MAIMBOURG, LOUIS. - Jesuit, preacher, and historian, born in Nancy on 10 January 1610, died in Paris on 13 August 1686. After sixteen years of teaching literature, he turned to preaching and especially to historical works, taking as his subject the schisms and heresies that had developed throughout the history of Christianity.
A bitter enemy of Jansenism and Protestantism, he wrote several works in which he sought to prepare the return of dissenters to the Catholic Church; however, he also espoused the theory of the so-called "Gallican liberties," becoming a tenacious and vigorous defender of them, which earned him the condemnation of several of his works and the order from Innocent XI to leave the Order (1681). Louis XIV then granted him a generous pension of 3,000 francs and lodging in the ancient abbey of Saint-Victor in Paris, where he continued his work.
The works condemned were: *Histoire du grand Schisme d'Occident* (Paris 1678; decree 23 May 1680), in which, while discussing the Council of Constance, he defends those considered schismatics, strongly opposes the actions of Urban VI, and questions the exclusivity of a Roman or Italian pope; *Histoire de la décadence de l'Empire après Charlemagne* (ibid. 1679; decree 23 May 1680), in which, among other things, he upholds the rights of kings over the temporal affairs of the Church; *Histoire du luthéranisme* (ibid. 1680; decree 12 December 1680), in which he seeks to reduce the origin of the great heresy to the single issue of indulgences; *Traité historique de l'établissement et des prérogatives de l'Église de Rome et de ses évêques* (ibid. 1685; brief of Innocent XI, 4 June 1685), in which he argues that Peter was bishop of Rome and that the popes are his successors only in that capacity; he contests the personal infallibility of the pope, demands the intervention of a council for "decisive and definitive" judgments, and advocates the autonomy of governance for bishops vis-à-vis the Holy See; *Histoire du pontificat de St Grégoire le Grand* (2 vols., ibid. 1686; brief of Innocent XI, 26 February 1687), in which he advances the same Gallican theories regarding the issue of investitures. Other works include: *Histoire de l'arianisme* (ibid. 1673); *Histoire de l'hérésie des iconoclastes* (ibid. 1674); *Histoire des Croisades* (ibid. 1675); *Histoire du schisme des Grecs* (ibid. 1678).
All his works had numerous readers and translators because they were written with stylistic grace and liveliness, though at times the apologist or the stylist overpowered the historian to the detriment of historical accuracy. Now, however, multiplied critical and historical investigations have greatly diminished their value.