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.
Organa doctorum: Gerbert of Aurillac, organbuilder?
He was born a peasant. Yet, through intelligence, political skill and uncommon good luck he came to be one of the most influential people in the Europe of his time…Pope Sylvester II.
Cum Status Ecclesie Noster Sit: Florence and the Council of Pisa (1409)
Of all the divisions and crises that the Catholic church endured in its first fifteen hundred years of existence, none was so destructive as the Great Schism (1378-1417)
Through the Eyes of a Crusader: An Intensive Study Into the Personal Involvement of Two Men in the Fourth Crusade
What was going through the minds ofthese men who were fighting for the cross when they attacked a Christian city, which was one oftheir allies?
Peter Des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, and the Papal Interdict on England, 1208-1214
A native of western France and probably originatly a knight, Peter rose to prominence in English affairs through service as the principal financial clerk in John’s chamber.
Of Milk and Blood: Innocent III and the Jews, revisited
Much of the past century of scholarship devoted to the history of Medieval European Jewry has attempted to trace and explain the waning of Christian tolerance and the rise of anti-Jewish prejudice and violence, as measured by a number of macabre indices
Christian Mysticism as a Threat to Papal Traditions
Several aspects of the mystic Christianity in the Middle Ages challenged the traditions of the church, including the mystics’ theological interpretation of scripture, their graphic visions, and their threat to established gender roles.
The papacy and the crusaders in the East, 1100-1160
This dissertation attempts to illuminate papal policy towards the Crusaders in the East by an analysis of the relationships of: 1) the Byzantine Empire to the Papacy and the Crusaders; 2) the Papacy to the spiritual and temporal powers of the Latin Orient; 3) the Papacy to the crusade movement in Europe and to Christendom as a whole
Patronage and indebtedness: Portugal, Castile and the papal Court around the year 1300
At the time of Nicholas IV’s election in February 1288, for thirteen long years the king and kingdom of Portugal had been suffering the consequences of excommunication and interdict, as specified in ‘De regno Portugalie’, Gregory X’s ‘constitution, ordinance and provision’ of September 1275.
Building the Ideology of Papal Monarchy Through Excommunication and Interdict: A comparison of Gregory VII and Innocent III
This thesis will examine and compare how excommunication and interdict augmented papal power during the reigns of Gregory VII and Innocent III.
Portuguese ecclesiastics and Portuguese affairs near the Spanish cardinals in the roman curia : 1213-1254
The lives, families and clienteles of Pelayo Gaitán and Gil Torres, the two cardinals whose actions I wish to analyse here (1213-1254), seem to be a good example of how instrumental, their ‘natio’ proved to be, in the management of
the affairs they were summoned to deal with.
“Those who give are not all generous”: Tips and Bribes at the Sixteenth-Century Papal Court
Ambassadors in early modern Europe were frequent disbursers of tips, rewards and bribes, and usually expected something in return for their liberality.
Medieval reads for Dad!
Father’s Day is just around the corner – here are some fun medieval reads to make his day special!
Pope Gregory X and the Crusades
Pope Gregory X’s papal tenure (September 1271 – January 1276) stood at the very
centre of the crusading movement in the later thirteenth century.
Diplomatic aspects of Charles the Bold’s relations with the Holy See
Both Paul II and Sixtus IV, the two popes whose pontificates spanned the reign of Charles the Bold, made great efforts to bring about peace among the rulers of Christendom.
The legacy of the 13th Apostle: origins of the East Christian conceptions of church and state relation
In this article I wish to query the notion that there is a single Eastern Christian religious political theory, such a one that could be stood in opposition to Catholic medieval or early modern Protestant theories of church-state relations…
University of Oxford and Vatican to digitize 1.5 million pages of historical texts
A collaboration between the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana at the Vatican will bring historical texts dating back to the Middle Ages into the digital era.