In the 1540s the church introduced a list of books which it was prohibited to read or possess. To begin with, it was left to local authorities to search out the offending books, destroy them and punish their owners. Later, in 1559, Pope Paul IV issued the first list of forbidden books for the entire church, the Index Expurgatorius, which, the pope said, would threaten the souls of anyone reading them.50 All of the works of Erasmus were on the list (works that earlier popes had found a delight), as was the Qu’ran, as was Copernicus’ De revolutionibus, which would remain there until 1758, and
...more
