Sarpi, Paolo

Abstract

With The History of the Council of Trent, published in London in 1619, the Venetian Paolo Sarpi established himself as both the greatest Italian historian in the seventeenth century and the most formidable adversary of the Counter-Reformation in Italy. His life changed decisively in 1606 when Pope Paul V laid Venice under the Interdict. A friar in the order of the Servants of Mary, Sarpi was a staunch defender of the Republic, playing a key role in the “war of words” that lasted for a whole year between the two contenders, much to the amazement of the major European men of letters and rulers. He was 54 when he first entered the political scene and began writing for the press. Prior to that, he had concentrated on philosophical and scientific studies. In his Thoughts he discussed in the form of notes and aphorisms the most current themes of the scientific revolution; he also offered a disillusioned review of the natural and human world, reappraising with radical skepticism the development of society and religion. The Interdict made him venture onto the field of politics and history, and this engrossed him more and more for the rest of his life. Writing thus became for Sarpi an instrument of political warfare to defend the sovereignty of the State and a means for a controversial reconstruction of the history of the Roman Church.