The Invention of Papal History

Onofrio Panvinio between Renaissance and Catholic Reform

Stefan Bauer

Oxford-Warburg Studies

Presents the biography of a crucial sixteenth-century author, Onofrio Panvinio, who changed the historical narrative about the history of the Catholic Church
Gives an account of the invention of a critical, source-based papal history, allowing us insights into sixteenth century writing processes, use of sources, and authorial intention
Discusses the subsequent confessionalization and dogmatization of church history
Reflects on the perpetually uneasy relationship between history and theology

The Invention of Papal History

Onofrio Panvinio between Renaissance and Catholic Reform

Stefan Bauer

Description

How was the history of post-classical Rome and of the Church written in the Catholic Reformation? Historical texts composed in Rome at this time have been considered secondary to the city's significance for the history of art. The Invention of Papal History corrects this distorting emphasis and shows how historical writing became part of a comprehensive formation of the image and self-perception of the papacy. By presenting and fully contextualising the path-breaking works of the Augustinian historian Onofrio Panvinio (1530-1568), Stefan Bauer shows what type of historical research was possible in the late Renaissance and the Catholic Reformation. Crucial questions were, for example: How were the pontiffs elected? How many popes had been puppets of emperors? Could any of the past machinations, schisms, and disorder in the history of the Church be admitted to the reading public? Historiography in this period by no means consisted entirely of commissioned works written for patrons; rather, a creative interplay existed between, on the one hand, the endeavours of authors to explore the past and, on the other hand, the constraints of ideology and censorship placed on them. The Invention of Papal History sheds new light on the changing priorities, mentalities, and cultural standards that flourished in the transition from the Renaissance to the Catholic Reformation.

The Invention of Papal History

Onofrio Panvinio between Renaissance and Catholic Reform

Stefan Bauer

Oxford-Warburg Studies

The Invention of Papal History

Onofrio Panvinio between Renaissance and Catholic Reform

Stefan Bauer

Oxford-Warburg Studies

Author Information

Stefan Bauer, Lecturer in History, Royal Holloway, University of London

Stefan Bauer (PhD, Warburg Institute) is a Lecturer in Early Modern History at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is an intellectual and cultural historian of early modern Europe; his research interests cover humanism, religious polemic, church history, and censorship. Bauer is also a Research Associate at the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, University of York, a Privatdozent at the University of Fribourg, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He previously held positions as a Lecturer in Early Modern History and Marie Curie Fellow in York (2015-2018), and as a Research Fellow both at the German Historical Institute in Rome, and the Italian-German Historical Institute in Trent.

His previous publications include The Censorship and Fortuna of Platina's Lives of the Popes in the Sixteenth Century (2006) and Polisbild und Demokratieverständnis in Jacob Burckhardts Griechischer Kulturgeschichte (The Idea of the Polis and the Conception of Democracy in Jacob Burckhardt's History of Greek Civilization) (2001).

The Invention of Papal History

Onofrio Panvinio between Renaissance and Catholic Reform

Stefan Bauer

Oxford-Warburg Studies

Reviews and Awards

"Stefan Bauer's The Invention of Papal History is an admirably readable and fascinating portrait, not only of its principal subject, Panvinio, but also of the culture of late Renaissance humanism at a time of profound instability in Europe. It is a significant achievement by this author, who, one hopes, has a great deal more such scholarship ahead of him..." - Daniel Woolf, Queen's University, Marginalia Los Angeles Review of Books

"Stefan Bauer's study of Onofrio Panvinio's complex contribution and intellectual legacy should be praised for its clarity, in-depth research and useful reflection on the complicated past." - Jennifer Mara DeSilva, Ball State University, LSE Review of Books

"The erudition diffused across Bauer's book is impressive and the arguments are delivered with convincing elegance... a joy to read." - Fabien Montcher, Saint Louis University, Journal of Jesuit Studies

"...insightful and enlightening... should inform all future investigations into the historiography, and especially the religious historiography, of this period" - William Stenhouse, Yeshiva University, Revista de historiografía

"The Invention of Papal History fulfills its objectives. It presents a biography that supersedes earlier lives of Panvinio, elucidates his historical method, and demonstrates how this method differed from those of earlier and later Catholic histories ... it is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of a period of historiography" - Sam Kennerley, Reformation

"The Invention of Papal History is an impressive work. Stefan Bauer has scoured the European libraries and archives with extraordinary competenceand thoroughness. His work ranges far beyond the figure of Panvinio, dealing with the confessional pressures to which historians were subjected, the various aspects of patronage, the ins and outs of censorship, as well as the far broader matter of Catholic historiography in the early modern period. It will remain a major contribution." - Alastair Hamilton, The Warburg Institute, Church History and Religious Culture

"this important book helps us to better see papal history-writing not simply as polemical or as a chronicle of events, but as a dynamic intellectual field with its own critical methods." - Robert John Clines, Western Carolina University, Renaissance Studies

"This thoughtful and judicious monograph is to be welcomed for the considerable light it sheds on confessionalisation of historiography and the cultural politics of papal Rome." - Peter Marshall, University of Warwick, History Today

"Stefan Bauer has written an outstanding study of one of the most important Catholic historians in early modern Europe...This exceptional new book promises to do much to shape future work on history writing in early modern Europe." - Crawford Gribben, Queen's University Belfast, New Books Network