Liber Censuum

Cardinal Cencius (future Pope Honorius III), the author of the Liber Censuum; portrait by Giotto

The Liber Censuum Romanæ Ecclesiæ (Latin for "Census Book of the Roman Church"; also referred to as the Codex of Cencius)[1] is an eighteen-volume (originally) financial record of the real estate revenues of the papacy from 492 to 1192. The span of the record includes the creation of the Apostolic Camera[2] and the effects of the Gregorian Reform.[3] The work constitutes the "latest and most authoritative of a series of attempts, starting in the eleventh century, to keep an accurate record of the financial claims of the Roman church".[4] According to historian J. Rousset de Pina, the book was "the most effective instrument and [...] the most significant document of ecclesiastical centralization" in the central Middle Ages.[4]

Michael Ott considers the Liber Censuum "perhaps the most valuable source for the history of papal economics during the Middle Ages".[5]

  1. ^ Gregorovius, 1896, p. 645.
  2. ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Apostolic Camera" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  3. ^ Levillain, 2002, p. 940.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference robinson262 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Honorius III" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.