The Library
1577 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
301–400
2 works
c. 346–350
Latin
De Errore Profanarum Religionum
Firmicus Maternus
An appeal to the sons of Constantine to suppress the mystery cults by force, describing their rites in detail in order to condemn them.
386–387
Greek
John Chrysostom · c. 347–407
Eight sermons attacking members of his own congregation who attended synagogue festivals, in language of extreme violence.
601–700
1 work
633
Latin
The Fourth Council of Toledo
Seventy-five canons standardising the Spanish liturgy and clerical education, and regulating the status of Jews and of forcibly baptised converts.
801–900
1 work
c. 823–828
Latin
Agobard of Lyon · c. 779–840
Complaints to the imperial court that Jews in Lyon enjoy protections and market privileges Christians do not, and that Christian slaves are being sold to them.
1201–1300
2 works
1215
Latin
The Fourth Lateran Council
Seventy canons defining transubstantiation, requiring annual confession and communion, forbidding clergy to take part in ordeals, and imposing distinguishing dress on Jews and Muslims.
1278
Latin
Pugio Fidei
Ramon Martí · c. 1220–c. 1285
A polemic against Judaism written by a friar who read Hebrew and Aramaic fluently, quoting the Talmud and Midrash at length to argue Christian claims from Jewish sources.
1301–1400
2 works
c. 1323–1324
Latin
Bernard Gui · c. 1261–1331
An inquisitor's manual describing the beliefs of Cathars, Waldensians, and Spiritual Franciscans, with model interrogations and the sentences appropriate to each.
c. 1399–1419
Catalan
Vincent Ferrer · c. 1350–1419
Apocalyptic preaching delivered across Spain, France, and Italy to enormous crowds, announcing that the end was near and calling for repentance and reform.
1401–1500
7 works
written 1376; widely copied thereafter
Latin
Directorium Inquisitorum
Nicholas Eymerich · c. 1316–1399
A systematic manual of inquisitorial law and procedure, defining heresy, listing condemned propositions, and prescribing the conduct of trials.
c. 1425–1444
Italian
Bernardino of Siena · 1380–1444
Sermons preached in town squares for hours at a stretch and taken down verbatim by listeners — on usury, on gossip, on family life, on the holy name of Jesus.
1431; nullification trial 1456
Latin
The court of Rouen
The verbatim record of the interrogation of an illiterate peasant girl by university theologians, including her answers about her voices and about whether she was in God's grace.
c. 1440–1456
Latin
John of Capistrano · 1386–1456
The preaching of a friar who crossed central Europe drawing enormous crowds, campaigned against Hussites and Jews, and helped raise the army that relieved Belgrade in 1456.
c. 1458–1461
Latin
Fortalitium Fidei
Alonso de Espina · d. c. 1464
A four-part attack on heretics, Jews, Muslims, and demons, urging the Spanish crown to establish an inquisition against converts suspected of relapsing.
1484, expanded 1488 and 1498
Spanish
Tomás de Torquemada · 1420–1498
The operating rules of the Spanish Inquisition: how to publish an edict of grace, take denunciations, sequester property, and conduct an auto-da-fé.
1486–1487
Latin
Malleus Maleficarum
Heinrich Kramer · c. 1430–1505
A manual arguing that witchcraft is real, that it is chiefly a crime of women, and setting out how to identify, interrogate under torture, and execute the accused.
1501–1600
6 works
May 1525
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
A call to the princes to stab, smite, and slay the rebels, published as the risings were already being crushed and tens of thousands killed.
1543
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
A late treatise calling for synagogues and Jewish homes to be burned, books confiscated, and Jews driven from the land.
1544
Latin
Democrates Alter
Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda · 1490–1573
A justification of the conquest arguing from Aristotle that some peoples are slaves by nature and may rightly be subjected for their own good.
c. 1550
Old Church Slavonic
Attributed to Sylvester of Novgorod
A manual for the Orthodox household covering prayer, obedience, servants, cooking, laundry, brewing, and the correction of wives and children.
1558
English
John Knox · c. 1514–1572
An argument that female rule is contrary to nature, scripture, and justice, aimed at Mary Tudor and published months before Elizabeth came to the throne.
1559; Tridentine revision 1564
Latin
Index Librorum Prohibitorum
The Roman Inquisition
A list of forbidden books and authors, including entire vernacular Bibles, all of Erasmus, and works whose only offence was being printed by the wrong press.
1601–1700
3 works
1627
Spanish
De Instauranda Aethiopum Salute
Alonso de Sandoval · 1576–1652
A study of African peoples, languages, and the conditions of the slave ships arriving at Cartagena, written by a priest who met each vessel.
c. 1614–1650
Japanese
The hidden Christians of Japan and their persecutors
Edicts of expulsion, apostasy registers, and the fumi-e images that suspects were required to tread on, alongside the prayers hidden communities memorised for seven generations.
1693
English
Cotton Mather · 1663–1728
A defence of the Salem trials written at the court's request, warning against spectral evidence while justifying the convictions it had produced.
1701–1800
1 work
1645–1704; definitive 1704 and 1715
Latin
The Holy Office and Pope Clement XI
Rulings forbidding Chinese Christians to take part in rites honouring Confucius and ancestors, and banning the terms the Jesuits had used to translate God.
25 of 1577 works