Writings of Servetus and Translations [i]

1. Trinitatis erroribus, libri septem. Per Michaelem Serveto, alias Reves ab Aragonia Hispanum. Anno M.D. XXXI. [Haguenau, 1531]. Published by the press of Johann Setzer (Secerius). Several copies are preserved in various libraries. Reprinted in Regensburg in 1721. The book was translated in 1620 into Dutch by Reiner Talle (Regnerus Vitellius, 1558[9]-1619[20]). Van de Dolinghen in de Drievvldigheyd, Seven Boecken, Eertijds in Latijn beschreven Door Michiel Servetus, gheseyt Reves van Aragonien, Spaenjaerd ...," Amsterdam, 1620. Into English in 1932 by Earl Morse Wilbur “On the Errors of the Trinity. Seven Books. By Michael Serveto, alias Reves, a Spaniard of Aragon MDXXXI. In The two treatises of Servetus on the Trinity .... Now first translated into English by Earl Morse Wilbur, D. D.” (Cambridge: Harvard University Press; London: Humphrey Milford; Oxford University Press; Harvard Theological Studies, 1932). Catalan translation by Ana Gómez Rabal “Dels errors sobre la Trinitat,” (Barcelona: Edicions Proa, 1999).

2. Dialogorum de Trinitate libri duo. De Iustitia regni Christi, capitula quatuor. per Michaelem Serveto, alias Reves, ab Aragonia Hispanum, Haguenau, 1532. Published by Johann Setzer. A second pamphlet on the Trinity of 19 pages, to which he added a treatise of 25 pages, De Iustitia regni Christi, capitula quatuor. Several copies preserved in various libraries. Reprinted in Regensburg, 1721. Translated together with De Trinitatis erroribus by Earl Morse Wilbur (1932). All three works were reprinted: Servetus, M., De Trinitatis erroribus libri septem, 1531. Dialogorum de Trinitate libri duo, 1532. De Iustitia regni Christi, capitula quatuor, 1532. Minerva G.m.b.H., Frankfurt a.M. 1965.

3. Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini Geographicae enarrationis libri octo. Ex Bilibaldi Birckeymheri tralatione, sed ad graeca & prisca exemplaria à Michaële Villanovano iam primum recogniti. Adiecta insuper ab eodem scholia, quibus exoleta urbium nomina ad nostri seculi morem exponuntur .... Lugduni, ex officina Melchioris et Gasparis Trechsel fratrum, MDXXXV (1535). Several copies are preserved in various libraries. Humanist erudite, linguist, mathematician and geographer, Willibald Pirckheimer (1470-1530) published in Strassburg in 1525 Ptolemy's geography with new maps. The Greek original of the work was published in 1533 by Erasmus in Basel. Servetus reedited, corrected, and supplemented Pirckheimer's edition using also the Greek original and several previous editions. Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini geographicae enarrationis libri octo.... à Michaële Villanovano secundó recogniti .... Prostat Lugduni apud Hugonem à Porta, M.D.XLI. Lyon 1541. Book is dedicated to Servetus's protector, Archbishop Palmier. Fragments were translated into English by Charles David O'Malley, op. cit., pp. 15-37.
Spanish translation: “Descripciones geograficas del estado moderno de las regiones, en la geografía de Claudio Ptolomeo Alejandrino por Miguel Vilanovano (Miguel Servet) precedidas de una biografía del autor y traducidas del Latin por Dr. José Goyanes Capdepvilla ....” Madrid, Imprenta y Encuadernación de Julio Cosano, 1932.

4. In Leonardum Fuchsium apologia, autore Michaele Villanovano. Lyon, 1536. There is a facsimile copy of the work done by Oxford University Press, 1909. This is a response by Servetus to the work of Leonard Fuchs Apologia, in defense of his friend, Symphorien Champier, a known Galenist and antiarabist. Its English translation was published by Charles David O'Malley, Michael Servetus. “A Translation of his Geographical, Medical and Astrological Writings with Introductions and Notes,” (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1953), pp. 38-54. Spanish translation by Ángel Alcalá, “Apología contra Fuchs.Disertación sobre la Astrología”, (Madrid, 1981).

