Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/384

 372 The Library. the inventories from 1295 to 1339.* And by March, 1304, Benedict XI. had resolved to quit Rome. The treasury, library and archives were transferred to Perugia ; a and a catalogue of the books was made there in 1311. 8 It contains books brought from the Lateran, from the Church of St. Francesca Romana in Rome, and from the monastery at Casino. It is interesting in connection with the books from St. Francesca to point out that when it was joined to the muniment tower of the popes, the popes residing in the tower used to approach it by means of arches, and used the church for pontifical purposes, and as a subsidiary to the Lateran. By 1312 came orders for the treasures M. Faucon delights to point out that in the middle ages books were considered part of the treasury to be sent to Avignon ; and a cardinal was delegated to see to the transfer. The cardinal took them as far as Lucca, from which point transfer would be merely a matter of opportunity. But he died here on the 2yth of October, and his charge was put in the sacristy of San Frediano. In June, 1314, the town was seized by the Ghibellines of Pisa, who made short work with the more serviceable part of the Pope's property, estimated at a million florins. Pope John XXII. took nearly three years before he fulminated against them a bull of excom- munication (March, 1317); but all in vain. 4 Marini says that the rest of the treasure and the library were carried to Assisi in 1320. There seems some room for doubt here, and the point is, after all, perhaps a minor one. But certainly the most negotiable part of the treasure was again seized, and an interdict was pronounced in 1321 against Assisi. This interdict lasted for 38 years. 5 A more peaceful time had set in with the death of Clement V., 6 and the succession of John XXII. For John XXII. at least had made up his mind that he was going to fix his court definitely at Avignon, for the most prudential of reasons. He had for- merly been bishop here (1310-1312), and when he came back as pope he occupied, and occupied till his death, his old episcopal Carini, p. 25. M. Faucon, La Librairie des Papes d? Avignon (Paris, 1886), i., 5-6. 1310 says Faucon, i., 18. M. Faucon, op. cit., i., pp. 7-9. Faucon, op. cit. i., p. 9,
 * For a full account of these troubles see of>. cit., pp. 15-17.