VLT/ISAAC spectra of the H

We derive black hole masses for a sample of about 300 AGNs in the redshift range $0 < z < 2.5$. We use the same virial velocity measure (FWHM H$\beta_{\rm BC}$) for all sources which represents a significant improvement over previous studies. We review methods and caveats for determining AGN black hole masses via the virial assumption for motions in the gas producing low ionization broad emission lines. We derive a corrected FWHM(H$\beta_{\rm BC}$) measure for the broad component of Hβ that better estimates the virialized line emitting component by comparing our FWHM measures with a sample of reverberated sources with Hβ radial velocity dispersion measures. We also consider the FWHM of the Fei