Papal History

This study employs network analysis and microhistory to challenge the standard narrative about architecture and patronage in Baroque Rome, that of celebrity patron-artist relationships. It inves- tigates the artists and artisans below this elite team and the plurality of relationships that developed among them. The subject is Innocent X Pamphilj’s monumental works of art and architecture, at the Vatican, Piazza Navona, Campidoglio, Lateran, and Janiculum Hill, commissioned for the 1650 Holy Year. It argues that competent artisans and their relationships influenced the operation of building sites and presents Innocent X as the patron of an industrious architectural enterprise.

The objective of this article is to analyse Mexican national pilgrimages to Rome that took place during the pontificate of Leo XIII (1878–1903). These pilgrimages occurred in the context of a global Catholic mobilisation in support of the papacy, during the so-called Roman Question. This paper’s analysis of these pilgrimages draws from historiography about national pilgrimages, as well as studies on Catholic mobilisation in support of the pope in the second half of the nineteenth century. It is fundamentally based on primary sources of an official nature, such as reports and other printed documents produced on the occasion of the pilgrimage. The study’s primary conclusion is that national pilgrimages to Rome had a polysemic character since they brought together various religious and national identities. The pilgrimages contributed simultaneously to reinforcing the link between Catholicism and Mexican national identity and the global dimension of Catholicism and allegiance to the Holy See

This article examines textual descriptions of smiling, laughing and joking with the pope in thirteenth-century Rome. It focuses on two Anglo-Norman accounts of conducting litigation at the papal curia: Thomas of Marlborough's (d.1236) Chronicon abbatiae de Evesham and Gerald of Wales's (c. 1146–1220×23) De jure et statu Menevensis ecclesiae. Both authors include several careful and prominent references to smiling, laughing and joking, and specifically in relation to Pope Innocent III. These passages have previously been read as straightforward examples of wit and friendship, but this study shows that the authors use these physiological expressions to convey complex and subtly different pictures of the papal curia. Above all, this article demonstrates how Thomas and Gerald's descriptions of humorous interactions with the pope play crucial narrative and mnemonic roles within their work.

Il presente articolo esamina le descrizioni testuali del sorridere, del ridere e dello scherzare con il Papa nella Roma del XIII secolo. Si focalizza in particolare su due resoconti anglo-normanni di controversie nella curia papale: il 'Chronicon abbatiae de Evesham' di Thomas of Marlborough (data di morte 1236) e il 'De jure et statu Menevensis ecclesiae' di Gerald of Wales (c. 1146–1220×23). In entrambi i testi sono presenti molti riferimenti attenti agli atti di sorridere, di ridere e di scherzare, in particolar modo in relazione a Papa Innocenzo III. Questi passaggi sono stati in precedenza interpretati come inequivocabili esempi di umorismo e amicizia, ma questo studio dimostra come gli autori usino queste ‘espressioni fisiologiche’ per descrivere immagini leggermente differenti della curia papale. Soprattutto questo articolo mostra come le descrizioni di interazione umoristica con il papa di Thomas of Marlborough e di Gerald of Wales giochino ruoli narrativi e mnemonici cruciali all'interno dei loro lavori.

Sacrum imperium is a phrase that first appears in the imperial chancery in a document of Frederick Barbarossa in 1157. It later developed into the title Holy Roman Empire (of the German nation), the name of Europe's largest polity for many centuries. Where other country names were based on the peoples inhabiting them, the Empire's name is of unknown provenance, though it obviously imitates the Roman Empire. I intend to survey the extant theories on its origin and meaning and show how 20th-century national discourse affected scholarly opinion.

It is maintained that sacrum imperium was introduced by Rainald of Dassel to resacralise the Empire after the imperial defeat in the Investiture Controversy. Many opinions were based on this (1) that sacrum imperium means that the state is holier than the Church, (2) that Charlemagne's canonisation was a thinly veiled canonisation of the Empire, and (3) that Rainald of Dassel translated the three kings to Cologne to prove that there was no intermediary between the emperor and God.

I will show that these views are derived from Zeumer's 1910 modelling of Rainald of Dassel after Otto von Bismarck and his 1872 Reichstag speech against Pope Pius IX.

