Bodin in Italia: La Demonomanie des sorciers e le vicende della sua traduzione. .

Michaela Valente. Bodin in Italia: La Demonomanie des sorciers e le vicende della sua traduzione.

Florence: Centro Editoriale Toscano, 1999. 226 pp. [euro]13.49. ISBN: 88-7957-136-2.

When the archive of the Roman Inquisition, now called the Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, opened in the late 1990s, scholars found that the records of the Congregation of the Index were also there and that they were very rich. Hence, a growing number of studies analyzing censorship and the actions of Congregation of the Index have appeared. This original book follows the Italian fortunes of Jean Bodin's De la Demonomanie des sorciers (1580), one of the most important Renaissance treatises of magic and witchcraft. Accepting the existence of witches and demons, Bodin offered theoretical discussion of witchcraft beliefs and legal advice about prosecuting witches. But he also aroused opposition. Valente follows the story of the book through its translation, expurgation, and condemnation.

Ercole Caro, a Ferrarese courtier, produced an Italian translation printed in 1587. A second edition, which advertised that it was "newly purged and corrected," followed in 1589, as did a third edition in 1592, all published in Venice. Cato dedicated his translation to Cardinal Agostino Valier, Venetian noble and member of the Congregation of the Index. Perhaps translator and publisher hoped that this would stave off objections. Cato mostly followed the second 1580 French edition, but also made limited use of Latin and German translations. While sixteenth-century translations were seldom absolutely faithful, Cato also introduced changes intended to avoid difficulties. Not witchcraft, but Bodin's other beliefs and statements, were the problem. He was a politique, that is, he was considered to be someone who did riot strongly support one religion over others. Moreover, Bodin did not refer to Jesus Christ as God in his book; he preferred a religion without ceremonies; and he put great emphasis on the Hebrew wisd om tradition. As objections mounted, the Congregation of the Index ordered Abbot Marcantonio Maffa (1547-99) to evaluate the work. Maffa praised the material about proceeding against witches, but expressed serious and thoughtful concerns over Bodin's other beliefs. Nevertheless, the expurgations and additions in the book were simplistic and slight. Brief passages affirming Catholicism and good works were inserted. Some of Bodin's complex and vague generalizations about religion were deleted. Jesus Christ became God, and the names of Protestants were deleted. Such changes were typical of the modifications found in many expurgated works.

But objections grew. The most valuable part of Valente's book is the detailed account of the actions, counteractions, petitions, and especially the differences between the congregations of the Inquisition and Index, over the book. First, the Demonomanie was ordered suspended while the Congregation of the Index made up its mind. Then the publisher became involved. Francesca Giunti, natural daughter of the Venetian publisher Tommaso Giunti and wife of Niccok Manassi, the Venetian publisher of the third edition of the Demonomanie, wrote to Rome that her husband had printed 675 copies at a cost of 500 ducats, with the printing costs underwritten through her dowry. She begged the Congregation of the Index to permit them to sell the book or to buy the unsold copies. The news was initially good: the 1593 draft of the new Index of Prohibited Books in preparation permitted the Demonomanie in expurgated form. But the Congregation of the Holy Office continued to insist that the work be condemned, and it had more influen ce than the Congregation of the Index. The Clementine Index promulgated in 1596 banned the Demonomonie. However, Giunti, Manassai, and others continued to appeal to the Congregation of the Index that the Demonomanie should be permitted in expurgated form. The Congregation of the Index was willing to reconsider, but was overruled by the Holy Office. And no one offered to buy Manassi's unsold copies. Despite all this, Valente's evidence shows that readers still wanted the book, and that it circulated through 1648 and perhaps beyond.

Valente presents a good account of the process of translation, evaluation, expurgation, condemnation, and the conflicting views and interests. Censorship was not predetermined, but subject to discussion, strong disagreement, and affected by agency power struggles. Like other scholars, Valente found that the Holy Office was sterner and stronger than its rival. She has uncovered new archival material, has made good use of manuscript evidence, and has read all the essential secondary printed sources, sometimes quoting them more than is necessary. This is a good study of one episode in the complex history of the Italian Counter Reformation.