Annales Ecclesiastici

This work functioned as an official response to the Lutheran Historia Ecclesiae Christi (History of the Church of Christ).

In the Spring of 1588 the first volume appeared and was universally acclaimed for its surprising wealth of information, its splendid erudition, and its timely vindication of papal claims.

The next four appeared yearly, the seventh late in 1596, the other five at still-longer intervals, up to 1607, when, just before his death, he completed the twelfth volume, which he had foreseen in a vision would be the term of his work.

The first volume dealt with Gentile prophets, among whom were Hermes Trismegistus, the supposed author of the Corpus Hermeticum, and the Sibylline Oracles of Rome.

This was disputed by post-Protestant Reformation scholars, including Isaac Casaubon in his De rebus sacris et ecclesiasticis exercitationes, XVI.

[6] The compilation of a monumental account of Church history, the Annales Ecclesiastici, could not fail to have its controversial aspects, even within the bounds of the Roman obedience; for example, discussions of the papal relations with the Normans in the eleventh century led to the Spanish resenting consideration of their rights in the Kingdom of Naples.

[5] Baronius surpassed the Centuriators in the extent of his quotation from and of original documents, to which he had privileged access as librarian; the early volumes of the work contain many pieces of epigraphic evidence - coins and medals are discussed and illustrated.

Continuators of Baronius of the Early Modern period were Odorico Raynaldi,[8] Giacomo Laderchi,[9] Henri Spondanus,[5] and Abraham Bzovius.