A vinculação do papado à história medieval sofreu profunda alteração após 1850. Até então habituais, as referências intelectuais sobre as características medievais do poder temporal dos papas tornaram-se genéricas e insuficientes. Um novo modelo interpretativo ganhou contornos, sobrepujando as explicações existentes. Ancorado na aplicação do método de crítica documental e reivindicando credenciais científicas, esse modelo fixou os séculos seguintes ao ano 1000 como período da institucionalização da Igreja romana, isto é, de sua transformação em uma monarquia papal. Com esse trabalho, buscamos esclarecer como se deu essa fundação historiográfica, analisando a importância do trabalho do erudito francês Paul Fabre e a publicação da edição moderna do Liber Censuum. Toda argumentação é orientada por uma hipótese: esse deslocamento epistemológico naturalizou certas categorias políticas oitocentistas na escrita da história medieval.

This article discusses the financial policies of the Papal States from the late 18th to the mid-19th century in relation to the rest of Europe, and especially Italy. Its crucial beginning point is the Napoleonic economic reforms which had important and often lasting affects throughout its former empire. French reliance on debt reduction and heavy though equitable taxation improved the financial conditions of most European lands even as they convulsed from the protracted wars. The economic austerity prior to 1814 forced post-Napoleonic Europe to make decisions on the degree of continuity on these two financial fronts. Political instability beginning in the 1820s for some, and the early 30s and late 40s for the rest, upset the rather tenuous financial position that most lands found themselves in.
For the Papal States the Napoleonic period improved its financial position to the detriment of ecclesiastical institutions. The period also revealed the inherent flaws in its financial system, necessitating a decentralized approach to the restoration, relying on individual (or institutional) initiatives, in lieu of over-arching policies. Monasteries and other ecclesiastical institutions, considered at once the Church and the State, were more often than not dependent on their own efforts to restart, as the case study of the Irish College in Rome makes clear; during the 1830s and 40s large expenditures were devoted to maintaining peace in the region, following revolution in 1831 and threats of it throughout the 1830s and beyond. A series of large bank loans redressed the financial imbalance, but only temporarily so. By the 1860s with political losses mounting and the economic picturing worsening, the global Catholic community was enlisted to prop up the papal government in what was known was Peter’s Pence. In reality, this signaled Peter’s demise, or rather Pius IX’s.

During the sixteenth century the disputes between Catholics and Protestants became the battleground to determine and shape authentic Christianity and the Church. Humanism played a key role in this process conditioned by cultural and theological diversity, justifying doctrinal positions and legitimizing the existence of respective institutions with an appeal to history. Translations from church historical sources illustrate how they often derived from theological preconceptions. Starting with the ‘episcopacy issue’ opened initially by Luther and Calvin inter al., this article analyzes the translations of the Greek word episkopos in the Magdeburg Centuries, in Cesare Baronio’s Ecclesiastical Annals, in contemporary vernacular versions of Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History, in J. C. Dietrich’s Lexicon and in some English Bibles. The material gathered and also compared with the position of the Council of Trent shows how these confessionally conditioned translations impacted on the scholarly world, and how they influenced church law with religio-political consequences, thereby
having a striking significance.

Neste trabalho, procuramos fundamentar uma resposta para um antigo problema: quando e como Hildebrando de Soana (1020?-1085) se tornou o protagonista do poder papal? Um persistente consenso tem levado os historiadores a mirarem a mesma certeza: o homem coroado como Gregório VII dominou a cena eclesiástica ocidental desde seu ingresso na corte papal, em 1049, por meio de uma liderança inabalável. Sua ascensão, supostamente contínua e irrefreável, teria dotado a política pontifícia de unidade e caráter programático. Mas, para muitos contemporâneos, isto não era evidente. Um texto contém elementos para a formulação de outra perspectiva: Ad Heinricum IV Imperatorem libri VII. Escrita por Benzo (?-1089), bispo de Alba, a narrativa é um valioso documento sobre a ascensão política de Hildebrando e oferece indícios de que o bispo de Alba estabeleceu a medida com a qual o controverso papa seria lembrado, tanto pela Igreja, quanto pela historiografia. Talvez, Benzo de Alba tenha inventado Gregório VII.

