Popes through the Looking Glass, or «Ceci n’est pas un pape»
What happens if, when one pope dies, instead of electing one you elect two, and these two popes then begin to fight with one another?
Personal’ Rituals: The Office of Ceremonies and Papal Weddings, 1483-1521
This analysis reveals the increasing involvement of papal ceremonialists in the preparation and supervision of wedding events,5 highlighting the ceremonialists’ own broad definition of their mandate and a pragmatic approach to the boundaries of papal ritual.
Scotland’s Pope: Benedict XIII
Scotland’s Pope: Benedict XIII J. H. Baxter (Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University ofSt. Andrews) Scot’s Magazine (1929) Abstract In the…
What was the Investiture Controversy a Controversy About?
This thesis will aim to demonstrate that the Investiture Controversy was primarily a clash originating from fifth century ideas which were put into practice and developed by an eleventh century papacy.
Rome During Avignon: Myth, Memory, and Civic Identity in Fourteenth-Century Roman Politics
Broadly conceived, my dissertation examines the traditions of popular government emerging spasmodically in the roughly two hundred and fifty years between the Roman senate’s 1143 revival, and the papacy’s definitive 1377 return to Rome from roughly seven decades in Avignon. The majority of my inquiry, however, is directed toward the much-understudied fourteenth century.
The Poisoned Image of the Borgias: A Look at the Public Image of Pope Alexander VI and His Children
Upon Rodrigo Borgia’s ascension to the papacy in 1492 and assumption of the name Alexander VI, the masses of Rome who watched his parade and celebration with hopeful eyes welcomed him eagerly, despite his wild ways and indiscretions as a cardinal.
The monastic thought and culture of Pope Gregory the Great in their Western context, c.400-604
Gregory was the first monk to be pope; proverbially, he would have preferred to have remained a monk; the audience he addressed was almost always made up of monks.
The tailors of London and their guild, c.1300-1500
The unusually full medieval records of the guild of London tailors, known from 1503 as the Merchant Taylors’ Company, provides a rare opportunity to assess the variety of roles which these organisations played in late-medieval London.
Picturing Gregory: The Evolving Imagery of Canon Law
This paper surveys images created for the opening of the Liber extra between around 1240 and 1350, from a variety of standpoints: iconography, page layout, patrons and readers – and also suggests possible ideological agendas that might be embedded in the illustrations.
The Papal Bulls for the Invasions of England and Ireland
John has represented his master’s enterprise in the very best light, making him out as an enthusiast for the reformation of the lax moral and ecclesiastical condition of Ireland.
Reading Health in the Stars: Politics and Medical Astrology in Renaissance Milan
Horary astrology was skillfully exploited in political circles and suggests that, far from being irrelevant to our understanding of Renaissance Italy, astrology played an important role in shaping its history.
Innocent III and England
This paper begins with the dispute between England and the papacy over an election to the see of Canterbury. The beginning of the quarrel, seemed simple enough: King John’s refusal to accept Stephen Langton as archibishop of Canterbury.
The Pope Who Quit
What led him to make that decision and what happened afterward would be shrouded in mystery for centuries.
Labyrinth, Part 2
So we continue with the exciting conclusion of last week’s two part mini-series, Labyrinth. Alice is being pursued by unsavory attackers, and Carcassonne has all but fallen.
Labyrinth
A review of Part 1 of author Kate Mosse’s, “Labyrinth”. Cathars, Crusaders and the Holy Grail!
The Origins of the Great Schism
One of the more profound of such differences—and one which would shape the course of religious development in the eastern and western worlds—is the nature of the Latin and Greek languages.
Origins and Consequences of Canossa: the Evolution of Imperial-Papal Relations through the 11th century
The relationship between the German monarchs and the Roman papacy in the Middle Ages was an accepted partnership of mutual interests. The theme and scope of this essay is to explore the historical processes that fashioned such interdependence.
Furor Teutonicus: The View of the ‘Germans’ in Italy during the Reign of Emperor Frederick I, ‘Barbarossa’ (1152-90)
“Medieval Europe did not love the Germans. The Italians hated them, the French admitted their courage, but detested their manners, the English were jealous of them, the Slavs both feared and hated them, while the Germans despised and contemned the Slavs.”16 But it is the Italian side I would like to concentrate on in this paper. Further, I do not wish to examine the reasons for the conflicts between ‘Germans’ and ‘Italians’ in this era, nor the events surrounding them. I will try to focus strictly on the views that were expressed about Germans in mediaeval Italy in general and during the reign of Frederick Barbarossa in particular.
“The Eucharist and the Negotiation of Orthodoxy in the High Middle Ages”
This paper is part of Adam Hoose’s dissertation. It examined the differences between Waldensians and Franciscans in their treatment of the Eucharist. It also explored why the Waldensians were unsuccessful in their bid to become a legitimate religious order and were eventually marginalized as heretics.
Of Kings and Popes and Law
In England, the period which most legal historians consider to be the key formative years of the common law was the reign of King Henry II.
The Papacy and the Imperial Court in the Aftermath of the Acacian Schism
Viezure’s paper examines how the Papacy portrayed their efforts to end the Acacian Schism, in what she describes as ‘an attempt to paint the image of a powerful Pope.’
Voting in the Medieval Papacy and Religious Orders
Medieval theologians no doubt believed that God’s word was handed down from above; but they well knew that they often had to decide among rival human interpretations of it.
Religion, Warfare and Business in Fifteenth Century Rhodes
How did a military-monastic order manage the resources of an island commercially asimportant as that of Rhodes while overcoming the limitations due to its patrimonial struc-tureto cover their defensive needs? In this essay weattempt to answer this question interms of practice and in the light of relationsthatthe Knights maintained with two distinctgroups of merchants: the Catalan-Aragonese and the Florentines.