In her debut blog, Curatorial Assistant Lily Natter gives us an exciting account on historical censorship and book-banning!
In January of 1559, the papacy published its first Index of Prohibited Books under the direction of Pope Paul IV. It was called the Pauline Index, and it decreed that Catholic readers were not permitted to own or read books written by heretics, meaning people who were not Catholic. The Index banned over 500 authors, not all who published religious material. One of these authors was German physician and botanist Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566), who was a Lutheran, but published herbals and books focused on medicine. Nevertheless, his books were banned entirely. Less than two months after the publication of the Index, in February 1559, the Vatican released new instructions for the implementation of the Pauline Index, which edited the ban on Fuchs’ books. His works were still prohibited, but now there was an exception: if Fuchs’ name was removed from the texts, they could be read and owned by Catholic readers (Marcus 32-33). This type of censorship is called expurgation, and it would grow to be a more common strategy of the Church’s program of censorship by the end of the sixteenth century. Broadly, expurgation is “a system of selective censorship within particular texts” or removing specific information from a book by methods like inking out text, covering text or images with paper, or cutting parts of a book out (Marcus 51). This practice was not a formal part of the papacy’s censorship program until the publication of later Indexes, but immediately after the publication of the Pauline Index, Italian physicians petitioned for the use of certain medical texts, and the ecclesiastical authorities in Rome began to consider different alternatives to complete prohibition (Marcus 33).
The Lilly Library holds a copy of a 1556 edition of Leonhart Fuchs’ De curandi ratione libri octo that has been expurgated. The book primarily focuses on medicine and covers treatment practices for a variety of ailments and includes woodcuts of surgical instruments from Jean Tagault’s De chirurgia institutione (1543). However, in Book Four of this text, Fuchs composed a page and a half long passage that places religion in conversation with medicine and demonstrates Fuchs’ opinion about the way the two should interact. In the edition at the Lilly, this passage has been inked out entirely (Figures 1 and 2):
Marginal note, in Latin:
[Adversus quosdam morosos theologos] Sed non latet, esse quosdam hoc tempore morosos sane homines, et plane Stoicos, quod clamitent, piis et Christianis hac in parte non esse medicorum consiliis obtemperandum. Quippe Christianorum esse ut mortem non metuant quidem, tantum abest ut illis Fugere liceat. Belli meherculues homines, quod hoc a nobis exigent, quod nemo sanctorum, imo ne Christus ipse, quem exhorruisse mortem sacrae testantur literae, praestare potuit. Et quod exhorruerint, nihil mirum quidem, quum omnibus a Deo sit insitum: ut vitum tueant, mortem fugiant. Hinc D. Paulus ad Eph. IIII scriptum reliquit, nemo unquam suam ipsius carnem odio habuit, imo eam nutrit, ac fovet. Exhorruisse autem, imo declinasse mortem sanctos, multis scripturae exemplis ostenditur. Abraham metus mortis, Saram uxorem suam appellare sororem voluit: Genesis xx. Iacob mortem exhorrens, Esau fratrem fugit in Mesopotamiam. David vitam servare cupiens: Saulem et Absalonem filium fugit Elias propheta audacissimus, post occisos prophetas Baal, minis Isebilis reginae territus, in desertum fugit. Moses quum quaereretur a rege Aegyptiorum, fuga in Midiam sibi vitaeque suae consuluit. Verum dicent hoc loco morose illi, exempla nunc perducta non docent, mortem quam pestilenta affert, sed eam quod persecutions sequitur, fugiendam esse. Quibus vicissim respondeo, mortem esse mortem, e quacumque causa ortam. Deus inter caetera supplicia famem etiam numerat, quam si fugere licet, cur non etiam pestilentiam? Famem autem fugisse Abrahamum, Isaacum, & Iacobum, notius est quod ut longius a me demonstrari debeat. Quod si nulla supplicia divinitus inflicta fugere licebit, certe Turcam, aliorum tyrannos, quos tamen flagella Dei esse constat, persequentes, nemo Christianus fugere debet. Peccant igitur, quod oppida & pagos his adventantibus deserunt. Pari ratione domo aliqua conflagrante nemo excurret, nemo etiam ad sopiendum incendium accurret, nam & ignem inter supplicia a Deo inmissa numerandum esse, nemo inficias ibit. Incidens praeterea undas: nunque natatione sibi consulet: sed aquam veluti de supplicium sibi adimere vitam aequo patientem animo. Parte Denique aliqua corporis vulnerate, aut fracto esse, numo Christianus chirurgic operam requiret, Dei enim supplicium perferet. Nemo frigora, utpote Dei supplicia, arcebit vestibus, & id genus aliis rebus ad ea perpulsanda necessariis utetur. Quid multa? Nemo Christianus ullo remedii genere adversus ullum morbum hac ratione uti audebit, quod nullum sit genus morbi inter supplicia a Deo inmissa non connumerandum. Non debere itaque mortem metuere pios, ita intelligendum erit, non debere illos metu mortis despondere animum, non debere etiam ut devitent mortem peccare, in summa, in morte non debent desperare. Sed extant ea de re doctissimorum nostril aevi theologorum Lutheri & Brentii libelli, in quibus Stoicorum illorum somnia pulchre refutantur, quorum ego hac in re iudicia pluris facio, quam centum aliorum. [Marginal note: Pii quomodo mortem non metuere debent]
