In collecting material for this book I have had so much trouble in finding out the state of ecclesiastical archives in the peninsula that it seemed worth while to set out such general information as I have assembled even at the risk of error or omission.

1. A. Documentation

2. There is a complete collection of papal and curial instructions from the sixteenth century onwards in Enchiridion archivorum ecclesiasticorum. Documenta potiora Sanctae Sedis de archivio ecclesiastico a concilio Tridentino usque ad nostros dies, eds. Dom. S. Duca and Simeon A. S. Familia, O. C. D. (Città del Vaticano 1966). A brief account of the history of ecclesiastical archives is given by Professor G. Battelli in Enciclopedia cattolica, s.n. ‘Archivio’.

3. B. In addition to the older publications referred to in chapter 1 above, parts of which are the more valuable now in view of the serious damage occasioned by the Second World War, there are a number of reliable books which I have referred to in the notes. Two series are worth searching for volumes of value: the Studi e teste published by the Vatican Library; and, somewhat surprisingly, the Publicazioni degli Archivi di Stato.

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