Benedykt Wiszowaty's 'Medulla historiae ecclesiasticae'

An elusive figure of late Socinianism, Benedykt Wiszowaty (ca. 1660-after 1704) was the great grandson of Fausto Sozzini. He was educated in Amsterdam, where he was responsible for several publications that ensured the Western European reception of Socinianism after its proscription from Poland, including Christoph Sand's (1644-1680) Bibliotheca Anti-Trinitariorum (1684). With his Medulla historiae ecclesiasticae (ca. 1685), Wiszowaty accomplished 'probably the last serious work to come from the Polish Socinians, one which winds up their contribution for good and is in a sense their parting shot' (Lech Szczucki). Rooted in sixteenth-century Protestant apologetic traditions and much indebted to contemporary schorlarship from different confessions, the Medulla aims to identify traces of Socinian Christology in every period of Christian history. Pablo Toribio publishes this Latin treatise for the first time, providing a critical edition based on all known manuscripts (held today in Budapest, Cluj-Napoca and Hamburg). The edition is introduced by a philological discussion of the text and an account of Wiszowaty's life and intellectual profile.
Pablo Toribio received his Ph.D. in Latin Philology from the University of Seville in 2011 and is a researcher at the Institute of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (ILC), which is part of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid. His field of research is the Latin production of early modern intellectual history. He has written on Newton's theological manuscripts, on clandestine philosophical literature, antitrinitarianism, baroque erudition and the Republic of Letters.