Translation in English:
[Against some difficult theologians] But it is not unknown that there are certain reasonably difficult men, clearly Stoic, who shout that the pious and Christian should not comply with the advice of physicians in this matter. Since indeed it is characteristic of Christians not to fear death, it is far from being the case that it is allowed for them to flee it. By Hercules, what brave men, who would demand this from us, which none of the saints, not even Christ himself, who the sacred writings testify dreaded death, could fulfill. And that they have trembled is indeed no wonder, since it is planted in all by God: protect life, escape death. Hence St. Paul left written the text Ephesians IIII, no one ever had hatred of their own flesh, on the contrary they feed and nurture it. Indeed, the saints feared and avoided death, shown by many examples in scripture. Abraham, fearing death, wished to call his wife Sarah his sister: Genesis XX. Jacob, fearing death, fled from his brother Esau to Mesopotamia. David, eager to protect his life: fled Saul and his son Absalom, the boldest prophet Elias, after killing the prophets of Baal, terrified of Queen Jezebel, fled to the desert. When Moses was sought by the king of the Egyptians, he fled to Midian to save himself and his life. Still, those difficult theologians will say at this point that the present examples do not show that the death that pestilence brings forth must be avoided, but death following persecutions. In turn I respond, death is death, by whatever cause. God includes famine with other punishments, so if it is allowed to flee famine, why not also pestilence? But Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fled famine, it is well known, which should be shown further by me. Because if it is not allowed to escape punishment inflicted by God, no Christian should flee from persecuting Turks or other tyrants, who are known to be still scourges of God. So, they sin, those who abandon towns and villages to those coming. By equal reasoning, when some house is burning no one runs out, and no one will run to extinguish a fire, and in fact also a fire must be counted as a punishment sent by God, no one will deny it. Besides falling upon the waves: he will never care for himself by swimming: but he will suffer the water equally to steal his life as punishment. Finally, if some part of the body is injured or broken, no Christian will request the work of a surgeon, for he will endure God’s punishment. No one will protect oneself with clothes from the cold, since it is God’s punishment, nor will use other kinds of things necessary to fend it off. Why say more? No Christian will listen to this reasoning to use any kind of remedy against any sickness, because there is no kind of sickness not counted among the punishments sent by God. Why say more? No Christian will listen to this reasoning to use any kind of remedy against any sickness, because there is no kind of sickness not counted among the punishments sent by God. Therefore, the pious should not fear death, so it must be understood, that they should not promise their lives to the fear of death, and they should not sin to avoid death, in sum, they should not despair in death. But there exist on this matter books from the most learned theologians of our time, Luther and Brenz, in which the dreams of those Stoics are beautifully refuted, and I value in this matter their judgements more than those of one hundred others. [How the pious should not fear death]
There are several interesting things about this passage and about the way that it has been expurgated in this copy. This passage does not actually appear to be in direct opposition to Catholics or their faith. Fuchs describes a group of difficult theologians, who are also Christian and Stoic, that do not believe in treating illnesses because it would be the same as going against the will of God. This is not a Catholic belief. At this time there were many practicing physicians who were also Catholic, who were important authorities for dealing with medical emergencies such as plague, along with priests and other ecclesiasts. Despite this, it is not completely unsurprising that the passage is expurgated anyways, since Fuchs mentions both Martin Luther and Johannes Brenz by name. Martin Luther was, of course, a key figure of the Reformation, who posted his “95 Theses” on the church door at the University of Wittenberg, translated the New Testament into German, and whose theological beliefs are the origins of Lutheranism (Encyclopedia Britannica). Johannes Brenz was also a German Protestant Reformer, and a strong supporter of Luther (Encyclopedia Britannica). The