Debating Papal History, c. 250–c. 1300

Responsive Government and the Medieval Papacy

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The papacy is the oldest surviving government in human history, yet the forms and roles of papal authority remain contested in scholarship. Debating Papal History offers a reinterpretation of papal history from the third to the thirteenth century, through an extensive series of case studies with translations of supporting documents. D.L. d'Avray argues against interpretations of the papacy which focus on a top-down imposition of power, suggesting instead that papal authority was primarily responsive, invoked to resolve uncertainty arising from different ecclesiastical subsystems, and interlinked with the roles of other non-ecclesiastical powers. The study brings together late Antique and Medieval history while also transmitting the findings of non-English scholarship in the field. Debating Papal History aims to inspire fresh thinking and discussion, rendering original documents newly accessible and presenting a vivid corrective to conventional understandings of the papacy.