5. Syruporum universa ratio, ad Galeni censuram diligenter expolita. Cui, post integra de concoctione disceptationem, praescripta est vera purgandi methodus, cum expositione aphorismi: Concocta medicari. Michaele Villanovano authore. Parisiis Ex officina Simonis Colinaei. 1537. (Several editions of the work appeared, in Venice in 1545; in Lyon in 1546, 1547, 1548). English translation of the work was published by O'Malley, Charles David, op. cit., (1953), pp. 55-167. Spanish translations: “ Razón universal de los jarabes segun inteligencia de Galeno por Miguel Villanovano (Miguel Serveto). Traducida al Español por el Dr. J. Goyanes Capdevila ... “ Madrid, Imp. de J. Cosano, 1943)..

6. Michaelis Villanovani in quendam medicum apologetica disceptatio pro astrologia, Paris 1538. This was reprinted by Henri Tollin in 1880. Its English translation was published by Charles David O'Malley, op. cit., pp. 168-188. Spanish translation by Ángel Alcalá, “Discurso en pro la Astrología,” Madrid, 1981. New edition with French translation: Michel Servet “Discussion Apologétique pour l’Astrologie contre un Certain Médecin,” texte établi et traduit par Jean Dupèbe, (Genève : Librairie Droz, S.A., 2004).

7. In 1542 Servetus appears as the editor of the Bible of Santes Pagnini. The most important disciplines in this period were theology and medicine. Theology was studied through the Bible in the Latin translation and the texts of Galen in the Arabic translation were the basis for medicine. There were several editions of Bible translations including the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, the publication of which was coordinated by Cardinal Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros in cooperation with the most distinguished scholars in Europe such as Nebrija, Vergara, Coronel y Lopez de Zuñiga in Spain, Erasmus in Holland, Calvin in Geneva, Santes Pagnini in Lyon and Sébastien Castellion in Switzerland. Santes Pagnini (1470 -1541) was a Dominican monk from Lucca, a pupil of Savonarola (1452-1498, who was hanged and burned in Florence for heresy and critique of church practices), an erudite in Hebrew and classical languages. Pagnini became a professor of classical languages at the College of Oriental Languages, founded by Pope Leo X. He dedicated twenty-five years to the translation of his Bible from the original languages into Latin, which was first published at Lyon in 1527/1528. This edition is said to be the first to be divided into chapters. The next edition appeared in 1541 in Cologne edited by Melchior Novesianus and then was corrected by Servetus and published by Hugues de la Porte in 1542 as Biblia Sacra ex Santis Pagnini tralatione, sed ad Hebraicae linguae amussim novissi-mè ita recognita, & scholiis illustrata, ut planè nova editio videri possit. Accessit praeterea liber interpretationum Hebraicorum, Arabicorum, Graecorumque nominum, quae in sacris literis reperiuntur, ordine alphabetico digestus, eodem authore. Lugduni, apud Hugonem à Porta. M.D. XLII. Cum privilegio ad annos sex. Servetus added a preface and notes to the Pagnini Bible recommending in the prologue the study of the history of the Hebrews for a better understanding of the Bible. He accused biblical studies of not reaching for the literal and historical sense but searching in vain for the mystical meaning. There was another edition of the Bible of Pagnini in octavo, the same year, probably edited by Servetus, too. Biblia sacra ex postremis doctorum omnium vigiliis, ad Hebraicam veritatem, & probatissimorum exemplarium fidem. Cum argumentis, indice, & Hebraicorum nominum interpretatione. Lugduni, Apud Hugonem à Porta. 1542. Servetus's reputation grew and he was contracted next by the Compagnie des Libraires at Lyon to correct and edit the Pagnini Bible in seven volumes which was published in 1545: Biblia sacra cum glossis, interlineari & ordinaria, Nicolai Lyrani postilla & moralitatibus, Burgensis additionibus, & Thorungi replicis.... Omnia ad Hebraicorum & Graecorum fidem iam primum suo nitori restituta, & variis scholiis illustrata. Lugduni anno M.D. XLV. Cum privilegio regis.