40 essays by Ronnie Hsia, Ulrich Leinsle, Marius Reiser, Thomas Marschler, Trent Pomplun, Jean-Louis Quantin, William O'Brien SJ, Stefania Tutino, Carl Trueman, Andreas Beck, Willem van Asselt, Eric Carlsson, Stephen Hampton, Benjamin Mayes, Robert Kolb, Risto Saarinnen, Ola Tjorholm, Sarah Mortimer, Jeff Bach, Keith Stanglin, Hartmut Lehmann, Jonathan Strom, Craig Atwood, Stephen Burnett, Emanuele Colombo, Aza Goudriaan, Carolina Armenteros, Eric Watkins, Maria Rosa Antognazza, Stephen Gaukroger, Jonathan Israel, John Henry.

From amazon.com:
""Whoever needs an act of faith to elucidate an event that can be explained by reason is a fool, and unworthy of reasonable thought." This line, spoken by the notorious 18th-century libertine Giacomo Casanova, illustrates a deeply entrenched perception of religion, as prevalent today as it was hundreds of years ago. It is the sentiment behind the narrative that Catholic beliefs were incompatible with the Enlightenment ideals. Catholics, many claim, are superstitious and traditional, opposed to democracy and gender equality, and hostile to science. It may come as a surprise, then, to learn that Casanova himself was a Catholic. In The Catholic Enlightenment, Ulrich Lehner points to such figures as representatives of a long-overlooked thread of a reform-minded Catholicism, which engaged Enlightenment ideals with as much fervor and intellectual gravity as anyone. Their story opens new pathways for understanding how faith and modernity can interact in our own time.

Lehner begins two hundred years before the Enlightenment, when the Protestant Reformation destroyed the hegemony Catholicism had enjoyed for centuries. During this time the Catholic Church instituted several reforms, such as better education for pastors, more liberal ideas about the roles of women, and an emphasis on human freedom as a critical feature of theology. These actions formed the foundation of the Enlightenment's belief in individual freedom. While giants like Spinoza, Locke, and Voltaire became some of the most influential voices of the time, Catholic Enlighteners were right alongside them. They denounced fanaticism, superstition, and prejudice as irreconcilable with the Enlightenment agenda.

In 1789, the French Revolution dealt a devastating blow to their cause, disillusioning many Catholics against the idea of modernization. Popes accumulated ever more power and the Catholic Enlightenment was snuffed out. It was not until the Second Vatican Council in 1962 that questions of Catholicism's compatibility with modernity would be broached again.

Ulrich Lehner tells, for the first time, the forgotten story of these reform-minded Catholics. As Pope Francis pushes the boundaries of Catholicism even further, and Catholics once again grapple with these questions, this book will prove to be required reading."

The eighth-century papacy as cultural broker, in: The Resources of the Past in Early Medieval Europe, ed. Clemens Gantner/Rosamond McKitterick/Sven Meeder (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2015) 245-261.

This article addresses  the strenuous efforts made by the popes to position their institution, the papacy, as cultural broker between East and West and between past and present for the Latin West and the Greek East.

By emphasizing the ways in which the rhetoric of Petrine privilege was employed, extended, transformed, or resisted between the reigns of Leo the Great and Gregory the Great, "The Invention of Peter" offers an alternative account of papal history that challenges the dominant narrative of an inevitable and unbroken rise in papal power from late antiquity through the Middle Ages.  Demacopoulos unpacks the escalating claims to ecclesiastical authority, demonstrating how this rhetoric, which almost always invokes a link to St. Peter, does not necessarily represent actual power or prestige but instead reflects moments of papal anxiety and weakness.  Through its nuanced examination of an array of episcopal activity--diplomatic, pastoral, political, and administrative--"The Invention of Peter" offers a new perspective on the emergence of papal authority and illuminates the influence of that Petrine discourse exerted on the survival and exceptional status of the Bishop of Rome.

Several significant papal letter collections survive from late antiquity: the largest and best known are those of popes Leo I and Gregory I, but other sizable collections have survived from three fifth-and sixth-century bishops of Rome: Innocent I, Gelasius I, and Hor-misdas. In the following essay I analyze four of these corpora from three perspectives: first, their transmission, that is, the form in which they were handed down through various stages to medieval canon law collators; second, the rationale(s) behind selection processes in the making of anthologies of papal letters in the fifth through seventh century up to the Middle Ages; and, finally, the ways in which both papal authors and collators sought to increase Roman authority in these areas. These perspectives permit some conclusions to be drawn regarding changing preservation practices in the Roman chancery (scrinium) from the fourth to sixth century. I argue that, in contrast to other collections studied in this volume , papal letter collections were intended not to fashion the image of the author but to shape the image of the office of Roman bishop. THE FIRST PAPAL LETTER CORPORA Because of the nature of medieval canon law collections and the rationale behind their compilation—namely, providing authoritative views on questions of clerical discipline and doctrinal error—the content of papal letters that survive is remarkably homogeneous. This, together with a preference for letters addressed to important figures such as members of the imperial family and other well-known bishops, has meant that such corpora are good sources on particular themes—especially religious controversy and clerical discipline—but poor on others. Almost all letters by bishops of Rome from Innocent I (401/2–417) to Pelagius II

