At subsequent conclaves he was twice nearly elected pope, but on each occasion was opposed by Spain on account of his work on the Monarchy of Sicily, in which he supported the papal claims against those of the Spanish government. Baronius is best known by his Annales Ecciesiastici, undertaken by the order of St. Philip as an answer to the Magdeburg Centuries. After nearly thirty years of lecturing at the Vallicella on the history of the Church and being trained by St Philip as a great man for a great work, he began to write, and produced twelve folios (1588—1607).
In the Annales he treats history in strict chronological order and keeps theology in the background. It was in the Annales (900) that Baronius coined the term Dark Ages to describe the state of European civilization from about 500 to about 1100. In spite of many errors, especially in Greek history, in which he had to depend upon secondhand information, the work of Baronius stands as an honest attempt to write history, marked with a sincere love of truth. Baronius makes use of the words of St Augustine: "I shall love with a special love the man who most rigidly and severely corrects my errors." He also undertook a new edition to the Roman martyrology (1586), which he purified of many inaccuracies.
Caesar Baronius (October 31, 1538 – June 30, 1607), Italian cardinal and ecclesiastical historian, was born at Sora, and was educated at Veroli and Naples.
It was in the Annales (900) that Baronius coined the term Dark Ages to describe the state of European civilization from about 500 to about 1100.
Baronius makes use of the words of St Augustine: "I shall love with a special love the man who most rigidly and severely corrects my errors." He also undertook a new edition to the Roman martyrology (1586), which he purified of many inaccuracies.
Baronius bitterly regretted his removal from the Oratory to reside at the Vatican, or even away from Rome when the papal court was absent from the city, a circumstance doubly distressing as it prevented active work on the "Annals".
Baronius was the choice of a majority of the cardinals and, despite Spanish opposition, might have been elected had he not turned his diplomacy to encompass his own defeat.
Baronius himself recognized the possibility of this and made many corrections in his second edition (Mainz, 1601-05); and later it was by his allies, and not by his enemies, that the most thorough efforts at chronological revision were made, a point seemingly lost on those who refer to Pagi's "refutation" of Baronius' errors.
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