the mystical theology of valentin weigel - DataSpace at Princeton ...

philological activities, whereas the Cardinal was able to dedicate his edition to the Pope
without any suggestion of subversive thinking. 555
Some fifteen years after Arnao Brocar finished printing the Complutensian
Polyglot for Cardinal Ximenes, his son Juan Brocar dedicated his edition of Dionysius to
Ximenes’ successor Juan Pardo de Tavera—who had expanded the reach of his authority
even further, having added the responsibility of both Viceroy and Inquisitor to his role as
Archbishop of Toledo. The preface to Brocar’s edition is not calculated to displease so
powerful a man as Tavera, whom he addresses as “Illustrissimo ac Reuerendissimo
Cardinali.” Brocar’s preface refers only indirectly to the debate about whether Dionysius’
writings might not be Apostolic, asking whether anybody with a sound mind (sanae
mentis) could doubt that Dionysius was indeed a disciple of Paul. It is not known whether
Brocar’s edition might have travelled to Germany, such that Weigel might have picked
up a copy, but it does seem unlikely that Weigel would have had access to this edition of
Dionysius.
***
This chapter has discussed a wide range of thinkers connected with Dionysius in
the early modern era, showing that Dionysius was indeed read in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, and that the main issue at stake for these readers is whether a
hierarchical church is necessary or not. Though influential theologians such as Erasmus
and Luther rejected Dionysius as a counterfeit, others such as Clichtove, Cochlaeus,
Ficino, Lefèvre d’Étaples and Crollius were enthusiastic readers of Dionysius, despite the
555 Robert J. Wilkinson, Kabbalistic Scholars of the Antwerp Polyglot Bible (Boston: Brill Academic
Publishers, 2007), 7-9.
200