book publishing and the circulation of information 667
of the public authority in the form of a specific magistracy in Venice and
of the city rectors in the rest of the state. other measures followed in the
coming years, and in 1559 the first roman index was promulgated. the
procedure for issuing the license to print books was finally made official
in 1562, and it would remain in force, with some partial revisions, until
the end of the 18th century. each new manuscript to be printed had first
to be read by three revisori: the inquisitor of the holy office for religious
arguments, a public lettore for moral ones, and a ducal secretary for politi-
cal questions. each of these gave a judgment which was presented to the
magistrate of the Riformatori of the university of Padua, who would then
issue the permit to be registered by the Council of ten. this procedure
was partially simplified in the 17th century. the revisori were cut to two,
and the Riformatori took on the entire responsibility, which along with
the other similar tasks recently given them, made them the primary politi-
cal organ for cultural supervision.
With regard to publishing licenses, it is also important to consider that
in a similar context the ecclesiastical authority’s judgment was only one
of the conditions for the definitive license; it was not the final act. in fact,
the final permit was issued by the state. thus the traditional ecclesiastical
formula for the imprimatur was not accepted, even though this triggered
endless jurisdictional conflicts in which the relations between Venice and
the holy see were constantly renegotiated in the light of the contingent
political situation.37 as such, between the end of the 16th and the end
of the 18th century, there was no single procedure; rather, the disputes
tended to favor the roman or Venetian positions depending on the spe-
cific circumstances and the current state of their relations. Certainly,
between 1596 and 1606, Venetian policy under the influence of Paolo
sarpi and doge leonardo donà was more aggressive in the construction
of a strong state censorship; but in other periods, such as the mid-17th
century, the republic was more docile with regard to the claims of the
roman court. it must also be underlined that, even in the moments of
greatest political tension, the republic’s position did not move towards
a more lax censorship. Consonant with the authoritarian ideas of the
time, even such men as sarpi, constantly accused by the roman curia of
being masked Protestants, maintained that controlling the circulation of
ideas was fundamental to the conservation of the state. in their view, the
37 mario infelise, “a proposito di imprimatur. una controversia giurisdizionale di fine
’600 tra Venezia e roma,” in Studi veneti offerti a Gaetano Cozzi (Venice, 1992), pp. 287–99.