TheLiber Censuum Romanæ Ecclesiæ (Latin for "Census Book of the Roman Church"; also referred to as theCodex of Cencius)[1] is an eighteen-volume (originally) financial record of thereal estate revenues of thepapacy from 492 to 1192. The span of the record includes the creation of theApostolic Camera[2] and the effects of theGregorian Reform.[3] The work constitutes the "latest and most authoritative of a series of attempts, starting in the eleventh century, to keep an accurate record of the financial claims of the Roman church".[4] According to historian J. Rousset de Pina, the book was "the most effective instrument and [...] the most significant document of ecclesiastical centralization" in the centralMiddle Ages.[4]
Michael Ott considers theLiber Censuum "perhaps the most valuable source for the history of papal economics during the Middle Ages".[5]
The document has its roots in thePolyptych ofPope Gelasius I, created at the end of the 5th century and continued for the next four centuries.[3] TheLiber Censuum proper was assembled in 1192 by Cencius Camerarius (futurePope Honorius III),papal chamberlain toPope Clement III andPope Celestine III, and his assistant,William Rofio, the clerk of thepapal camera.[6] The document compiled information contained in theCollectio canonum ofCardinal Deusdedit (1087), theLiber politicus of theCanon of St. PeterBenedict (c. 1140), dossiers of the former chamberlainBoson (1149–1178), and theGesta pauperis scolaris ofCardinal Albinus (1188).[3] Albinus'Gesta was the "most ambitious" of theLiber Censuum predecessor records, containing—according to Albinus—"whatever I knew or found in books of antiquities or what I myself heard and saw concerning therights of St. Peter".[4] TheLiber Censuum also incorporates information from a contemporary general census and rent table of church properties organized bydiocese, theOrdo romanus (a description of religious ceremonies), as it pertains to the distribution of payments to the curia during such ceremonies, and works of pontifical history such as theLiber pontificalis.[7]
The earliest documentary evidence for the use of such a document of papal property rights goes back even earlier to an 1163/1164 letter fromPope Alexander III to the abbot ofLagny-sur-Marne requesting an annual payment of one ounce of gold, owed according to "a certain work among the books of the apostolic see".[4] Although this specific claim dated to the time ofPope Urban II, the abbot rejected it and there is no evidence Alexander III pursued it further.[4] Such incidences are likely what Cencius refers to in the preface of theLiber Censuum as the "no little damage and loss" incurred by the church as a result of earlier records being "incomplete and neither written nor arranged authentically".[4] Furthermore, theLiber Censuum was compiled at a time when thepapal patrimony was threatened by theStaufen emperor and individual payments from sources throughout the continent were being reduced by the evasiveness of payers and the inefficiency of theapostolic camera.[4]
The eighteen volumes of theLiber Censuum are divided between: census and rent tables (vol. 1–7), lists of bishoprics and monasteries directly administered by the Holy See (vol. 8), theMirabilia, a mythical description of the city ofRome (vol. 9),[8] a version of theOrdo romanus (vol. 10–11), pontifical chronicles (vol. 12–13), and achartulary (vol. 14–18).[9]
The dating of theLiber Censuum to 1192 comports with the date given in the work's prologue, although this date may only be accurate for the record of taxes owed to the Holy See.[10] For example, theVita Gregorii IX was inserted into the codex of theLiber Censuum between 1254 and 1265, likely during the tenure ofPope Gregory IX's nephew Niccolò ascamerarius between 1255 and 1261.[11]
The original version of theLiber Censuum by Cardinal Cencius begins:
TheLiber Censuum described itself as an authoritative list of "those monasteries, hospitals [...] cities, castles, manors [...] or those kings and princes belonging to the jurisdiction and property of St. Peter and the holy Roman church and owingcensus and how much they ought to pay".[6]
The census list included churches, abbeys and bisphorics, as well as some original receipts or payment records.[12]
The value of the rights recorded in theLiber Censuum is difficult to quantify exactly, and in any case, unlikely to have been paid in full.[13] V. Pfaff, estimating historicalexchange rates, assessed the value of the revenue cited in theLiber Censuum as 1,214 gold ounces, a sum that would comprise less than 5% ofRichard I of England's annual income.[13] TheLiber Censuum, however, does not include several sources of papal revenue, in particular those collectedin-kind and the revenues of theBasilicas of Rome.[13]
Papal historians regard theLiber Censuum as well-organized compared to the works which preceded it, and it includes empty spaces for anticipated updating.[9] The intent was to allow futurecamerarii to add future entries "until the end of the world".[6] The original version of theLiber Censuum was identified by Paul Fabre in theVatican Library (ms Vat. Lat. 8486), with its blank spaces having been exhausted during the pontificate of Cencius (who was electedPope Honorius III) and five new volumes having been added to the beginning and end of the document.[9] A new version of theLiber Censuum was compiled by CardinalNicholas Roselli (d. 1362) in the 14th century.[14]
A 1228 version of theLiber censuum in the library ofFlorence (ms Riccard. 228) was updated through theAvignon Papacy.[9] By the end of the 13th century the addition of the dossiers of the cities of thePapal States and other papal biographies swelled the document to thirty-three volumes.[9] A copy of theLiber censuum, along with atiara, was given byAntipope Clement VIII to thelegate ofPope Martin V in 1429 as a sign of submission.[9]
Modern, edited versions of theLiber Censuum, reconstructed as their editors thought the original codex of Cencius would have appeared, have been produced by Fabre andLouis Duchesne (1910).[4] Fabre's identification of other portions of theLiber Censuum, for example the alleged acquiescence of KingHarthacanute to ecclesiastical taxation, are more controversial.[15]
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