Zusammenfassung / Abstract
A French frontispiece that met with disapproval in Rome. Jean Morin’s Histoire de la delivrance de l’Eglise (1630) and its critical echo” – The voluminous Histoire de la delivrance de l’Eglise published by the French Oratorian Jean Morin in 1630 served a double purpose. It sought to demonstrate that the events which led to the emperor Constantine’s conversion did not take place in the outskrits of Rome near the Milvian bridge but prior to that, on French soil, and with the agency of French bishops. Moreover, the author intended to prove that throughout the Middle Ages the kings of France had been the most faithful supporters of the apostolic see and the guarantors of the political independence of the papal state. While it is obvious that at the Roman curia Morin’s publication met with no sympathy, it would be precipitous to call it a “Gallic polemic” against the papacy. A careful re-reading of the book and the study of Morin’s correpondence reveal that the Roman reasons for rejecting his argument were manifold and had only in parts to do with his predisposition in favour of the French monarchy.