Long-term research project: The Roman Congregations of the Inquisition and the Index, 1542-1966

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From 1542 to 1966 the Roman Curia controlled the book market and the printing industry imposing bans in case of medial offences against the Catholic doctrine or morals. For a long time, the "Index librorum prohibitorum" was more or less the only material documenting apostolic book censorship that researchers could hark back to. The documents unfolding the background of those bans issued by the dicasteries in charge, namely the Holy Office (1542-1966) and the Congregation of the Index (1571-1917), were only made accessible in 1998 (momentarily except for the period after February 1939). The files are kept in the archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome (Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede).The long-term project assures German research an outstanding share in the analysis and evaluation of this culturally unique body. The core of the project is basic research on three levels: firstly, the respective files of the Inquisition and the Congregation of the Index are made accessible in a Systematic Repertory focusing on the history of censorship. All books that were involved in censorship proceedings, those banned as well as those "discharged", are listed in a biographically precise form with additional reference to the archival documents pertaining to the particular case. Secondly, the first complete edition ever of the so called bandi (the posters on which the books bans were published legally in Rome) is presented. Thirdly, a prosopography offers bio-bibliographical profiles of the congregations' members, giving evidence of the censors' roles within the Church administration, their involvement in the curial structure and their academic-theological career. In addition to these basic research volumes several single projects focus on prominent cases of and issues concerning censorship as well as on the reception of book bans and on central aspects of the structure and administration of the two censorship authorities. The project is working chronologically backwards, starting from the year the Congregation of the Index disintegrated (1917) and heading for the beginnings of institutional book censorship in Rome. The final point is the year the Roman Inquisition was founded (1542). The volumes of basic research for the 19th century (1814-1917) were published in 2005 and 2007. From 2009 to 2011 the volumes concentrating on the period from 1701 to 1813 were presented. The sequel focusing on the years 1542-1700 is going to finish the series for the time being. The project's intention is to provide all historically based disciplines with an effective tool that offers a long-ranging basis for analyses on how the Roman Curia dealt with the intellectual development of the Modern Age and on the history of censorship and the control of knowledge in general.