Excerpt from A History of the Papacy, Vol. 3: During the Period of the Reformation, 1464-1518

The epoch traversed in these volumes is one of the most ignoble, if not the most disastrous, in the history not only of the Papacy, but of Europe. It is scarcely fair to isolate the 'popes from their surroundings and hold them up to exceptional ignominy, yet it is impossible to forget their high office and their lofty claims. I have tried to deal fairly with the moral delinquencies of the Popes, without, I trust, running the risk of lowering the standard of moral judgment. But it seems to me neither necessary to moralise at every turn in historical writing, nor becoming to adopt an attitude of lofty superiority over anyone who ever played a prominent part in European affairs, nor charitable to lavish undiscriminating censure on any man. All I can claim is that I have not allowed my judgment to be warped by a desire to be picturesque or telling.

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