three divisions.
(1) From the Middle of the Sixteenth to the Middle of the Seventeenth Century. — The first large work on church history which appeared in this period was composed in the interests of Lutheranism. Mathias Flacius, called Illjjricus (a native of Illyria), united with five other Lutherans (John Wigand, Mathias Judex, Basilius Faber, Andreas Corvinus, and Thomas Holzschuher), to produce an extensive work, that should exhibit the history of the Church as a con- vincing apology for strict Lutheranism. (See Centur- lATORS OF Magdeburg.) In the "Centuriae", the institutions of the Roman Church appear as works of Satan and darkness; naturally, therefore, we cannot expect from such writers any true objective estimate of the Church and her development. The work called forth many refutations, the most al)le of which was written by Card, tla-sar Baronius. Urged liy St. Philip Neri, he undertook in 1568 the task of producing an ecclesiastical history, which with astounding diligence he brought down to the end of the twelfth centurj' and published under the title, " Annales ecclesiastici" (12 vols., Rome, 1588-1607). Numerous editions and continuations of it have appeared. (See Baronius.)
(2) From the Middle of the Seventeenth to the End of the Eighteenth Century. — (a) Catholic Church Historians. — From the middle of the seventeenth century French writers were active in ecclesiastico- historical research. The writings of the Fathers of the Church and other ancient sources were published in excellent editions, the auxiliary sciences of history were well cultivated. We are indebted to Antoine Godeau, Bishop of Vence, for a "Histoire de I'^glise" reaching to the ninth century (5 vols., Paris, 1655-78; several other editions have appeared and the work was translated into Italian and Gorman), and to the Ora- torian Cabassut for "Historia ecclesiastica" (Lyons, 1685). Although the Jesuit Louis Maimbourg did not write a continuous ecclesiastical history, he imli- lishcd numerous treatises (Paris, 1673- S:?) on various important plia.-ies in the life of the Church (Arianism Iconoclasm, Greek Schism, struggle between the popes and the emperors, Western Schism, Lutheran- ism, and Calvinism). Among the great ecclesiastical historians of this period, whose works have a perma- nent value, three names stand out prominently".
The first is Noel Alexandre (Natalis Alexander), a
Dominican (q. v.). The second isClaude Fleury, who,
in the interest especially of educated readers, wrote a
"Ilistoire ecclesiastique" in 20 volumes, reaching to
1414 (Paris, 1691-1720). He adopts throughout an
attitude of moderate Gallicanism (see Fleury). The
third, one of the greatest church historians of France,
is Louis Sebastien le Nain de Tillemont (q. v.). To
these must be added the great Bossuet, who, in his
"Discours sur I'histoire universelle" (Paris, 1681),
treated in masterly fashion the history of the Church
as far as Charlemagne. The Christian philosophy of
history found in him an exponent of sul^lime genius.
His " Histoire des variations des eglises protestantes"
(2 vols., Paris, 1688) describes the changes which the
Waldenses, All)igenses, Wyclifites, and Hussites, as
well as Luther and Calvin, made in the fundamental
doctrines of the C'hurch. These French church his-
torians of the seventeenth century are far superior
to their successors in the eighteenth. Several French
writers, it is true, produced elegant narratives, if we
consider only external form, but they <lo compare
unfavourably with their predecessors in criticism of
their sources anil in scientific accuracy. The follow-
ing are noteworthy: Franeois Timoloon de Choisy,
"HLstoire de I'Eglise" (11 vols., Paris, 1706-23);
Bonaventure Racine (Jansenist), "Abreg^ de I'his-
toire ecclesiastique" (13 vols., Cologne, properly
Paris, 1762-7); Gabriel Ducreux, " Les .siecles chr6-
tiens" (9 vols., Paris, 1775; 2nd cd. in 10 vols., Paris,
1783). The widest circulation was attained by the
"Histoire de I'Eglise" of Berault-Bcrcastel (q. v.).
Next to France, Italy during this period produced the greatest number of excellent church historians, chiefly, however, in Christian archa-ology and special departments of history. The well-known names of Cardinals Noris, Bona, and Pallavicini, Archbishop Mansi of Lucca, the Vatican librarian Zacagni, the learned LTghelli, Roncaglia, Bianchini, Muratori, the brothers Pietro and Girolamo Ballerini, CJallandi, and Zaccaria, are enough to indicate the character and extent of historical research carried on in the Italian peninsula during the eighteenth century. Among the general histories of the C'hurch, we may mention the "Storia Ecclesiastica" of the Dominican tiiuseppe Agostino Orsi (q. v.). A church history of similarly vast proportions was undertaken by the Oratorian Sacarelli. A third work, of an even more comprehen- sive nature and reaching to the beginning of the eigh- teenth century, was written by the French Dominican, Hyacinthe Ciraveson, resident in Italy, "Historia ecclesiastica variis colloquiis digesta" (12 vols., Rome, 1717 — ). Mansi continued it in two volumes to 1760. Compendia of general church history, widely read even outside Italy, were written by the Augustinian Lorenzo Berti (" Breviarium historia; ecclesiasticie", Pisa and Turin, 1761-8), to whom we are also indebted for three volumes of "Dissertationes historical" (Florence, 1753-6); Carlo Sigonio, who treated the first three centuries (2 vols., Milan, 1758), and Giu- seppe Zola, who treats the same period in his "Com- mentarium de rebus ecclesiasticis" (3 vols.. Pa via, 1780 — ), and who also WTote " Prolegomena comment, de rebus eccl." (il)id., 1779).
In Spain, general church history found no repre- sentatives among the ecclesiastical uxiters of the eighteenth century. On the other hand, the Augus- tinian Enrique Flnrez liegan at this period a monu- mental work on the ecclesiastical history of Spain, the famous " Espafia sagrada", which at the death of the author in 1773 had readied its twenty-ninth volume. Manuel Ri.sco continued it to the forty-.second volume, and, since his deatli, it has been carried still iiearer to completion, the fifty-first volume appearing in 1886. The other countries of Europe also failed to produce original works on the general history of the C'hurch. The conditions of Catholics about this time were too
