The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
De Tribus Impostoribus
Secondary Title (i.e. Proceedings Title): Periodical Title: Publication Type: Authors:Anon. Editors: Publisher: Place of Publication: Publication Date: Alternate Date (i.e. Conference Date): Volume: Issue: Start Page: End Page: Abstract: Descriptors/Keywords: ISBN: URL:Documents in Print Item: No Documents Listed in Print Item Attached People: Author (in assoc. with a ms or print source) - Ochino, Bernardino (1487-1564)
Author (in assoc. with a ms or print source) - Digby, Kenelm (11 Jul 1603-11 Jun 1665)
Author (in assoc. with a ms or print source) - Browne, Thomas (19 Nov 1605-19 Oct 1682)
Location(s): No Locations Attached To This
Bibliographic Source(s): Observations upon Religio Medici..., page: 32-33, notes: Indicates that Browne attributed authorship to Bernardino Ochino.
Items Which List This As A Bibliographic Source: None Images Contained: No Images Attached To This Item
Objects Contained: No Objects Attached To This Item
Annotation:"The Treatise of the Three Imposters," A legendary-apocryphal heretical treatise cited in Sir Thomas Browne's list of "rare and generally unknown books" (i.e. non-existent) books in Musaeum Clausum. Browne refers to this work in Religio Medici: "That villain and Secretary of Hell, that composed that miscreant piece of the three Impostors, though divided from all Religions, and was neither, Jew, Turk, nor Christian, was not a positive Atheist. I confesse every Countrey hath its Machiavell, every age its Lucian, whereof common heads must not heare, nor more advanced judgements too rashly venture on: 'tis the Rhetorick of Satan and may pervert a loose or prejudicate beleefe" (I.20). Kenelm Digby, in his Observations Upon Religio Medici, implies that Browne attributes this work to Bernardino Ochino, a 16th-c. Italian reformer: "I should much doubt (though our Author sheweth himselfe of another minde) that Bernardinus Ochinus grew at the last tobee a meere Atheist: when after having beene first the institutor and Patriarch of the Capucine order (so violent was his zeale then, as no former religious institution, though never so rigorous, was strict enough for him) hee from thence fell to bee first an Hereticke, then a Iew; and after a while became a Turke, and at the last wrote a furious Invective against those whom hee called the three Grand-Impostors of the World; among whom hee ranked our Saviour Christ, as well as Moses and Mahomet" (32-33). Other Links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatise_of_the_Three_Impostors - Wikipedia description.