Georgius - Pontificium Doctum - 1718

Georgius Josephus:
Pontificium Doctum – A scholarly compendium of the popes (1718)
1718, Cologne

This Latin-language work from 1718 offers a comprehensive presentation of the lives, deeds, deaths, and memorable happenings of the Roman popes—from the early bishops of Rome to the early modern period. The title Pontificium Doctum, seu Vitae, Res Gestae, Obitus points to the encyclopedic claim: biographies, historical events as well as curiosities and oddities from the lives of the popes are taught and systematically assembled.

The work appeared at the beginning of the 18th century, a time of intense historico-ecclesiastical learning in post-Tridentine Catholicism. It is addressed to a cultured, Latin-literate audience and served both as a reference work and as reading for ecclesiastical historical edification.

Full title:
Pontificium Doctum, seu Vitae, Res Gestae, Obitus, aliaque Scitu ac Memoratu Digna Summorum Pontificum Romanorum – Eorum praecipuè, qui Ingenio, Doctrina, Eruditione, Scriptis, Libris editis, & Lucubrationibus quibuscunque ab initio nascentis Ecclesiae

31x20.5 cm. 941 pp. Contemporary full leather binding. Internally slightly browned, otherwise very well preserved.