Exorciser, compiler, brûler. Bibliophobie inquisitoriale et fabrique manuscrite dans une affaire vénitienne (1612-1613)

The article examines a trial held by the Venetian Holy Office in 1612-1613, preserved in the Archivio Storico del Patriarcato di Venezia, against fra Giovanni Fiorentino, an exorcist priest accused of sexual abuse, procuring abortion and magical practices. Writing lies at the heart of the case: it sets the rumour in motion, serves as evidence, becomes the object of attempts to withdraw it from the tribunal, and ends on the pyre. "Bibliophobias" is used here in the plural and in a concrete sense, to describe a graded set of practices: a bookseller, Nicolò Manassi, refusing a prohibited title; the technical reading of incipits, formats and bindings during searches; and finally the sentence condemning all seized books to the fire. The core of the inquiry is the making of manuscripts. The notebook the accused called his "Bugiardo" (the Liar), a miscellany of dictated secrets, hearsay and words uttered by spirits, shows how operative writing emerged from exorcistic performance and orality. Confronted with writings whose circulation it could not govern, the tribunal moved from reversible sorting to destruction, while circulating copies of its own sentence.