Since it has always been held laudable by the holy Fathers to vindicate from the wicked calumnies of detractors those who at some time illuminated the Church by both life and writings, I judge Martin Delrio, priest of the Society of Jesus and Doctor of Sacred Theology, worthy of no small praise, because he rescues Dionysius the Areopagite, a most holy and most illustrious writer, who for some time now has been handed over to Calvinist and Lutheran butchery, and vindicates him from the calumnies of the impious. Therefore I have judged that, deservedly and for the great good of the Christian commonwealth, his Areopagitic Vindications can and ought to be published. Done at Antwerp, on the fifth day before the Kalends of June, 1607.
Laurentius Beyerlinck, Licentiate of Sacred Theology, censor of books.
Imperial Privilege
Rudolph II, by divine clemency favoring him, elected Emperor of the Romans, ever August, and King of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, etc.; Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Wurttemberg, etc.; Count of Tyrol, etc. We make known to all by the tenor of the present letters:
It has been set forth to us that Martin Delrio, priest of the Society of Jesus, has labored for many years in the more humane arts, jurisprudence, and theology - formerly when he was in Belgium among the councillors of the Most Serene Philip II, Catholic King of Spain, and afterwards when, having been joined to the Society of Jesus, he applied himself in various Academies to the public good, according to his strength, by preaching, teaching, and composing. These works he has partly published, and partly has finished or begun so that they may be published, or desires to have reprinted with second care.
But he fears, because he has already experienced this not without some loss to his own name and to readers, that by those by whom it is least expedient these works may be printed typographically to the fraud of himself and his people. Therefore he humbly asks that we fortify him by our privilege against injury and fraud of this kind.
We therefore, benignly considering how useful a service Martin Delrio himself, who is commended to us for notable piety and learning, renders to the public commonwealth of letters, as is clear in those works which have already before been published by him, seriously and firmly forbid and prohibit all and individual printers, booksellers, and others who exercise any book trade whatsoever: let no one presume, for the space of twenty years computed from the day of the first edition, within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire and of our hereditary kingdoms and dominions, to reprint the aforesaid works in similar or another type or format, either in whole or in part; or to send them elsewhere to be reprinted; or to import, sell, and distribute copies printed elsewhere, secretly or openly, against the will and consent of the aforesaid Martin Delrio.
But if anyone, by doing otherwise, has tried to neglect or transgress this our Imperial privilege, we decree that he is not only to be deprived in fact of the aforesaid books wrongly reprinted and imported - which the above-named Delrio and his agents, wherever they have been found, will be able to claim for themselves either by their own authority or by the help and aid of that magistrate - but also to be punished irremissibly with the penalty of ten marks of pure gold, to be paid equally to our Imperial treasury, avenger of fraud, and to the uses of the often-named Delrio or his agents.
Therefore we command all and individual subjects of ours and of the Holy Roman Empire and of our hereditary kingdoms and dominions, of whatever state, rank, order, condition, or dignity they may be, ecclesiastical as well as secular, and especially those who, placed in magistracy, exercise the administration of law and justice either in their own name or in the name and place of superiors, that they not permit anyone rashly and with impunity to transgress or violate this our Imperial privilege. Rather, let them take care that the contumacious, if they should perhaps discover any, are punished with the prescribed penalty and restrained by other suitable methods, insofar as they themselves wish to avoid the same fine; in witness of these letters, signed by our hand and fortified by the impression of our Imperial seal.
Given in our royal castle at Prague on the fifteenth day of the month of June, in the year of the Lord 1602; of our reigns, the Roman twenty-seventh, the Hungarian thirtieth, and the Bohemian likewise twenty-seventh, etc.
Rudolph.
Rud. Coraducius, etc.
By the proper command of the Sacred Imperial Majesty.
Io. Barvitius, etc.
To you alone, Joannes Moretus, I grant the power of printing the Areopagitic Vindications, according to the privilege granted to me by the Great Caesar.
Martinus Delrio, priest of the Society of Jesus.
Summary of the Privilege of the Belgian Princes
Albert and Isabella, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Burgundy, etc., Most Serene Princes of the Belgians, have sanctioned by privilege that no one, apart from the will of Joannes Moretus, printer of Antwerp, should within ten years print the Areopagitic Vindications of Martin Delrio, priest of the Society of Jesus and Doctor of Theology, or import into these dominions of Lower Germany copies printed elsewhere in the world, or have them for sale. Whoever acts otherwise will be punished by confiscation of the books and by another grave penalty, as appears more fully in the letters given at Brussels, 5 July 1607.
Signed:
N. Lombaerts.