Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/17

 uch has been written about the Papacy, yet the subject of Papal Elections may be said to have been barely grazed. The reason is very simple. The matter out of which alone their history can be constructed has been hitherto inaccessible. It lies buried in Italian archives; and Italian archives, especially in all that touched on Rome, have until recently been closed against inspection with systematic jealousy. In the libraries and archives of individual families, it is indeed often possible to glean an astonishing amount of historical information, which would be little looked for in these quarters, and from such sources Professor Ranke mainly drew his materials. It is astounding how much of the highest value for the historian has been deposited in the