The learned correspondence of the brothers Pez, 2: 1716-1718

While the first volume of the Pez correspondence, published in 2010 [Thomas WALLNIG Thomas STOCKINGER, Die gelehrte Korrespondenz der Brüder Pez, 1: 17091715. Text, Regesten,Kommentare (Quelleneditionen des Instituts fürÖsterreichische Geschichtsforschung 2/1, WienMünchen 2010)], illustrates the beginning and the first years of the epistolary exchange undertaken by the two Benedictine scholars Bernhard and Hieronymus Pez from the abbey of Melk, the second volume documents the most intense phase of their networking activities within their order and within the European Republic of Letters. The beginning of the phase under scrutiny is marked by Pez third encyclical letter requesting support for the Bibliotheca Benedictina generalis, a document also published for the first time in Protestant review journals. At the end of this phase, the first serious public quarrel between Bernhard Pez and his abbot Berthold Dietmayr connotes a severe setback to the plans and ambitions of the librarian of Melk. In the period between 1716 and 1718, the practices and focus of the brothers learned activities undergo remarkable transformations which are clearly reflected in their correspondence. The epistolary network itself outgrows the initial Benedictine framework and increasingly begins to involve Protestant scholars as well: above all Johann Georg Eckhart, successor of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in Hanover, but also the Lutheran church historian Bernhard Raupach who, by way of an intermediary, attempts to get his hands on Pez material. The learned journals in Central Germany establish themselves as a fundamental medium of the learned public, and the brothers Pez not only participate in them, but also offer to them their services as intermediaries for contributions from Western Europe. The latent conflict with the Jesuits in Vienna may have been the background for the grave literary controversy between Bernhard Pez and court librarian Johann Benedikt Gentilotti. In this dispute nothing less was at stake than the methodical, ethical and religious foundations of critical source editing, and Pez argues for the impartial and uncensored publication of sources in order to achieve a balanced view of historical events. Generally speaking, in these years Pez develops a new research concept, postponing his concern for the bio-bibliographical lexicon of the Bibliotheca Benedictina to the better tailored to the market edition of hitherto unpublished church history sources. Work on the Thesaurus anecdotorum novissimus commences in the months after the large library journey in the summer of 1717, and the brothers also begin receiving support from the Carthusian Leopold Wydeman, who represents yet another different style of monastic erudition: A tacit monk can be all the more eloquent in his letters. Finally, Bernhard Pez seems to have held sympathies for the French protesters against the papal bull Unigenitus; his attempts to establish a learned Benedictine congregation, following the example of the Maurists and exempt from the visitational power of his abbot, become clearly visible. These attempts, discussed in the explicit tradition of Leibniz plans for an academy at the Viennese court, failed due to the discord between Pez and Dietmayr. The present volume documents these and other events with the depth of annotation familiar from the first volume; particular attention has been paid to the identification of the mentioned medieval manuscripts examined by the brothers. Additional material, e.g. attachments to letters, can be found online in the digital Pez papers. Of the 547 letters from the period covered by the second volume, 257 have been preserved and the existence of the remaining 290 has been deduced. The indices and resources already present in the first volume have been extended by two additional appendices and an index of the manuscripts by their current place of preservation.