Acta Romanorum Pontificum, a dispersione discipulorum Christi, usq[ue]; ad tempora Pauli quarti, qui nunc in Ecclesia tyrannizat. [Beigebunden]: P. Sixti V. Fulmen brutum in Henricum sereniss Regem Navarrae, & illustriss. Henricum Borbonium, principem oli

VD16 B 227; VD17 23:273874, Anthology with two rare and historically important papers of the 16th and 17th century. The book contains the first edition of the “Acta Romonarum Pontificum” by John Bale, which is a collection of biographies of all popes until 1555 and was published in 1558 by Johann Oporinus in Basel. The title was reprinted several times and translated into English and German in the 16th century. The author John Bale (1495 – 1563) was an English clergyman and playwright and the author of the first known historical verse drama in English (about King John). He was forced to go into exile several times because he sympathised with the Reformation and Oliver Cromwell. Due to his apparent quarrelsomeness, contemporaries gave him the nickname “Bilious Bale.” — Also enclosed: The polemic pamphlet “P. Sixti V. Fulmen brutum in Henricum sereniss Regem Navarrae, & illustriss. Henricum Borbonium, principem olim Condaeum, evibratum” by the French jurist François Hotman (1524 – 1590), a critical documentation and discussion of the ecclesiastical ban on the Calvinist King Henry of Navarre by Pope Sixtus V seen from a Calvinist point of view. This edition from 1604 has no information about place of publication or publisher. This text contains a contemporary reprint of the corresponding bull by Pope Sixtus V and its imprint by A. Bladio from 1585. — Old parchment binding of the 18th century with broad green paper cover on spine. Label on spine in beige and black. Ex-library book with stamp inside and catalogue no. on spine. Binding somewhat rubbed and bumped. Pages 97 – 113 of the “Acta Romanorum Pontificum” are missing and substituted by a copy in old handwriting retaining the collation. The last 3 leaves of the register of the “Fulmen Brutum” are also missing. Otherwise very good condition: binding is tight and type area is in excellent condition. HistEccl9 atx