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FRANCESCO PETRARCA, 1304-1374
Canzoniere, the “Babylon Sonnets,”
nos. 136, 137, 138
On paper
Printed editions of 1595 and 1552
After the papal ban of the Babylon sonnets in 1595,
printers were forbidden from including them in editions
of Petrarch’s Canzoniere, and it was expected
that the sonnets would be eliminated from existing manuscripts
and printed books. Two examples from printed books in
the Beinecke Library show varied responses to the papal
censorship:
Il Petrarca, con l'esposizione d'Alessandro Velutello,
Venice,
Domenico Giglio, 1552, ff. 214v-215r.
In this 1552 edition of the Canzoniere (with
commentary by Alessandro Velutello), the owner, in compliance
with the papal Index, has inked over each line of the
Babylon sonnets “De l’empia”, “Fiamma”
and “Fontana.”
Il Petrarca con nuove spositioni, Venice, G. Angelieri,
1595, p. 207.
The Babylon sonnets in this 1595 edition of the Canzoniere
were left out in the original printing (“Qui mancano
tre sonetti”–“Three sonnets are missing
here”). Later some one, flaunting the Index, inserted
a hand-written copy of them with the note: “Questi
Sonetti copiati [da] sono proibiti, e li proibì
Clemente nel 1596.” (“These sonnets copied
[by] are prohibited, and Pope Clement prohibited them
in 1596”). It is one of the many examples of individual
defiance of the papal Index.
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