is valuable for its deep and discriminating research; but the picture which he draws of the abuses in the Church at the close of the Middle Ages, is entirely too highly wrought.

§ 17. Greek Historians.

The Eastern Church, since the time of her separation from the Church of the West, has ceased to excite special interest, no longer giving evidence of her former vigor and energetic life, and, as a consequence, the number of the historical works she has given to the world has been proportionately small. Moreover, when she became the ready instrument of political power, her history ceased to be a thing distinct in itself, and was merged in that of the state. This is very conspicuous from the end of the fifth to the end of the fifteenth century, in the writings of that school of historians at Constantinople, known as Byzantines,' whose most famous work is the Chronicon Paschale seu Alexandrinum, down to 630.

Nicephorus Callisti,2 probably an ecclesiastic of Constantinople, compiled from original documents a church history, to the death of Emperor Phocas in the year 610, in twenty-four books, of which only eighteen are extant. His statements are frequently inaccurate, and his style seems to vary and accommodate itself to that of the author from whom he was at the time drawing his information.

Mention may also be made of the history of Eutychius, Patriarch of Alexandria († 940). It is written in Arabic and in the form of a chronicle, beginning with the creation and coming down to the year 937.

1Scriptores histor. Byzantinae (viz., Geo. Syncellus, Theophanes, Simeon Metaphrastes, Leo Diaconus, Joan. Zonaras, Nicetas, Nicephorus Gregoras, Joan. Cantacuzenus, Malalas, Joan. Ducas, etc.-Tr.) Paris, 1648, sq. 27 vols. f. Ven. 1727. 22 T. f. Latest edition, Corpus scriptor. hist. Byzant. Bonnae, 1828, sq. 46 T.

2 Niceph. Callisti hist. eccl. ed. Frontoducacus. Paris, 1630. 2 T. f. in Migne Patrologia, ser. gr. T. 145-147.

3Alexandrinae eccl. origines seu annales, etc., arabice et latine in E. Pocoche patr. Alex. annal. Oxon. 1658. 2 T. 4to. Latin, in Muratori scriptores rer. Italic. T. II., P. 2.

THIRD PERIOD.

CHURCH HISTORIANS FROM THE WESTERN SCHISM (1517) to our OWN DAY. § 18. Historical Controversies between Protestants and Catholics. While the troubles of the Western Schism seriously interrupted the progress which had been made in the method of writing church history at the close of the last period, a fresh impulse was given to the study of it by the growing needs of controversy.

Modern church historians seem to insist on keeping the history of the Church distinct from that of the State, and are inclined to group all its various branches under the comprehensive title of Universal Church History.

Matthias Flacius,1 an Illyrian, and preacher at Magdeburg, a man of violent temper and restless disposition, with the hope of showing that the teachings of Luther and his followers were not entirely without an historical basis, associated with himself a number of educated Protestants, such as Matthew Judex, Basil Faber, Andrew Corvinus, Holtzhuter, and others, and began the immense work of writing a history of the church by centuries, and the writers are called on this account Centuriators. They exhibit much acuteness and great powers of generalization, but their judgments are unprecedentedly arbitrary and unfair.

This was for a long time highly esteemed and looked upon as the very perfection of historical writing, and that its circulation might be increased, the theologian, Luke Osiander, made an abridgment of it,' and continued it down to the sixteenth century. It naturally created a sensation among Catholics, and Cæsar Baronius, a priest of the Roman Oratory, and afterward Cardinal († 1607), came forward as the most formidable opponent of the Centuriators. His history, the fruit of thirty years of uninterrupted labor, is remarkable for the

1 Eccl. historia, integram eccles. Chr. ideam quantum ad locum, propagationem, etc., complectens, congesta per aliquot studiosos et pios viros in urbe Magdeburgica. Basil. 1559-74. 13 T. (centur.) f., with Calvinistic modifications, ed. Lucius. Basil. 1624. 6 T. fol. The new edition, started by Baumgarten and Semler, Nürnbg. 1757-65, incomplete, only six parts. Cf. Twesten on M. Flacius. Brl. 1844.