8. Christianismi restitutio. Totius ecclesiae apostolicae est ad sua limina vocatio, in integrum restituta cognitione Dei, fidei Christi, iustificationis nostrae, regenerationis baptismi, et coenae domini manducationis. Restitutio denique nobis regno coelesti, Babylonis impiae captivitate soluta, et Antichristo cum suis penitus destructo. M.D. LIII. 734 pp. 8°. It ends with the initials M.S.V. There is also a reprint of the fragment of Christianismi restitutio by Giorgio Biandrata, an Italian physician who obtained his degree in Montpellier (here he was a fellow student with Rabelais), became a personal physician of the Italian-born wife of King Sigismund of Poland. Later he returned to Italy and was forced to leave Italy around 1553 for his religious convictions, he returned to Poland and Transylvania. “De Regno Christi Liber primus. De Regno Antichristi Liber secundus. Accessit tractatus de Paedobaptismo, et circuncisione. Rerum capita sequens pagella demonstrabit. Ioan. 15. ver 14. Vos amici mei estis, si feceris quaecunq ego praecipio vobis.” Albae Juliae. Anno Domini 1569. The first known translation of the Restitutio is that by a Pole, Gregorius Paulus (Grzegorz Pawe?), who translated some chapters into Polish and published them in Pin´czów already in 1568! “Okazanie Antychrysta y iego Królestwa ze znaków iego w?asnych w slowie boz²ym opisanych, których tu szes´c´dziesia³t.” [The advent of Antichrist and his kingdom, according to his own signs as described in the Word of God, of which there are sixty.] Christainismi restitutio was reprinted by Christoph Gottlieb von Murr (1733-1811) in Nürnberg in 1790 and this edition was reprinted again by Minerva G.m.b.H., Frankfurt a. Mein, 1966. Von Murr made a page-for-page reprint of the Vienna copy of the manuscript (now at the Harvard University Library). The German translation by Bernhard Spiess, “Wiederherstellung des Christentums,” Wiesbaden. Verlag von Chr. Limbarth. 1892, 1895, 1896, 3 volumes. The Spanish translation was done in two separate books, one containing only the Christianismi restitutio, the second, the rest of the Servetus's book. Miguel Servet, “Restitución del Cristianismo. Primera traducción castellana de Ángel Alcalá y Luis Betés. Edición, introducción y notas de Ángel Alcalá” (Madrid: Fundación Universitaria Española, 1980). Miguel Servet, “Treinta cartas a Calvino. Sesenta signos del Antichristo. Apología de Melanchton. Edición de Ángel Alcalá” (Madrid: Editorial Castalia,1981). There is also a Portuguese translation of the part of the Christianismi restitutio (De mysterio Trinitatis, et veterum disciplina, ad Philippum Melanchthonem, et eius colegas, apologia) “Aplogia a Felipe Malnchthon e a suas colegas sobre o mistério de Trinidade e sobre os costumes antigos.” This is a part of the dissertation by Elaine Cristine Sartorelli O Programa de Miguel Servet para a estitução do Cristianismo; Teologia e Retorica na Apologia a Melanchthon, presented at Universidade de São Paulo, Facultade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciencias Humanas (São Pulo, 2000).

