R. P. Natalis Alexandri Historia ecclesiastica Veteris Novique Testamenti

The Historia ecclesiastica Veteris Novique Testamenti, authored by the French theologian Noël Alexandre, remains one of the most comprehensive ecclesiastical histories of the eighteenth century. Originally written in the late seventeenth century, this scholarly work was intended to provide a rigorous, systematic account of church history from the creation of the world through the rise of the modern church. By the time this 1776 edition was published by Georg Christian Voigt, the text had become a staple of theological libraries across Europe, serving as a foundational reference for clerics and academics engaged in historical-critical studies.

The design of the 1776 edition reflects the scholarly aesthetic of late Enlightenment printing, emphasizing readability and structural clarity in its multi-volume format. While Alexandre’s work had faced significant controversy and papal condemnation shortly after its initial publication due to his rigorous Jansenist leanings, it remained widely cited for its meticulous sourcing and extensive documentation. By the mid-1770s, the work was largely accepted as an indispensable, if contentious, intellectual resource, favored by institutions that valued its exhaustive research and systematic categorization of historical events.