2 Epitome histor. eccl. Centuriae XVI. Tub. 1592, sq. 8 T. 4to.

great number of original documents it contains, which up to his time were entirely unknown, and for his skillful refutation of the Centuriators.

The work was continued to 1564 by Abraham Bzovius, a Polish Dominican of Cracow († 1637); by Spondanus, Bishop of Pamiers (†1643), to 1640, and by Oderic Raynaldus, an Oratorian, who is perhaps the equal of Baronius himself, to 1566. James of Laderchi, also an Oratorian, wrote in three volumes a continuation of Baronius, from 1566-1571. In 1856, Augustine Theiner, a priest of the Oratory and Librarian of the Vatican, undertook the continuation of this work.

1

Anthony Pagi,2 a learned Franciscan, added to the Annals, notes and annotations, in which, by supplying omissions and correcting chronological errors, he furnished so complete a refutation of the Protestant adversaries of Baronius that their works are now almost, if not entirely, forgotten. The notes of Pagi are invaluable to any one wishing to read Baronius, and should always be at hand for reference.

At the close of this period great efforts were made in France to stimulate the study of church history.

§ 19. Studies in Church History in France.

In France, quite a number of Oratorians, Dominicans, Jesuits, and members of the congregation of St. Maur, whose example was speedily followed by the secular clergy and the laity, zealously applied themselves to the elucidation of the

1Baronii Annales eccl. Rom. 1588-1607. 12 T. f., and oftener, revised and corrected by the author. Mogunt. 1601-5. 12 T. f. (to 1198), which served as a standard for the following editions: Coloniae, 1609; Antw. 1610; Ven. 1738, c. not. crit. Ant. Pagii. 13 T. f. The continuation by Abraham Bzovius, Colon. 1621, sq. Annales eccl. post Baronium. Romae, 1616, 8 T.; ed. auct. Od. 8 T. Annal. Baronii contin. post Spondanum. Paris, 1640-41. 2 T. f. Raynaldi, Annal. eccl. ab anno 1198. Romae, 1646-1677. 10 T. f., that is, T. XIII. to XXI. A complete edition of these works, Raynaldus contin. included. Cologn. 1693, sq. Jac. de Laderchio, ann. eccl. T. XXII-XXIV. Romae, 1728-37. Continuavit Aug. Theiner, Romae and Paris, 1856, sq. [So far, 3 vols., reaching to 1583, compl. ed. Bar-le-Duc, 1864, sq.-Tr. add.] 2A. Pagii critica historico chronologica in annal. Baronii. Paris, 1698. 2 T. f., to which he added 3. T. Colon. 1705; complete, Antw. 1705, 4 T. f. The best ed. of *Baronii Ann. c. continuatione Raynaldi, Laderch. atque critica Pagii ac not. Dom. Georgi et Dom. Mansi. Lucc. 1738-59. 38 T. f.

various branches of church history, and we owe to their labors and learning many valuable editions of the Fathers, so essential to its thorough study. The names of many of these writers will never be forgotten by the students of church history; such are Aubespine, de Marca, Launoy, Dupin, Arnauld, Petau, Thomassin, d'Achery, Mabillon, Ceillier, Martène, Morin, Gallandi, Ruinart, Maran, Durand, the Sirmonds, de La Rue, Montfaucon, Coustant, Garnier, le Nourry, Cotelier, Baluze, Rigault, and many others.1

The works of Godeau, Bishop of Venice, in which he aims at embracing the whole scope of church history, although written in an attractive and popular style, are lacking in solid worth and original research.

The church history of Natalis (Noël) Alexander,3 on the contrary, is characterized by clearness, depth, and a thorough knowledge of original documents. It is, however, much to be regretted that the scholastic method of treatment adopted by the author renders his style heavy and unattractive, and that the work itself is frequently marred by expressions of extreme Gallican opinion, which caused it to be placed for a time under censure.

