The Two Powers

The Two Powers
Author: Brett Edward Whalen
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2019-04-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812296125

Historians commonly designate the High Middle Ages as the era of the "papal monarchy," when the popes of Rome vied with secular rulers for spiritual and temporal supremacy. Indeed, in many ways the story of the papal monarchy encapsulates that of medieval Europe as often remembered: a time before the modern age, when religious authorities openly clashed with emperors, kings, and princes for political mastery of their world, claiming sovereignty over Christendom, the universal community of Christian kingdoms, churches, and peoples. At no point was this conflict more widespread and dramatic than during the papacies of Gregory IX (1227-1241) and Innocent IV (1243-1254). Their struggles with the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II (1212-1250) echoed in the corridors of power and the court of public opinion, ranging from the battlefields of Italy to the streets of Jerusalem. In The Two Powers, Brett Edward Whalen has written a new history of this combative relationship between the thirteenth-century papacy and empire. Countering the dominant trend of modern historiography, which focuses on Frederick instead of the popes, he redirects our attention to the papal side of the historical equation. By doing so, Whalen highlights the ways in which Gregory and Innocent acted politically and publicly, realizing their priestly sovereignty through the networks of communication, performance, and documentary culture that lay at the unique disposal of the Apostolic See. Covering pivotal decades that included the last major crusades, the birth of the Inquisition, and the unexpected invasion of the Mongols, The Two Powers shows how Gregory and Innocent's battles with Frederick shaped the historical destiny of the thirteenth-century papacy and its role in the public realm of medieval Christendom.

Bonds of Wool

Bonds of Wool
Author: Steven A. Schoenig
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 561
Release: 2016-10-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813229227

The pallium was effective because it was a gift with strings attached. This band of white wool encircling the shoulders had been a papal insigne and liturgical vestment since late antiquity. It grew in prominence when the popes began to bestow it regularly on other bishops as a mark of distinction and a sign of their bond to the Roman church. Bonds of Wool analyzes how, through adroit manipulation, this gift came to function as an instrument of papal influence. It explores an abundant array of evidence from diverse genres - including chronicles and letters, saints' lives and canonical collections, polemical treatises and liturgical commentaries, and hundreds of papal privileges - stretching from the eighth century to the thirteenth and representing nearly every region of Western Europe. These sources reveal that the papal conferral of the pallium was an occasion for intervening in local churches throughout the West and a means of examining, approving, and even disciplining key bishops, who were eventually required to request the pallium from Rome.

The Interdict in the Thirteenth Century

The Interdict in the Thirteenth Century
Author: Peter D. Clarke
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2007-09-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199208603

The Catholic Church extended its authority over many areas of life in the Later Middle Ages, and this increasingly led it into political conflicts with kings and other rulers. In this book, Peter Clarke focuses on one of the Church's chief weapons in these struggles - the interdict. A sanction that could be imposed on an entire kingdom, an interdict was similar to a strike in which clergy closed churches and refused to perform most religious ministrations. It was therefore a major event in medieval society, and this book is the first in-depth treatment of this phenomenon, exploring the issues of collective guilt and responsibility that are still important today.

The Papal Monarchy

The Papal Monarchy
Author: Colin Morris
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 694
Release: 1989-05-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191520535

The two centuries covered in this volume were among the most creative in the history of the Church. Colin Morris charts the emergence of much that is considered characteristic of European culture and religion, including universities and commercial cities, the crusades, the friars, chivalry, marriage, and church architecture. In all these developments, the Roman Church played an important and often fundamental role. A re-evaluation of that role is now particularly apt given the dissolution of Christendom in its old form witnessed by today's generation.

Papacy, Monarchy and Marriage 860–1600

Papacy, Monarchy and Marriage 860–1600
Author: David d'Avray
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2015-03-30
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1107062535

This book surveys royal marriage cases to explore how popes dealt with the marriage problems of kings, especially dissolutions and dispensations.

The History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical Period, 1140-1234

The History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical Period, 1140-1234
Author: Wilfried Hartmann
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 457
Release: 2008
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0813214912

This latest volume in the ongoing History of Medieval Canon Law series covers the period from Gratian's initial teaching of canon law during the 1120s to just before the promulgation of the Decretals of Pope Gregory IX in 1234.

The Medieval Papacy

The Medieval Papacy
Author: Brett Whalen
Publisher: Red Globe Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: History
ISBN: 0230272827

During the Middle Ages, the popes of Rome claimed both spiritual authority and worldly powers, vying with emperors for supremacy, ruling over the Papal States, and legislating the norms of Christian society. They also faced profound challenges to their proclaimed primacy over Christendom. The Medieval Papacy explores the unique role that the Roman Church and its papal leadership played in the historical development of medieval Europe. Brett Edward Whalen pays special attention to the religious, intellectual and political significance of the papacy from the first century through to the Reformation in the sixteenth century. Ideal for students, scholars and general readers alike, this approachable survey helps us to understand the origins of an idea and institution that continue to shape our modern world.

Medieval Christianity

Medieval Christianity
Author: Kevin Madigan
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2015-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300158726

A new narrative history of medieval Christianity, spanning from A.D. 500 to 1500, focuses on the role of women in Christianity; the relationships among Christians, Jews and Muslims; the experience of ordinary parishioners; the adventure of asceticism, devotion and worship; and instruction through drama, architecture and art.