Lambeth Palace Library, H830 1545 1
Pole composed his treatise De concilio in 1545 while he was presiding legate at the opening sessions of the Council of Trent.
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It was printed only after his death, put out by his supporters to rehabilitate his memory and as vindication of the Italian reformist circles he represented during his life.
Publication launched the new Roman press of Paulo Manutio. With the closing sessions of the Council of Trent approaching, 220 copies were rushed into the hands of the Council fathers. It was printed with the decrees of the Legatine Synod Pole had convened in London in 1555 for the reform of the English Church.
Those decrees would decisively shape the reforms of Trent, in particular for seminary education.
Lambeth Palace Library, H830 1545 1
© Courtesy of Lambeth Palace Library
Liber de concilio (Rome: Paulus Manutius, 1562)
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