The dissertations which introduce and form the basis of every important question, are the most valuable portions of the work. The history of the good and gentle Abbé Fleury (†1723), a Gallican, prior of Argenteuil, and tutor to the

4

1Herbst, the merits of the Congr. of St. Maur in Literature. (Tübing. Review, 1833-34.) The same, The literary achievements of the French Oratorians (in the same review, 1835-not finished).

2 Godeau, hist. de l'église depuis la naissance de J. Ch., jusqu'à la fin du IX. siècle. Paris, 1633. 3 T. f.; translated into Italian by A. Speroni; into German by Hyper and Groote, Augsburg, 1768-96. 38 vols. 8vo.

3 Nat. Alexandri hist. eccl. N. T. Paris, 1676 sq. 23 vols. in 8vo. Moreover selecta historiae V. T. capita. Paris, 1689. 8vo. 6 vols. Hist. eccl. Vet. et Nov. Test. Paris, 1699. 8 T. f. and other editions. Lucc. 1734. Cum notis Constant. Roncaglia, 9 T. f., ibid. 1749 cum notis Mansi. Then Venet. 1759 and 1778. 9 T. f. cum II. T. supplement; also, 1151, 18 T. 4to; ed. Bingae, 1784 sq. 18 T. 4to, cum supplement. 2 T. 4to.

*Fleury, hist. eccl., Paris, 1691-1720. 20 T. 4to, and oftener. New edition, containing four additional volumes, written from a manuscript plan of Fleury's, found in the royal library (coming down to 1517). Paris, 1840. 6 T. 4to. (Latin translation, together with the continuation, by Fathers Alexander and Bruno, of the same order. Augustae Vindelicorum, 1768-98. 91 T. 8vo.)

princes royal, is far more agreeable. It comes down to the year 1414, and its statements, even when the author does not distinctly say so, are all the result of original investigation. The special purpose of Fleury is to prove both to the man of science and to the ordinary reader that the Church is divine in her origin and establishment, that her influence tends to ameliorate the condition of man, and that, as a matter of fact, she has accomplished that work. Jean Claude Fabre, the Oratorian, who continued Fleury's history to the year 1595, is inferior to him in every respect. This is very apparent in his prolixity, in the disposition he evinces to shirk difficulties, and in the way in which he brings together under the same heading, subjects most opposite in character. A like unfavorable criticism must be passed on his Latin translator and second continuator (1596–1765), the Carmelite, Alexander a S. Joanne de Cruce, of Augsburg.

Bossuet,1 the great bishop of Meaux, in his Discourse on Universal History, has shown the influence of divine interposition in human affairs. Cramer, a Protestant, made an attempt to continue the work of Bossuet, but entirely lost sight of the aim and purpose of the original. Tillemont, (†1698) the last of the glorious line of French church historians, was unfortunately unable to continue his great work on the first five centuries of the Church, which consists principally of biographies of her most remarkable men and quotations, conscientiously and laboriously collected, from To these the author has added oboriginal documents. servations of his own, which he carefully distinguishes from the quotations by the use of brackets. Each volume contains, Germ. transl., without the continuation, Lps.,1751-70. 14 vols. 4to, continuée par Fabre, Paris, 1726-40. 16 T. 4to (to 1595). The ecclesiastical history of M. L'Abbé Fleury, from 381 to 456. English translation, with notes. 3 vols. Oxford, 1843-44. (Tr.) Cf. Hefele, on the value of Fleury, his continuation, and the newly discovered four vols. in the Tübing. Quart. of 1845.

1Bossuet, discours sur l'histoire universelle, Paris, 1681, and repeatedly. German, 2 ed. Würzburg, 1832, translated and continued by Cramer, Lps., 1751-86. 7 pts. translated into English. A Discourse on Universal History, Dublin, 1811. (Tr.) Histoire des variations des églises des Protestants, Paris, 1688. 2 T. 4to, 1734. In German, by Mayer, Munich, 1825 sq. 4 vols. In English, History of Variations of Protestant Churches, New York, 1836. 2 vols. Dublin, 1845. 2 vols., 8vo.