Eastern scholars have long accused John VIII Palaiologos of sacrificing the faith for temporal gain when he oversaw the Union of Florence. Westerners have blamed him for the union's ultimate failure. These competing narratives both err by too sharply differentiating between religion and politics, and allowing the opinions of John's contemporary critics to colour their interpretations of his actions. A contextual analysis of John's activities during and after the council finds his behaviour in keeping with the best elements of his tradition and suggests the potential for a new historiography of Ferrara-Florence which might help to dislodge entrenched ecclesial animosities.

isbn 978-3-205-78956-7, issn 0323-4142 © 2013 by böhlau Verlag ges.M.b.h. & co.kg, wien köln weiMar ZRG KA 99 (2013 Die Zeitschrift der savigny-stiftung für rechtsgeschichte erscheint jährlich in drei selbständigen, auch einzeln käuflichen Abteilungen. Sie veröffentlicht Beiträge zur rechts historischen Forschung und berichtet über das einschlägige wissenschaftliche Schrifttum.

Demacopoulos, Director and Co-Founder of the Orthodox Christian Studies at Fordham University, has written in a series Rereading Late Antique Religion a fascinating study with a provocative title (the word ‘invention’ is used within quotation marks only on p. 167) and cleverly chosen cover-picture (Fra Angelico), suggesting secrecy. It is indeed ‘a revisionist history of papacy’ (p. 2), a ‘reconsider[ation of] the traditional narratives of the early papacy’ (p. 169).

This thesis examines the interaction between the conflicting ideologies of crusade and commerce, during the period when the Turkish maritime emirates of Anatolia became the primary target of western crusading endeavour. Through the close study of papal documents and archival evidence from the Italian mercantile republics, two principal areas are focussed on: firstly, the extent to which the temporal and spiritual mechanisms (e.g. trade licences and indulgences) introduced by the popes of the fourteenth century  encouraged the Italian mercantile republics to participate in a crusade; secondly, the analysis of the policies of commercial exchange and military opposition adopted by the Latin states with regard to the Turks in the Aegean. The crusades in the Aegean are discussed in six chapters which broadly reflect the activities of the principal participants: 1) crusade negotiations during the pontificates of Clement V and John XXII: distractions to an Aegean crusade under Clement V; extrication from French influence under John XXII; gradual replacement of Byzantium as a target of the Aegean crusades during the 1320s; and the temporal and spiritual concessions granted by the popes to those Latin resisting the Turks in the Aegean; 2) the Zaccaria of Chios: their defence of the Aegean from Turkish attacks and the privileges they received from the papacy for this; 3) Venetian commercial activities in the Aegean: their alliances with and activities against the various Turkish emirates; 4) the 1334 naval league: the first anti-Turkish coalition; 5) the neglect of the Aegean crusades under Pope Benedict XII (1335-1342); 6) the Crusade of Smyrna and the climax of Latin efforts against the Turks in the first half of the fourteenth century (1343-1351). Although trade and crusade have often been regarded as incompatible by historians of the crusades (such as Stephen Runciman and Aziz Atiya), they both formed an integral, and inseparable, aspect of crusade policy and of western perceptions of the Turks.

Co-authored with Gerd Althoff and Iben Fonnesberg-Schmidt



This essay examines the production and consumption of papal communication in the central Middle Ages. It outlines the development of the papacy, which formed the historical and political framework for papal communication, and discusses the processes, themes and meanings behind various types of communication relating to the papacy in Latin Christendom principally between the years 1100 and 1300. Particular emphasis is placed upon the plurality of responses to papal communication and on the relationship between papal communication and authority, and papal self-identity and perceptions. The essay introduces seven diverse and interdisciplinary articles in a special issue of the Journal of Medieval History on the papacy and communication in the central Middle Ages.

