How the secularization of religious houses transformed the librairies of Europe, 16th-19th centuries

The closure of religious houses, in varying circumstances, affected all of Europe at some point between the sixteenth and nineteenth century. At different times and in different countries the consequences were widely varied, in some cases preserving medieval and early modern collections intact, in others abandoning books to their fate, or transferring them piecemeal into new ownership to serve different cultural purposes. Integral preservation or dispersal may each be viewed in positive or negative terms. For religious and political history there are many, and bigger, factors involved, and the effects of secularization worked on many things beside libraries and books. None the less, by focusing on books and libraries through these changes a particular narrative emerges of great cultural importance. It is the most important book-historical story for the survival and accessibility of Europe's heritage of the written word, one that interacts with major historical themes and still connects with future issues for the continuing role of books and libraries in the European heritage. A conference held in Oxford in 2012 brought together thirty experts in different aspects of this process or with knowledge of its impact in different countries and at different periods. The result was to bring together and share for the first time the similar and different experiences of different European countries, from Portugal and Spain in the west to Poland and Ukraine in the east, from Finland and Sweden in the north to Naples in the south, with ramifications stretching to North and South America. While reading this volume of collected essays, the reader may notice a disparity in the evidence that each author has been able to bring to bear upon their subject. Provenance research is well advanced in some territories, less so in others. In the decade since the conference and this publication, there have been some attempts to bridge certain gaps. But in general, there has been little new work in the years since the conference took place. The editors anticipate that this publication will stimulate further research, bridging some of the gaps visible in the evidence presented in this volume. Multiple avenues for further investigation open up, indeed, in historical and cultural studies, such as the impact of the secularization on nonreligious libraries, and the change in attitude with respect to certain disciplines and even to erudition itself. Introduction Chronology Part 1: The Territorial and Temporal Map of the Dissolved Collections The Dissolution of Monasteries and Convents in Europe An Overview of the Economic Implications Dissolution and Dispersion in Sixteenth-Century England: Understanding the Remains Klosteraufhebungen und das Schicksal ihrer Bibliotheken in der Deutschschweiz* The Expropriation of Monastic Libraries in German-Speaking Europe, 1773–1817* The Secularization of Spanish Religious Libraries (1767–1836): The Catalan Case* Case study 1: Portugal, Porto – State policy Concerning the Dissolution of Monastic Book Collections in Portugal, Especially during the Nineteenth Century Case study 2: Spain, Seville and Madrid – The Formation of New Libraries The Secularization of Religious Houses in Latin America from Independence to the New Republics: Continuity and Fragmentation of Library Collections Part 2: State Policy toward Book Collections The Dissolution of the Libraries of Venetian Religious Houses and the Keeper of the Library of St Mark, Jacopo Morelli, under Venetian, French, and Austrian Governments (1768–1819) La politica delle soppressioni e le nuove biblioteche a Napoli tra illuminismo regalista e restaurazione (1767–1815) Napoléon et les confiscations de livres dans les monastères italiens Part 3: Sequestration, Redistribution, or Contribution to the Foundation of Public Libraries The Foundation of the City Library of Amsterdam (1578) and the Confiscation of Manuscripts and Printed Books from Ecclesiastical and Monastic Libraries. Fact or Fiction? Bibliothèques et suppressions ecclésiastiques en Toscane de Pierre-Léopold à Napoléon La Biblioteca Vaticana e la dispersione delle biblioteche dei religiosi romani nella prima Repubblica Romana e nell’età napoleonica The Dispersal of Monastic Libraries in Rome. The Laws of Suppression during the Roman Republic of 1849 and after the Annexation of the City as the Capital of the Kingdom of Italy in 1873 The Dissolution of Monasteries in Silesia and Poland The dissolution of Roman-Catholic and Uniate Monasteries in the Western guberniyas of the Russian Empire and the fate of their libraries* Part 4: Impact on Book Trade and the Emergence of Private Collections Le commerce du livre d’antiquariat en France après la Révolution The Book Market in Nineteenth-century Venice “Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis”. The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineteenth Century* Monastic Collections and the Nineteenth-Century English Book Trade: The New Interest in Early Printed Fragments Part 5: Migration of Books, Access to New Publics Jesuit Libraries in the Southern Netherlands and their Dispersal after 1773 Before Napoleon. Change and Continuity in Italian Religious Book Collections North American Collection-Building: Gathering Monastic Books from Long Ago and Far Away Part 6: Destruction of Books, Spoils of War, and Clandestine Exportation The Fate of Medieval Religious Book Collections in the Swedish Realm during the Reformation Zurich and the Books of the Monasteries: From the Reformation to the 19th Century Part 7: Tools for Research Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: MLGB3 Material Evidence in Incunabula and Other Tools for Searching the Provenance of Early Printed Books The RICI Database. A Tool for the History of Religious Libraries in Italy at the End of the Sixteenth Century The Incunabula Collection of the Benedictine Library of S. Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. Formation, Use, and Dispersal according to Documentary and Material Evidence (from MEI) Bibliography Index of Names Index of Places