An Introduction to Ecclesiastical History and Its Several Parts, or a Register of Ancient and Recent Writers Who Illustrate the Universal History of the Church or the History of Kingdoms and Other Provinces

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Original title: Introductio in historiam ecclesiasticam et singulas eius partes, sive Notitia scriptorum veterum atque recentium qui vel historiam ecclesiasticam universam vel regnorum aliarumque provinciarum historiam illustrant A Latin propaedeutic guide to ecclesiastical history that doubles as a critical bibliographical register (notitia scriptorum) of ancient and recent writers through whom church history can be known. Each author is treated within a fixed frame — birthplace and parentage, schooling, academic and ecclesiastical offices, date of death, works, editions, manuscripts, epitomators and continuators — and then judged: genuine or supposititius, annalistic or fabulous, candid or silent about his sources. The arrangement descends from universal church history through kingdoms and provinces, cities, monasteries and religious orders, bishops and abbots, emperors, popes and cardinals, before shifting at a declared pivot to six thematic heads (Roman emperors and German kings, Roman pontiffs, heretics, councils, doctors and ecclesiastical writers, rites and ceremonies), ending in an alphabetical heresiology that places ancient sects such as Basilidians, Donatists and Gnostics beside contemporary formations such as Cartesians, Cocceians, Jansenists, Labadists, Quietists, Arminians and Chiliasts. It opens with a reading programme beginning from the Acts of the Apostles, treats pseudepigrapha, forged diplomas and papal succession-lists as questions of textual criticism, and repeatedly discusses the material conditions of learning — book-fair deadlines, scarcity of books, patronage, printing privileges, censorship and the destruction of libraries in war. Composed in Latin for students, the work was left incomplete at the author's death and issued in two Jena volumes with supplementary matter by Johann Andreas Schmidt, printed by Johann Felix Bielckius. 👉 Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here 📜 View the original source file This text was transcribed and translated as part of the ExLatinis project—an effort by Leo to make English translations of every published text in Latin in early modern Europe (between 1450 and 1750) available to the public for free online.

• Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here
• View the original source file

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