This study discusses the gap between the arrangements that two prominent persons made for their own tombs, ordering them already while alive, and the changes wrought to them by others after their deaths, (re)shaping their memory for specific purposes. Focusing on two important cardinals, the two central questions to be answered are: what did Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini, who was to become Pope Pius III, and Michele Ghislieri, future Pope Pius V, want their tombs to look like and why? And how and why did others afterwards reshape the way these popes would be remembered?

Monumenti di meditazione e propaganda
Le tombe di Pio III e Pio V
Questo articolo si interroga sulle caratteristiche dei monumenti funebri di due cardinali, che sarebbero poi divenuti papi, Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini (Pio III, 1503) e Michele Ghislieri (Pio V, 1566-1572), e le loro motivazioni nella scelta dei rispettivi monumenti funerari. Il saggio, inoltre, analizza come e perché i due pontefici sono stati successivamente ricordati in modo diverso da quello che essi avevano scelto. Da vivi, ambedue i cardinali avevano fatto allestire il proprio monumento tombale in modo tale da veicolare due messaggi: in primo luogo, il concetto dell’umiltà nei confronti della morte; in secondo luogo, l’idea che la tomba non era soltanto un luogo in attesa della resurrezione del corpo, ma anche uno spazio di meditazione che avrebbe ispirato pensieri sulla vita, la morte e l’oltretomba. Tuttavia, una volta deceduti, ambedue i pontefici furono deposti in monumenti funebri che celebravano principalmente il loro ruolo di capi della Chiesa. La loro volontà venne pertanto sacrificata per esigenze di propaganda papale, di carattere esclusivamente terreno, senza alcun richiamo spirituale alla morte, la salvezza celeste e la speranza della resurrezione.

Should we see Charlemagne’s crowning as emperor in Rome at St. Peter’s on Christmas Day 800 by Pope Leo III as the culmination of Frankish royal political pretensions during the eighth century?  Did the great Frankish king and his father, Pippin III, work to promote their roles as somehow similar to that of a Roman emperor?  When Pope Hadrian proclaimed Charlemagne a new Constantine in 778, did he magnify the Frankish king in a way his audience expected and assented to?
    In this essay I argue that Pippin III may well have played with such ideas, but that his son, Charlemagne, certainly did not.  Rather than present himself as an “emperor,” Charlemagne sought instead during the 770s, 780s, and 790s to model his rule upon that of the Old Testament kings, especially David and Josiah, with an emphasis upon his (I would say even para-episcopal) pastoral role.  His crowning as emperor in 800 ***interrupted*** a much developed pastoral-political Frankish rhetoric of rule, opening a new chapter altogether.

Los episcopologios legionenses registran reiteradamente el pontificado de don Gonzalo Osorio Villalobos entre 1301 y 1313, sin embargo, el análisis de la documentación y los testimonios artísticos reflejan ciertas inconsistencias que hacen imposible esta identificación. En realidad el obispo que rigió la sede leonesa a principios del siglo XIV no fue otro que el poderoso don Gonzalo de Hinojosa, personaje influyente en la política del momento y amigo del infante don Juan el de Tarifa. Este artículo explora los testimonios documentales y analiza la carrera episcopal de don Gonzalo desde su promoción en 1301 hasta su muerte en 1327.

La figura di Benedetto XVI è stata più volte oggetto di approvazioni e di critiche da parte di ampi settori del mondo cattolico e più in generale dell’opinione pubblica, sia durante il pontificato sia in seguito alla rinuncia all’esercizio attivo del ministero petrino (11 febbraio 2013). Rispetto all’ampia letteratura esistente sul tema, Oltre la crisi della Chiesa, lontano dal voler essere una biografia di Joseph Ratzinger, intende offrire al lettore una prima visione d’insieme della storia del suo pontificato, proponendo nello stesso tempo alcune chiavi interpretative per meglio illuminare il presente e il futuro del cattolicesimo contemporaneo. Gli anni di Benedetto XVI appaiono oggi significativi per il modo imprevedibile con cui si sono conclusi, ma lo sono ancor più per le questioni che hanno lasciato aperte: dall’attuazione del Concilio Vaticano II alle relazioni ecumeniche, dal rapporto con le altre religioni all’ecclesiologia.
A fronte della ricchezza del magistero che Benedetto XVI ha ereditato dai suoi predecessori, si può dire che abbia portato a compimento molte intuizioni maturate in seno alla Chiesa cattolica a partire dal Concilio Vaticano II, sistematizzandole con precisione in un pensiero organico, capace di interloquire con le istanze più avvertite della cultura contemporanea. Il suo pontificato ha inteso riproporre alla «odierna umanità» - segnata soprattutto in Occidente da una profonda crisi ideale - la fede in Gesù Cristo, cercando allo stesso tempo di sanare ferite e lacerazioni che ancora oggi minano l’unità della Chiesa. La sua preoccupazione principale non è stata tanto la ricerca del consenso quanto il perseguimento della verità. Non è stato un papa «politico». Qui sta la grandezza, e nello stesso tempo la debolezza, del suo pontificato.

