Avignon Papacy

Il-Ḵh̲ānid Tabrīz became not only a nodal point in the spatial imagination of Christian merchants and missionaries, but was promoted even to a significant landmark in the Biblical and apocalyptic topography of 13th and 14th century Christianity. As this processes were very much connected to the rise of the city as centre of Mongol Iran, its prominence on the (mental) maps dwindled with its political and mercantile importance; yet, the case of Tabrīz provides a most interesting example for the imagination and organisation of space respectively the modification and adaption of these phenomena within the Christian communities confronted with the rise and fall of Mongol power in Iran.

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.

Which animals – real or imaginary – helped construct the power
of the Popes over the centuries? And during the Middle Ages,
the Protestant Reformation or in more recent years, which animals
inspired polemics and satire about the papacy?
Several animals of the papacy are part of our collective memory (the dove, the eagle, the lion). Many others have been forgotten, and yet parrots and peacocks, phoenixes and griffins, leopards and elephants have accompanied the papacy for very long periods of time.
This historical reconstruction is based on a first-hand reinterpretation of a wealth of
textual and iconographic sources. Each chapter follows the historical pathway of one of the various animals, from its very first mention (the 3rd century for the dove, the 6th for the horse, the 11th for the parrot) until its symbolic decline, or tracing its survival to the present day.
These stories of animals are an observatory – fascinating but also incisive –illustrating
how the papacy constructed its power, and the efforts of people to inspire its reform or
make it an object of derision.


«Dal 13 marzo 2013 siede sull’antica cattedra di Pietro un pontefice che,
primo nella storia, ha scelto il nome di Francesco, il santo che ancora oggi tutti associano all’amore nei confronti dell’ancor piú antico miracolo
della natura creata e dei suoi animali. Certo, i tempi cambiano, e l’enciclica Laudato si’ del 2015 è stata debitamente definita “ecologista” dai media per le novità che contiene. Ma in realtà, papa Francesco si riallaccia a una tradizione, tanto remota quanto ininterrotta, che associa animali e pontefici in un rapporto simbolico e metaforico di stupefacente coerenza, pur nell’estrema varietà dei messaggi. Una storia, anzi un insieme di storie per narrare le quali nessuno strumento ci è parso altrettanto opportuno della piú veneranda delle enciclopedie: un bestiario. Nel corso delle pagine che seguiranno, cercheremo di costruirne uno assai particolare, popolato di colombe, draghi, cavalli, asini e cammelli, pappagalli, fenici e pavoni, aquile, leoni, leopardi, corna di ceraste e corni di unicorni, oltre che di orsi ed elefanti, allo scopo di comprendere in qual modo tutti questi animali abbiano contribuito a creare e poi accompagnato – talvolta senza soluzione di continuità e per molti secoli – l’autoaffermazione simbolica del papato nel suo divenire storico e istituzionale; oppure, al contrario, siano stati usati per criticare o delegittimare il pontefice e la Chiesa».

From the end of the 12th century until the Great Schism, the papacy prosecuted hundreds of prelates charged with ‘crimes’ (crimina), ‘excesses’ (excessus), or ‘enormities’ (enormia, enormitates), these words being used interchangeably in the documents. These proceedings were often called inquisitionis negocia. All were initiated at the papal Curia and sentences were usually reserved to the pope or to a cardinal appointed by the pope. This article is based on the study of 480 cases between 1198 and 1342. It presents a general introductory survey of this judicial practice, which has never been studied before and seems curious, because, although serious and shameful charges were involved, ultimately most processes had minimal consequences for the accused. After a presentation of the sources which were used to establish the list of cases, a typology of the accusations is proposed. Finally, after a brief description of the procedures’ general characteristics, the various results of the processes are discussed.

The paper provides on overview on the negotiations about a union of churches and military cooperation against the Turks respectively the Mamluks between Byzantium, Cilician Armenia and the Papacy in the 1320s and 1330s. In the final section, a simple game theoretical model is presented in order to explain the failure of these and similar attempts. The paper was orginally presented at the International Conference "The Union of Ferrara-Florence 1439-2009" in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) in 2009. Slides are online here: http://www.academia.edu/1691205/The_Crusade_as_Hope_the_Union_as_Instrument._Negotiations_on_a_Union_of_Churches_between_Byzantium_Cilician_Armenia_and_Western_Europe_in_the_1320s_and_1330s_in_German_

