Regesta - As Historical Sources

As Historical Sources

As collections of the official documents of the papal chancery, the Regesta are a very important historical authority. For convenience in historical investigation various scholars have published in chronological order all known papal documents of large periods, with brief summaries of the contents of the letters. The three greatest collections of this kind are:

• Jaffé, "Regesta Pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum p. Chr. n. 1198"; 2nd ed. by S. Löwenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner, P. Ewald (2 vols., Leipzig, 1888).
• Paul Fridolin Kehr has undertaken a new edition of the Regesta for this period in topographical and at the same time chronological order: "Regesta Pontif. Roman.: Italia Pontifica" (Berlin, 1906–); "Germania Pontificia" (Berlin, 1910); with the cooperation of other scholars.
• Jaffé's work was supplemented by Potthast, "Regesta Pontificum Romanorum inde ab an p. Chr. n. 1198 ad an. 1304 (2 vols., Berlin, 1874-75).

Letters of several popes taken from the volumes of the Regesta have been published by: Löwenfeld: "Epistolæ Pontificum Romanorum ineditæ" (Leipzig, 1885) taken from the manuscript at Cambridge; Rodenberg, "Epistolæ sæc. XIII e Regestis Rom. Pont. selectæ" (Berlin, 1883 —), in "Mon. Germ. Hist." The Regesta of the letters of Gregory I were edited again by Ewald and Hartmann, "Gregorii I Registrum epistolarum" in "Mon. Germ. Hist." (Berlin, 1891 —).

The letters of Gregory VII were edited by Jaffé, "Monumenta Gregoriana" in "Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum" (2 vols., Berlin, 1868). As early as 1591 the records of John VIII were published from the manuscript in the Vatican. Of the popes of the 13th century, Pressuti edited (Rome, 1888–96) the Regesta on Honorarius III (1216–27) from the volumes of the Regesta in the Vatican Archives; the Regesta of the succeeding popes to Boniface VII (d. 1303) were edited by the members of the Ecole Françoisaise of Rome, the publication of the Regesta of all the popes being yet incomplete; after a group of Benedictines had issued the Regesta of Clement V (1305–14), the members of the Ecole Françoisaise began again with John XXII (1316–34), with the intention of publishing the Regesta of the Avignon popes to Gregory XI (1370–78). In this later series, besides the documents of general interest, they kept in view particularly those documents that bore on the history of France. For the later eras only the first numbers were published of the Regesta of Leo X (1513–21), edited by Cardinal Hergenröther (see under the different popes).

In addition a number of works have been issued or are in course of publication that contain Regesta from the Vatican Regesta of the 14th century, bearing on special questions or on the history of various countries and dioceses, e.g., Werunsky, "Excerpts ex registris Clementis VI et Innocenti VI (Innsbruck, 1885); Ruezler, "Vatikanische Akten zur deutschen Geschichte in der Zeit Ludwigs des Bayern" (Munich, 1890).