Il volume prende in considerazione la variegata e cospicua produzione di medaglie papali, condotta a Roma durante il regno di Urbano VIII, per indagare il ruolo che rivestì (tanto nella sua portata comunicativa, quanto nella sua valenza storico artistica) la medaglistica pontificia in età moderna. Nel saggio vengono analizzati, in tre distinti capitoli, i processi creativi (dalla scelta dei temi alla stesura dei programmi, dalla selezione dei modelli iconografici all'esecuzione materiale, dal contributo di singoli artisti all'impiego di strumenti meccanici di riproduzione), le funzioni (tanto devozionali, quanto di rappresentanza, sotto il controllo inquisitoriale e in rapporto a precise cerimonie) e la fortuna visiva e letteraria (dall'affermarsi di una valorizzazione in chiave seriale in medaglieri poetici, in riproduzioni ad affresco e nel collezionismo, fino alla creazione di una trattatistica specifica, modellata sui contemporanei interessi antiquari) delle medaglie papali tra Cinque e Seicento, identificando nel pontificato di Urbano VIII il momento in cui questo oggetto venne consapevolmente innalzato a strumento ufficiale di autorappresentazione pontificia. Nel catalogo l'organizzazione dei singoli esemplari per raggruppamenti tematici non solo è funzionale ad una loro più attenta valutazione tecnica (in rapporto allo stato dei conii, al reimpiego di questi in coniazioni arbitrarie, ecc.), ma anche ad una più efficace indagine delle iconografie, sia nel loro dialogo con la medaglistica precedente, sia nel complessivo contesto della produzione artistica urbaniana.

Kein anderes Papstgrabmal des Barock bedient sich einer ähnlich triumphalen Sprache wie dasjenige für Gregor XV. Ludovisi (L621-1,623) und seinen Neffen Ludovico Ludovisi (1595-1,632),das in denJahren zwischen 1709 und 1,71,4 von Pierre Legros gestaltet wurde.l Angesichts der nicht eben zurückhaltenden Inszenierung pontifikaler Herrschaft in dieser Epoche will ein solcher Befund einiges besagen. Nicht nur als Doppelgrabmal, sondern auch durch seine schiere Größe. den farbenfrohen Materialaufwand und seine Ikonographie ist es ein Unikat unter den Papstgrabmälern der frühen Neuzeit. Dem Besucher, der sich dem Monumenr nach dem Eintreten in den Innenraum der zweiten römischen Jesuitenkirche, S. Ignazio, im rechten Seitenschiff nähert, stellt sich das Monument als spektakulärer Abschluß einer Enfilade von Seitenkapellen dar (Abb. 1). Deutlich ist die Parallele dieser Inszenie-166

The paper  deals with the  relationship of patronage  between  the Roman pontiff and his musical chapel  in 1500-1700  not  from the  usual  standpoint of  how the  former’s personality could influence  the latter’s musical activities  but in the light of the  double roles historically  played  by  each of them:  the pope    as Vicar of Christ  and  head of the State of the Church, his singers as  a vocal ensemble serving him  and  the  main chapel of his residence. Hence the possibility to explain  why the musical chapel of the Roman pontiff  used to perform most of its daily duties in his absence and to keep up  performing them also when he was dead.

