De collectione canonum Isidori Mercatoris commentaries. In quo de Collectionis origine, & fortuna differitur, deque Persona, ac præcipuo Collectoris proposito inquiritur

Full title: De collectione canonum Isidori Mercatoris commentaries. In quo de Collectionis origine, & fortuna differitur, deque Persona, ac præcipuo Collectoris proposito inquiritur: fraudes item Impostoris deteguntur, ex eoque ortam occasionem fingendæ fabulæ de Joanna Papissa solidis indiciis suadetur; unde verum ejusdem Impostoris nomen etiam patescit. Adnectitur In Calce Operis appendix de Pseudo-Cyriaco Papa comite S. Ursulæ &c. itemque diatribe de Capitulis Hadriano I. Papæ tributis.

4to. f. [1] (blank), pp. [x], xi-xvi, 251, [1], f. [1] (blank). Signatures: [*]-2*⁴ A-2H⁴ I². Contemporary vellum boards. Gilded spine title on brown panel. Edges mottled red. Printer's device on title page. Historiated initials, headpieces.

First edition of this study of the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, pieces of supposedly early canon law that were introduced into decretals collections in the ninth-century with the aim of bolstering the power of bishops against metropolitans. The texts were shown to be fakes by the Calvinist historian David Blondel (1591-1655). In the present book, the problem of Catholic acceptance of heretical scholarship is in a way taken head-on: the work is dedicated to St Peter, whose authority Blasco regards the false ‘Isidorian decretals’ as having violated. With appendices on other ecclesiastical frauds, including the myth of Pope Joan (see Fr# 164.1-164.13 in this collection).

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