Heidelberg, 1618 Folio, 34.9x21.5 cm. [11] leaves, 512 numbered pages + 9 leaves of index, in Latin. Copper-engraved allegorical title page, frontispiece with a portrait of the author. Initials, headpieces, a vignette. Sturdy leather binding, spine with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettered label and manuscript shelf-marking. Published by Johannes Lancelot in Heidelberg in 1618. A groundbreaking Latin work by Marco Antonio de Dominis, Archbishop of Split, which shook the Christian world of its time. In it the author sharply rejected the pope`s absolute authority and proposed a reform of the Church based on the equality of bishops. The author, originally a Catholic archbishop, fled from Venice to England because of his views, where he converted to Anglicanism. The book was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books (Index Librorum Prohibitorum) immediately after publication. De Dominis later returned to Rome at the pope`s invitation and attempted to reconcile with the Catholic Church. After the death of Gregory XV, however, he lost his protection, and the following year the Inquisition threw him into prison, where he died shortly afterward. The trial against him nevertheless continued after his death. The Inquisition declared him a heretic and, in December 1624, staged a macabre spectacle: his dead body was exhumed, dragged in its coffin to the Campo de` Fiori, and there publicly burned at the stake together with his writings. For collectors, De Republica ecclesiastica represents an exceptionally rare document of the religious wars of the period. Besides rejecting papal supremacy, the work called for ecumenical concord in the spirit of the motto of unity, freedom and love. Very good condition given the age of the book. On the front pastedown, an ex-libris from the Duchcov library with the initials I:G: G:V:W: (probably Jan Josef, Count of Waldstein, 1684-1731) by A. Birckhardt; on the endpaper an ownership stamp "Lehrerbibliothek des k. k. Staatsgymnasiums"; on the title page a barely legible stamp "K. K. GYMNASIALBIBLIOTHEK IN ?" and other minor manuscript annotations.