Critical theory was always characterised by a particular attempt to develop a general theory of society on the basis of an integrative approach characterised by a combination of philosophy and sociology and of normative and descriptive approaches. In Frankfurt, the original epicentre of this particular school of thought, this has however come to an end. Contemporary Frankfurt theorists essentially have abandoned the sociological and descriptive dimension and re-casted what is left of the Frankfurt School into a subdivision of Anglo-American analytical political philosophy. As apparent from the book under review and his entire oeuvre, Hauke Brunkhorst, the last of the Mohicans of real Frankfurt style critical theory, have always resented this development. He has therefore found himself in internal exile at the University of Flensburg, the intellectual equivalent of Siberia in the German academic context, for the last decades. The exceptionally brilliance of the book under review thereby confirms the old insight, which has been illustrated again and again throughout history, that the best books tend to be written in exile. Written by authors who did not correspond with the prevailing Zeitgeist but who nonetheless choose to stick to their guns.
The book literally begins by the dawn of man and ends with an analysis of the pressing problems and challenges characterizing contemporary society. As such the book also reads as a history of the world in its entirety at the same time as the its main focus is on four revolutionary processes: The Papal Revolution of the 11th and 12th centuries, the Protestant revolution of the 16th century; The Atlantic Revolution of the late 18th century and the Euro-Asian (in particular but not only the Chinese and Russian revolutions) of the early 20th century. Finally, as a fifth wave, the global transformations which came about through decolonisation and the transitions from authoritarianism and totalitarianism to democracy and human rights in the latter half of the 20th century are analysed. Full review available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2015.00710.x/abstract

""En 1307-1308, le pape Clément V fit mener une enquête sur les crimes imputés à l’évêque d’Albi Bernard de Castanet par deux chanoines de la cathédrale, qui avaient présenté contre ce dernier, à la Curie romaine, une liste d’accusations. Le prélat était accusé négligence pastorale, de simonie, de dilapidation, d’irrégularités et cruautés systématiques dans l’exercice de la justice, d’assassinats, enfin d’incontinence. Peu après l’audition par les enquê­teurs pontificaux, à Albi, de cent quatorze témoins produits par les dénonciateurs, le pape annula la procédure. Mais trois jours plus tard, il désavoua l'évêque en le transférant du siège d’Albi à celui, bien moins prestigieux, du Puy.
L’étude de cette affaire, à partir d’une édition critique des actes de l’enquête d’Albi (conservés dans le registre 404 des Collectoriae aux Archives du Vatican), replace la démarche des dénonciateurs dans l’histoire conflictuelle de l’épiscopat de Bernard de Castanet (1276-1308) et démontre la continuité entre la volonté des témoins d’accréditer les crimes de ce dernier, d’une part, et, d’autre part, la lutte de l’oli­garchie urbaine contre la juridiction seigneuriale de l'évêque, mais aussi le mouvement anti-inquisitorial dirigé par frère Bernard Délicieux dans les années 1299-1306. Durement combattue par l'évêque, l’hérésie des bons hommes s’avère en effet être au cœur de l’affaire, bien qu’elle soit passée sous silence par les dénonciateurs. L’analyse met en valeur la nature informelle et les fondements sociaux et théologico-politiques de la dissidence religieuse. Par ailleurs, en replaçant la procédure dans la série des processus inquisitionis pour « crimes énormes » (enormia) menées par les papes contre les prélats depuis le début du XIIIe siècle et en l’étudiant en termes juridiques, l’étude de ce casus montre le rôle de l’enquête, comme instrument du gouvernement d’État, dans la construction d’une opinion publique (fama), ainsi que dans la différenciation d’une sphère administrative, à partir de la matrice judiciaire, à la fin du Moyen Âge.

In 1307-1308, pope Clement V had an inquiry made into a series of crimes attributed to bishop of Albi Bernard de Castanet by two canons of the cathedral, who had presented at the roman Curia a list of accusations against their spiritual ruler. The bishop was accused of pastoral negligence, of simony, of dilapidation, of irregularities and systematic cruelty in the practice of justice, of murders and of incontinence. Soon after the hearing by pontifical commissioners of a hundred and fourteen witnesses presented by the denouncers, the pope called off the procedure. But three days later, he implicitly penalized the bishop, removing him from the see of Albi to that of Le Puy, which was much less prestigious.
The study of this case develops from the critical edition of the records of the inquiry at Albi, which are held at the Vatican Archives (register 404 of the Collectoriae). The initiative of the denouncers is examined in the perspective of the conflictual history of Bernard de Castanet’s episcopate (1276-1308). A continuity is shown between the witnesses’ will to have the bishop’s guilt admitted, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the struggle of the urban élite against the bishop’s lordly jurisdiction, but also the anti-inquisitorial movement lead by brother Bernard Délicieux in 1299-1306. The heresy of the good men, which was vigorously fought by the bishop, proves to be at the heart of the matter, though the denouncer didn’t mention it at all. The analysis show the informal consistency and the social and theologico-political grounds of religious dissent. Besides, by replacing the procedure in the series of processus inquisitionis dealing with « enormous crimes » (enormia) launched by popes against prelates since the beginning of the XIIIth century and by examining it from a juridical point of view, the study of this casus shows the role played by inquiry, as a tool of State government, in the construction of a public opinion (fama), and in the differentiation of an administrative sphere from the judiciary matrix, in the end of the Middle Ages.""

