Papal Registers

PAPAL REGISTERS. - By "r." are meant the books in which the chancery had copies made, for the record, of the letters it dispatched.

The name gesta or regesta had already been used for the commentaries of the Roman age, in which the senate and the consuls, and later the emperors, the imperial authorities of the provinces and the barbarian kings, preserved the copy of the acts issued by them. Special employees saw to the keeping of these books, but one must not think of a true and proper registration, regular and complete, as conceived in the modern age; the acts were copied in chronological order, not always rigorously, and often notices of administrative interest and copies of letters received were inserted into them. From them the compilers of the great Roman legal collections drew; from the registers of the court of Theodoric derive the Variae of Cassiodorus, which had rather a didactic purpose.

To this tradition the use of the r. by the popes is linked: from them too the ancient canonical collections principally drew, for example the Collectio Dionysiana, the Quesnelliana, the one called of Freising, the Collectio Avellana and later the Collectio canonum of Deusdedit, which explicitly indicates the source of the individual fragments. The copies of documents extracted from the r. in official form have always been held to be of public value.

I. BEFORE INNOCENT III (1198)

The existence of pontifical r. in the 4th century is unanimously admitted, but there is no peremptory testimony of it. An authoritative recent study (Silva-Tarouca) has demonstrated the inconsistency of those which until then were considered irrefutable proofs of the existence of the r., namely the mentions littera uniformis, et alia manu and a pari, cited in a letter of Pope Liberius (355) and in others of various popes of the 4th-5th centuries; however it is certain that the manuscript tradition of the letters of St. Leo the Great derives from the r.

Thus the most ancient testimony of the r. goes back to St. Leo I (440-61). It seems (Silva-Tarouca) that they were made up, instead of rolls or books, of a series of quires, in which the letters were grouped according to the recipients: emperor, bishops distinguished by region, that is Italy, Gallia et Hispania, Oriens, etc. A considerable number of letters of St. Gregory the Great that derive from his r. is then preserved. There are about 850 letters handed down by three collections going back to the 8th-9th centuries, of different character and extent; it is known that in the 9th century there existed in the Lateran Archive 14 papyrus rolls which corresponded to the 14 years of the pontificate, though each began with the start of the indiction, that is with September. It is not certain (Posner) that the whole of the three collections represents the entire r.; moreover it is not known how the r. were then kept, what letters they contained and whether drafts or single copies of letters sent were also preserved alongside them. Testimonies of writers and canonists assure the existence of r. for certain popes of the 7th and 8th centuries. For the 9th century, besides the fragments of the register of Leo IV, John VIII and Stephen VI contained in canonical collections, there remains the copy of 314 letters relating to the last six years of John VIII (872-82) in a codex written at Montecassino in the 11th century, now preserved in the Vatican Archive. They derive from the register and are arranged by indictions, like the register of Gregory the Great; it seems that the original register was divided into three parts, of which only the last two are attested in the Vatican codex. It is debated (Steinacker) whether this 11th-century copy reproduces the original in its entirety or contains only a selection of letters made for a particular purpose. Testimonies are lacking for the 10th century and for the first half of the 11th; after a gap of almost two centuries there is in the Collectio Britannica a certain number of decretals extracted from the registers of Alexander II (1061-73).

The first original register that survives is that of Gregory VII (1073-85), preserved in the Vatican Archive. It contains 381 letters and is divided into books according to the years of the pontificate, no longer according to the indictions: this partition would thereafter always be observed in the following centuries. In it, similarly to the ancient commentarii, there are also inserted notices, for example, relating to the conclaves of the time, and the famous text known as the Dictatus Papae. For Urban II (1088-99), Paschal II (1099-1118) and Gelasius II (1118-19) there are only mentions and extracts. A fragment of the register of the antipope Anacletus II, with 38 letters belonging for the most part to May 1130, is preserved at Montecassino in a 13th-century copy. The register of Alexander III (1159-81) was divided into 22 books grouped in four volumes (Holtzmann); many registers of the 12th century were still preserved in the Chancery of Honorius III (1216-27), but they were subsequently lost.

II. FROM INNOCENT III (1198)

With 1198 begin the registers preserved in the Vatican Archive; the series is not complete because many volumes have been lost and some are dispersed in various libraries. For the 13th century they are gathered into a single series (Reg. Vaticana) which extends, with gaps, down to the year 1597 (2042 vols.); for the 14th century there exists, alongside the preceding one, a second series (Reg. Avenionensia) formed by the registers of the popes of Avignon and of certain antipopes down to the year 1415 (349 vols.); with 1389 a third series begins (Reg. Lateranensia), which extends down to 1897 (2467 vols.). There are then preserved in the Vatican Archive the registers of the secretaries, who dispatched bulls and briefs: the registers of the Secretaria Camerae, 222 vols. from 1470 to 1796; the more ancient registers of briefs in Arm. XXXIX (15th century); the registers of the Brevia Lateranensia, 852 vols. from 1490 to 1800; the great series of the Segreteria dei Brevi, 3660 vols. divided into various groups by subject, from 1566 to 1846. A separate group is constituted by the registers of the Brevia sua epistolose ad principee, 292 vols. from 1560 to 1836 (earlier volumes are found in Arm. XLIV-XLV). Besides the registers of letters there are preserved the registers of Suppliche, 7365 vols. (1342-1809).

In such a variety of series many problems arise concerning their relationships and, first of all, concerning the character of each of them and of the individual registers, concerning the procedures of registration and the provenance of the various groups from the different offices or bodies which, in the evolution of the Curia, came to be added to the most ancient office, the Chancery, in the issuing and registration of pontifical documents.

