BOOKS, Censorship of. Unless we con sider the burning of condemned books under the Roman emperors as a censorship, the es tablishment of this institution must be at tributed to the popes; but it cannot be denied that it would have sprung up in a thousand other places even if it had not existed in their dominions. Soon after the invention of print ing, the popes perceived the influence which this art exerted over the diffusion of knowl edge. It was besides doubly dangerous at a time when the authority of the Church had been assailed, and was shaking under the load of its abuses. They endeavored therefore to prOhibit first the reading, and secondly the printing, of certain literary works. They en forced the ancient decrees of the Church against the reading of heretical books, and in troduced an ecclesiastical superintendency of the press in 1479 and 1496, more completely es tablished by a bull of Leo X in 1515. In this the bishops and inquisitors were required to ex amine all works before they were printed, and thus to prevent the publication of heretical opinions. They went still farther: as this papal decree could not be carried into execution in all countries on account of the Reformation, they prepared an index of books which nobody was allowed to read under penalty of the cen sure of the Church. This index was com menced by the Council of Trent, in the fourth session of which (1546) the decree of the cen sorship was renewed; but it was not executed, and was finally left to the popes (25th session of 1563), by whom several such (Indices Li brorum Prohibtorum> have been published. Works of an established character, which could not well be prohibited, it was determined to expurgate. The Duke of Alva caused such an (Index Expurgatorius) to be prepared in the Netherlands; another was drawn up at Rome in 1607; but there are serious difficulties in ex purgating books. The papal government still continues the policy of prohibiting to the faith ful the reading of works deemed dangerous, and the Congregation of the Index has still its place and functions at Rome.
In Germany the politico-theological contro versies gave the first occasion for the introduc tion of this institution, as they were carried on with the greatest violence on both sides.
The decree of the German Diet in 1524 pro hibited them. By the Diet of 1530 a more severe superintendence of the press was established; and this was confirmed by later laws of the empire in 1541, 1548, 1567 and 1577, etc. It was also provided by the Peace of Westphalia, 1648 (Osnabr. Instr. cap. v, sec. 50), that the states should not suffer attacks on religious parties. From that time the emperors have promised, in their elective capitulations, to watch strictly over the fulfilment of this article. In the capit ulations of the Emperor Leopold II, 1790, and of the Emperor Francis II, it was further ad ded (art. vi, sec. 8),