mere presence of the names of these well-known Protestants very possibly could have been enough for a Catholic censor to ink over the entire passage, to ensure the expurgation of this book was complete. It is unclear in his text if Fuchs wants to refer to a specific group of Christians, or to certain specific theologians who hold this belief that a Christian should not flee from plague but do not represent the ideology of a specific branch of Christianity. Fuchs twice describes these “difficult theologians” as Stoic: first at the beginning of his passage, describing that these Stoic men say that pious Christians should not follow the advice of physicians, and then at the end, citing that Martin Luther and Johannes Brenz have beautifully refuted the opinions of these Stoics. If Fuchs refers to a specific group of Christians who are also Stoics and generally hold the belief that people should not treat illness or injury because it is God’s will, then that group is unknown. In light of this, Fuchs may instead just be using the descriptor “Stoic” to broadly refer to people who refuse to flee from plague. Further research about the Christians Fuchs refer to in their texts could be illuminating on this topic, and more broadly about the conflicts between medicine and physicians and Christianity in this period.
Fuchs’ name was also censored in this book, in an ineffective manner. His name is fully blacked out on the title page (Figure 3) and dedication, but not in any of the title pages for the different books, which also include Fuchs’ name (Figure 4). The expurgation of author names is an interesting case, because the motivations behind doing so are not as obvious as a content-based expurgation, where the goal is to get rid of specific information so that it is lost to readers. Yes, sometimes author names were also inked over in their entirety, but the purpose of doing so was not to cause the reader to forget the name of the author, or for the author’s name to be lost to history. This is evident in the process of obtaining a license to read and own an expurgated book. Readers usually had to reapply for these licenses every three years, and the licenses had to include the bibliographical information for the book, including the name of the author (Marcus 194). The practice of expurgating author names was a form of damnatio memoriae, or of damnation of memory, a phrase that was used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to denote a condemnation of memory (Marcus 192-194). Originally, the phrase was used by the Romans to refer to a very specific legal punishment, but it took on a new meaning in the centuries following (Robey 8). In Renaissance Italy, “the purpose of damnatio memoriae was to control how and if posterity remembered people, parties and places” (Robey 24). The phrase and the practice might at first sound like its intention is to make readers forget who wrote the book, but this method of control was more complex. The expurgation was a constant reminder, solidified in the archival record, of the Catholic belief about Protestants and their beliefs, or “to recall the errors of Protestants and to repeatedly and ritually dishonor them” (Marcus 194). When a book by a Protestant author is expurgated, it becomes clear, both physically and symbolically, that this book is different, and materially differentiates the Catholic reader from the Protestant author (Marcus 197). The method of expurgating author names was a strategy used by the Catholic Church to constantly draw both a physical and symbolic boundary between Protestant and Catholic communities, and to transform books by Protestant authors into books that were safe for Catholic readers.
About the Author:
Lily Natter is a student at Indiana University Bloomington, earning a dual master’s degree in Library Science and the History and Philosophy of Science and working as a curatorial assistant at the Lilly Library. Her interests are in the history of science and rare books and manuscripts. She also works at the IUB Sciences Library and the Chymistry of Isaac Newton project.
Bibliography
Britannica Editors. “Johannes Brenz.” Encyclopedia Britannica, September 7, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Brenz.
Fuchs, Leonhart. De Curandi Ratione Libri Octo: Causarum Signorumque Catalogum Breviter Continentes, Partim Olim Conscripti, & Nunc Postremùm Recogniti Multisque Locis Aucti: Partim Recens Adjecti. Venetiis: Apud Hieronymum Scotum, 1556. R128.6 .F95 1556
Hillerbrand, H.J. “Martin Luther.” Encyclopedia Britannica, April 30, 2026. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther.
Marcus, Hannah. Forbidden Knowledge: Medicine, Science, and Censorship In Early Modern Italy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2020, pp. 32-197.
Robey, Tracy E. “‘Damnatio Memoriae’: The Rebirth of Condemnation of Memory in 24 Renaissance Florence.” Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme 36, no. 3 (2013): 5–32, pp. 8-24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43446248.
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