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VATICAN
d to preserving them in the manner then customary.
lere is very lit tie information to be found concerning
e manner and extent of these archival collections,
ice the documentary treasures of early Christianity
,ve been lost. E^xtensive remain.s of documents
tedating the thirteenth century no longer exist, and
the papal registers of the preceding period we retain
ly scanty, though valuable, remnants [cf.lho inter-
ting and comprehensive work of Wilhelm I'eitz,
Das Original-register Grcgors VII im N'atikanischen
chiv (Reg. Vat. 2) nebst Beitriigen zur Kenntnis
r Original-register Innocenz' III. und Honorius'
I. (Reg. Vat. 4-11)", Vienna. 1911 (Sitzungsbe-
■hte)l.
The existence of the Vatican secret archives really gan with Innocent III (1198), so that it possesses e documents of seven centuries. The abundance of e materials requires, in view of the prime importance the institutions, a ecial, though quite mmary treatment, fairly reliable esti- ite of the arranged cuments — an ap- aisal of their value n be only provi- inally attempt ed as t — has established e fact that there e in round numbers ,000 volumes, cas- tles, and bundles.
the cassettes arc e q u e n 1 1 y many izens of separate icuments; in the indies of .'Vets from to 200 letters th their enclosures p occasionally imd; while the ige folio volumes of e registers of the
arteenth century contain as many as 2()l)t) ^nts and even more. It is thus impossible to furnish en an approximately accurate estimate of the mber of letters, reports, documents, protocols, mutes, etc. in every stage of preparation, which are ntaincd in the secret archives. Were there not ery guidance to this vast collection of valuable iterials scholars would find their task of research Tiost impossible. However, in the working-room the assistant archi\'ist is a whole library of Indices 81 in number), which have been compiled during e last 3(H) years for the convenience of the adminis- ition and, in individual cases, for the use of scholars.
1901 a guide to this labyrinthof Indexes was issued ider the title, "Inventarium indicum in secretion ■chivo Vaticano unica .serie existentium". Gisbert •cm (Guide aux Archives du Vatican, 2nd ed., vised and augmented, Rome, 1911) also gives cellent notes on the contents of the various divi- ms of the Indices. Besides many others, Johannes
Pretis (1712-27), his brother Petrus Donninus de etis (1727-40), and JosephusGarampi (1749-72) did pecially important work on the Indices. Garampi d his assistants wrote out 1,. 500,000 labels, which asted into 124 huge foho volumes) form an inex- ustiblemine. Felix Contelori (l(32t>-44), in addition
work on the Indices, arranged and copied the ost imperilled documents of the archives. By e recent publication of his "Manuductio ad iticani Archivi Regcsta", Gregorio Palmieri,O.S.B., ,s supplied a very useful help to the study of the rlegesta". The Indices are alphabetical or chro- ilogical repertories, which must be regarded clusively as pure administrative helps, not as aids
to scholarly investigation (see Brom, op. cit., 7-14).
Passing over the Guardaroba and Biblioteca
Segreta, "which have none other than a nominal
existence", and (lie still uninvestigated portions of
the Archivi dei MemoriaH, del Buon Governo, and
deir I'ditore SSmo., the following are the chief
groups of the archival materials: (a) Archivio
Hegreto; (b) .Archive of Avignon; (c) Archive of the
.Vpo.'slolic Chamber; (d) Archive of Sant' Angelo; (e)
.\rcliive of the Dataria; (f) Consistorial Archive;
(g) Archive of the Secretariate of State; (h) Various
Collections.
(a) Archivio Segreto.— The whole archive is called Archivio Segreto, from the name of its oldest portion, which, however, retains its specific name. It con- tains seventy-four armari, or presses, in which are: (i) the volumes of the Vatican Registers (Armar. 1-28); (ii) the "Diversa Cameraha" (29-30) and " Collect oria cameras apostohcEe" ( 57) ; iii) the Registers of Transcripts (31-37, 40-19, .52-.54, .'59-61); (iv) the Register of Briefs (38-45) ; (v) the Indices (50-51, 5(i, 58) ; (vi) the "Tridentina et Di- versa Germanise " (62-64) ; (vii) the "Introitus et Exitus CamerEe" (65-74); viii) the "Instru- iiienta Miscellanea". ib) Archive of Avig- tion. — The archival ma'erials, collected liv the Avignon obe- ilii'iice during the -\vignon exile (130.")- 76) and the time of the Schism, together with the administra- ii\c acts of the County of Venaissin, form the Archive of Avignon, which was gradually (the last portion in 1783) transferred to Rome. The series of the "Introitus et E.xitus" found in this sec- tion, of the "Obligationes et Solutiones" and of the "CoUectoria; Camera;", together with the "Diversa Cameralia" and the "Introitus et Exitus" of the Archivo Segreto (see above) form to-day the Archive of the Apostohc Chamber, (c) Archive of the Apos- tolic Chamber. — The four chief portions of this archive have just been mentioned. These are by no means four complete series of volumes; on the con- trary, very important and extensive portions of this archive are bound up with the volumes of the Avignon Registers, while other documents must be sought in other places. Consequently, the making of an exact inventory of all cameral acts is urgently called for. In the section "Obligationes et Solutiones" some of the volumes belong to the Apostolic Chamber and some to the Chamber of the College of Cardinals.
(d) Archive of Sant',\ngelo. — Six-tus IV, Leo X, and Clement VIII are the founders of this archive, since it was their opinion that the most important documents and titles of possession of the Roman Curia would be best preserved in Sant'Angelo, as the strongest bulwark of Rome. In 1798 the contents of the archive were transferred to the Vatican, where they received special quarters under the name of "Archivio di Ca,stello", and are still kept separate. In the cap.iulw and fasces of this archive a great variety of things are treated, (e) Archive of the Dataria. — The three great sections of this archive contain : (i) the Register of Petitions (Register Suppli- cationum), which begin with 1342; (ii) the Lateran