At least for the 13th century, only a part of the letters dispatched is found inserted in the registers: this too is a problem not well explained so far, which involves the very meaning of "register." It has been thought (Heckel) that as a rule the documents that interested the Curia were registered, and that for the others registration proceeded only at the request of the interested parties, but the fact is not proven. The careful study of the registers of Innocent III (Kempf) has brought out that they, in their formation, present together the character of an "office book," of a "collection of letters of historical interest" and of a "collection of decretals." In later centuries, on the other hand, a more rigorous concept prevails: each office or even certain particular employees preserve the copy of the documents dispatched with a presumption of regularity and completeness, while nevertheless following different criteria and procedures.

Other problems, rich in consequences for the historian, are whether the letters were copied into the registers from the originals or from the drafts, whether before dispatch or after; sometimes the drafts themselves were preserved in bundles or bound in volumes with the value of registers.

There is therefore diversity among registers of the same pontificate and an evolution in the concept of registration, within the framework, however, of a tenacious persistence of traditional forms.

The Reg. Vaticana (= RV) constitute the most ancient or most important series. The volumes are ordered according to the succession of the popes and, for each pontificate, in chronological groups; but the composition of the series is uneven, because it was formed in the 17th century by bringing together groups of registers that belonged to different offices. The first 3 vols. are in a certain sense extraneous to the series: RV. 1 is a copy of the register of John VIII (see above), RV. 2 is the original of Gregory VII (ibid.; see reproductions at the entries GREGORY VII and POPE) and RV. 3 is a modern copy of the preceding. With RV. 4 the more or less regular series begins, with the letters distinguished according to the years of each pontificate. For the 13th century and a great part of the 15th the registers are attributed as a whole to the Chancery; however some, isolated or in groups, belonged to the Apostolic Camera, which intervened in the dispatch and registration of letters of particular administrative or political interest. The letters of the Chancery were then distinguished by classes according to their content (litterae communee); those of the Camera were called litterae secretae; litterae de curia are found both in the Chancery and in the Camera. In the middle of the 14th century there enter into function, within the ambit of the Apostolic Camera, the secretaries, who soon had registers of their own.

A great part of the registers of the Avignon period are not originals, but contemporary official copies, executed in fair form and on parchment, of the original paper registers which today form the series of the Reg. Avenionensia; however a certain number of vols., on paper and original, belong outright to that series. A few others of the 14th-15th centuries belong instead to the Reg. Lateranensia.

Many volumes of the 13th-14th centuries have a special character or are not true registers: RV. 6 is the R. super negotio Romani Imperii of Innocent III; RV. 29 A, 30 A and 33-36 contain secret letters of particular pontifical notaries from Urban IV to Honorius IV (1261-87); RV. 46 A

is a copybook; RV. 62 is a collection of letters relating to the Tartars (1198-1355); the thirteen vols. RV. 244 A-N are constituted by original drafts from Clement VI (1342-52) to Gregory XI (1370-78); RV. 308-309 are of the Apostolic Camera but do not contain pontifical letters; RV. 332 contains secret letters dispatched sub signeto.

The registers from Martin V (1417-51) onward are more regular and mark a progress in the system of registration; they are all on paper and belong either to the Apostolic Camera (e.g., the vols. Officiorum) or to determined secretaries (e.g., of Poggio Bracciolini) or to secretaries in common, or, after 1487, to the secretariat instituted as a college. The regular series ends with St. Pius V (1572); the last three vols. are mixed and extend to the 5th year of Clement VIII (1592-1605). A chronological prospectus of the vols. is published in Sussidi per la consultazione dell'Archivio Vaticano, I (Studi e testi, 45), Rome 1926, pp. 49-125.

The Reg. Avenionensia are paper and original in the strictest sense; they begin with John XXII (1316-1334), and probably earlier registers have been lost. The present formation of the volumes is irregular, and foreign elements are often inserted in them; the individual books were copied in better form into parchment volumes that today form part of the Reg. Vaticano (v. above), but the correspondence between the paper volumes (in their present state) and those on parchment is not absolute. In the first volumes the individual letters are cancelled with pen strokes, made by hand as the copying proceeded; on the whole these registers are more authoritative than the copies because the text is more correct, especially in the spelling of proper names. They contain litterae communes and litterae secretae.

The Reg. Lateranensia contain the letters dispatched by the Chancery and constituted the Registrum commune; they are the continuation of the litterae communes of the Reg. Avenionensia, in close relation, as regards the subject of the letters, with the registers of the Suppliche. The series is homogeneous and uniform; the registers are all on paper and of the same format, and the letters are grouped by subject. Many volumes were lost in the sack of Rome and even more in the transfer to Paris ordered by Napoleon; it is calculated that the present holdings represent little more than half, and for some pontificates amount to barely a third, of the original. For particular information on the more recent series, v. K. A. Fink (cf. bibl.).

III. EDITIONS

The papal registers enter modern historiography with the Annales ecclesiastici of Cardinal Baronio (1578-1583) and of his continuators. The opening of the Vatican Archives in 1881 aroused in every nation an interest in the study of the registers, which down to the end of the 14th century constitute the most important source for European history. Research has proceeded along two lines: systematic and general publication of the letters, either in full or in abbreviated form, and publication limited to those that concern a particular country. In the first sense, special merit is due to: the Monumenta Germaniae historica for the registers of Gregory I, John VIII, Gregory VII and extracts from the registers of the 13th century; the French School of Rome for the registers of the 13th and 14th centuries down to 1378. The other historical institutes of Rome have devoted themselves rather to publications of national interest. A general survey of the editions of the registers for each pope is found in the work of K. A. Fink (cf. bibl.). - See plate XXXIV.

Giulio Battelli