English translation of Christianismi restitutio in five tomes:

1. Christopher A. Hoffman and Marian Hillar, translators: “The Restoration of Christianity." An English Translation of Christianismi restitutio, 1553, by Michael Servetus (1511-1553)." (Lewiston, NY; Queenston, Ont., Canada; Lampeter, Wales, UK: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2007). Pp. 409+xxix

2. Christopher A. Hoffman and Marian Hillar, translators: “Treatise on Faith and Justice of Christ’s Kingdom by Michael Servetus." (Lewiston, NY; Queenston, Ont., Canada; Lampeter, Wales, UK: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008). Pp. 95 +xlv

3. Christopher A. Hoffman and Marian Hillar, translators: “Treatise Concerning the Supernatural Regeneration and the Kingdom of the Antichrist by Michael Servetus." (Lewiston, NY; Queenston, Ont., Canada; Lampeter, Wales, UK: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008). Pp. 302+l

4. Christopher A. Hoffman and Marian Hillar, translators: “Thirty Letters to Calvin & Sixty Signs of the Antichrist by Michael Servetus.” (Lewiston, NY; Queenston, Ont., Canada; Lampeter, Wales, UK: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2010). Pp. 175 + lxxxvi.

5. Marian Hillar, and Christopher A. Hoffman, translators: “Regarding the Mystery of the Trinity and the Teaching of the Ancients to Philip Melanchthon and His Colleagues by Michael Servetus." (Lewiston, NY; Queenston, Ont., Canada; Wales, UK: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2015), 103 pp + lii.

9. Among other works he published it was erroneously reported that there may have been an edition of the Summa of Thomas Aquinas in Spanish, but no exemplar has been found. This information was given by Jean Frellon, a bookseller from Lyon, in his declaration of May 23, 1553. Francisco Javier González Echeverría suggested that D’Artigny [ii] who transcribed the records from Vienne (lost during the French Revolution) mistook “somme” for the Summa of Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas was never before the XIXth century translated into any native language. It seems rather that it was a summary of the Old Testament in Spanish added to a series of drawing illustrating the Old Testament executed by Hans Holbein, Jr., and published by Jean Frellon: “Retratos o tables de las historias del Testamento Viejo, hechas y dibuxadas por un muy primo y sotil artifice. Juntamente con una muy breve y clara exposicion y declaracion de cada una dellas en Latin, con las quotas de los lugares de la sagrada scritura de donde se tomaron, y la mesma en lengua Castellana, para que todos gozen dellas,” En Lyon de Francia, So el escudo de COLONIA, Año 1543. This work was reprinted by Francisco Javier González Echeverría, ed., Hans Holbein el Joven y Miguel Server. “Retratos o tablas de las historias del Testamento Viejo,” Lyon 1543 (Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra, Departamento de Salud y Caja Navarra, 2001. But this suggestion is highly improbable because of the glorification of the traditional Trinity and the Trinitarian interpretation of the Psalm 109 which Servetus probably would not do.

10. Recently prof. Ángel Alcalá undertook the task of publishing all works of Servetus in six volumes. So far appeared two volumes: Miguel Servet, “Obras Completas, edición, introducción y notas de Ángel Alcalá,” (Zaragoza: Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza. Vol. I, 2003; Vol. II, t. 1 and 2, 2004.

11. Regarding the Mystery of the Trinity and the Teaching of the Ancients to Philip Melanchthon and His Colleagues. Translated by Marian Hillar and Christopher A. Hoffman, with introduction and notes by Marian Hillar The Edwin Mellen Press (Lewiston, New York; Lampeter, UK, 2015).

Notes

i. Bibliography of extant works by Servetus was collected by Madeline E. Stanton in: Fulton, John Farquhar Michael Servetus, Humanist and Martyr; with a Bibliography of His Works and Census of Known Copies, by Madeline E. Stanton. (New York: H. Reichner, 1953). Ángel Alcalá (1972), op. cit. p. 254.

ii. D'Artigny, A.G., Nouveaux mémoires d'histoire, de critique et de littérature, (Paris: 1749), t. II, p. 68.