À partir de l’étude de deux documents conservés aux Archives du Vatican, cet article reconstitue le déroulement d’une enquête judiciaire lancée en 1338 par le pape Benoît XII au sujet de malversations financières imputées à l'évêque de Sienne Donosdeo de’ Malavolti. Les deux documents sont des fascicules de recollectiones, c'est-à-dire des rapports (rédigés par des membres du personnel de la Curie, probablement des clercs de la Chambre apostolique) qui analysent et synthétisent le contenu des actes rapportés à l’issue d’une inquisitio effectuée à Sienne. Ces recollectiones sont ici resituées dans la typologie des sources produites par les affaires d’excessus prelatorum à partir du pontificat d’Innocent III. Leur examen éclaire les méthodes bureaucratiques de traitement des dossiers judiciaires à la Curie, mais aussi les modalités de mise en œuvre de la procédure inquisitoire par les agents de la papauté au début du XIVe siècle, ainsi que la place de l’enquête dans le gouvernement centralisé de l’Église à cette époque. L’affaire offre un bon exemple des nouvelles stratégies rendues possibles, pour les acteurs des sociétés locales, par le développement des justices inquisitoires souveraines. Il s’avère en effet que l’enquête pontificale fut suscitée par des dénonciations émanant de la famille siennoise des Piccolomini, qu’une guerre privée opposait alors à celle des Malavolti depuis plusieurs années.

En la segunda mitad del siglo XIX se articuló un programa utópico en torno a la idea de un mundo bajo la influencia y la autoridad moral del pontífice. Tras la pérdida del poder temporal del papa, los católicos imaginaron nuevas formas de reinscribir su autoridad en el seno de la Iglesia católica, así como fuera de ella. Uno de los elementos centrales de esta utopía ultramontana fue el proyecto de hacer del papa el árbitro internacional de la paz. Para legitimar este programa utópico volvieron la vista atrás, hacia un pasado medieval idealizado, y trataron de encontrar referentes que demostraran su autoridad moral fuera de los marcos confesionales del catolicismo. Para estudiar estos proyectos utópicos, el presente trabajo se centra en los discursos y las solicitudes de arbitraje internacional realizados por los católicos en los congresos celebrados en España entre 1889 y 1899.

The article analyses the Thomistic understanding of Tradition in the
context of the contemporary theological discussion on the extent of changes proposed by recent papal texts, which for one group of theologians is a change of Tradition, and for another a faithful development of it. By recalling the 19th-century understanding of “developing” Tradition forged on the dispute with modernism by Newman, Möhler or Blondel, and juxtaposing it with a Thomistic approach, a conviction is shown that fidelity demands the theologian to develop what is conveyed in the Revelation.
Contemporary debates, however, reveal old theological problems, including
ultramontanism, which is voiced when the primacy of the Bishop of Rome is reduced to guarding formulas, rather than receiving and illuminating the current problems with the light of Revelation. On the base of the biblical commentaries of St Thomas Aquinas to the Letters of St Paul, the vision of the exercising primacy of the Bishop of Rome will be analysed.

This paper presents the results of a case study on a phenomenon hitherto neglected by historiography: curial business management companies. The analysis considers the structure and operations, in Early Modern Spain, of professional intermediation whereby requests for graces of all kinds were submitted on behalf of individuals to the papal administra- tion in Rome. These activities were conducted by agents known as curi- ales in a huge international market that moved large amounts of capital. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Seville was one of the most active hubs in this market, and Fonseca y Rojas one of the major companies in Castile.

Offers a reexamination of the church union negotiations of 1234, calling into question the 'doomed to fail' narrative of ecclesiastical dialogue and highlighting the complex relationship between political and religious concerns in such meetings.