Ludwig Pastor's The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (40 vols.) spans the pontificates of fifty-six Popes, from Clement V (1305–1314) to Pius VI (1755–1799). Before Pastor's work on the history of the Popes, the Vatican Archives had been closed to scholars and historians. Pastor's close relationship with Pope Leo XIII allowed him unprecedented access to research original documents and papers throughout Europe. For over forty years, through the pontificates of Leo XIII, Pius X, Benedict XV, and Pius XI, Pastor labored over The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages until his death in 1928. Translated from German into English, this forty volume-collection spans five centuries of important Catholic Church history.
Beyond his research in the Vatican Library and Vatican Archives, Pastor also garnered numerous other sources from never before accessed institutions, such as the Archives of the Lateran Palace, Archives of the Inquisition, Archives of the Propaganda Fide, Archives from the Secretariate of Briefs, the Library and private Archives of Rome, the private Archives of the Angelica Library, and more.
Each volume contains a detailed table of contents and timeline, a valuable list of sources, as well as introductions to the main political and historical context for each Pope. Pastor delves deep into the character and history for each Pontiff, tracking their contributions to the Church and the world. Major historical events and transformations are covered in detail, including the Council of Trent, the influence of Martin Luther, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, the rise of secular states, and more, making The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (40 vols.) important for both Protestants and Catholics alike.
With over 20,000 pages, The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (40 vols.) is the standard reference work on papal history during the Renaissance and Early Modern periods of the Catholic Church, and still widely cited by modern historians. With the Logos edition, all Scripture passages in The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (40 vols.) are tagged and appear on mouse-over. What’s more, Scripture references are linked to the wealth of language resources in your Logos library. This makes these texts more powerful and easier to access than ever before for scholarly work or personal Bible study. With the advanced search features of Logos Bible Software, you can perform powerful searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for example, every mention of “Pius,” or “Council.”