In 1328, Constance of Saluzzo, coming from a long line of Subalpine nobles related to the kings of Aragon, married Pietro, heir to the throne of Arborea. They governed peaceably and dedicated themselves to bettering their kingdom; in 1343 they founded a monastery of Poor Clares, for which they obtained particular Papal privileges. Use is made of both published and as yet unpublished documentation to shed light on the different stages of this foundation, the monastic community living first next the church of St. Vincent and then, once the construction was done, next that of St. Clare. Founding the monastery not only made available for the royals a place for their retreats, but also guaranteed them the prayers of the Poor Clares. Great civic and political value was
assigned to these prayers. Indeed, the nuns’ prayers for the royal couple, and for the safety of the kingdom, were thought of as an indispensable resource for the proper functioning of the State

“The Great Western Schism, Legitimacy, and Tyrannicide: The Murder of Louis of Orleans (1407).” In On the Edge of Modernity: Studies in European Intellectual History in Honor of Thomas M. Izbicki. Edited by Bettina Koch and Cary J. Nederman (Kalamazoo: Arc Humanities Press & Medieval Institute Publications, 2018), 193-211.

This paper provides an analysis of the Lombard episcopate in the mid-14th century. Via a comparative approach, I will try to understand how both political events (i.e. the appeasement between the Apostolic See and the Visconti or the appointment of Giovanni Visconti as Archbishop of Milan) and institutional changes (i.e. the the extension of the apostolic reservation on episcopal appointments) influenced the main features of Lombard episcopate.
Secondly, this paper focuses on the specific cultures of government expressed by the prelates at that time, by concentrating on different topics, such as: the massive use of writings, the attempts to to restore episcopal properties, rights, and jurisdictions, the promotion of the episcopal authority by means of a number of interventions (such as the restoration of urban palaces and castles).
Finally, particular attention has been paid to the relationship between the political power of Visconti (at that time embodied by the Archbishop Giovanni) and Lombard episcopate, in order to identify spaces of cooperation and conflict

This article is the first to analyse the role of papal executors in scrutinising the veracity of petitions for papal graces (such as provision to a Church benefice, or dispensation from illegitimate birth) in thirteenth-century England. It sheds light on the office of executor – the linchpin of the papal provisions system – which has traditionally remained obscure for this period. By demonstrating that executors could and did refuse papal mandates for provision, this article draws into question the arguments of scholars who claim that swathes of illiterate foreign providees were crippling English pastoral care and exporting huge sums of ecclesiastical revenue from England.

1. Da Avignone a Roma: i documenti nella nuova sede dei papi a S. Pietro – 2. Gli archivalia negli inventari della biblioteca papale in Avignone – 3. I materiali trasferiti dalla Vaticana all’Archivio Segreto al principio del secolo XVII – 4. Gli archivalia negli inventari della Vaticana alla fine del secolo XV: l’opera del Platina – 5. Gli archivalia negli inventari della Vaticana tra l’inizio e la metà del XVI: verso una nuova concezione d’archivio – 6. Una riflessione conclusiva: i Registri delle bolle in Vaticana tra Niccolò V e Sisto IV

Contient : Dossier 2. Le combat contre les Hohenstaufen et leurs alliés
- Présentation
- Orientation bibliographique
- Document 5. Innocent IV promulgue une sentence de déposition de l’empereur Frédéric II devant le concile universel réuni à Lyon (Ad apostolice dignitatis, 17 juillet 1245)
- Document 6. Innocent IV déclare Ezzelino da Romano hérétique et proclame son excommunication (Truculentam, 9 avril 1254)
- Document 7. Décisions d’Urbain IV pour les négociations avec Charles d’Anjou concernant son accession au trône de Sicile et à la dignité sénatoriale de Rome (Dicit Jeremias, 25 avril 1264)

Il libro è incentrato sull’analisi storica e storico-artistica dei manoscritti realizzati ad uso della Curia Papale e del Laterano dal VI al XIII secolo. La ricerca percorre tre direttrici principali: la delineazione delle modalità che, nei secoli centrali del Medioevo, hanno portato all’istituzione e allo sviluppo di un’attività scrittoria e di conservazione libraria in ambito papale; l’individuazione sistematica degli esemplari manoscritti superstiti, testimoni di tale attività; l’analisi degli esemplari medesimi, condotta mediante diversi approcci metodologici (storico-artistico, paleografico, codicologico, filologico, liturgico, ecc.). Si restituisce, in questo modo, un aspetto molto significativo, e finora poco esplorato nel suo insieme, della storia della miniatura medievale, grazie anche alla riunificazione, condotta in quest’opera per la prima volta, di quanto sopravvive della produzione manoscritta, in particolare miniata, legata al Laterano e alla Curia Papale.

Presents catalogue entries and analyses of metalwork, bone, and horn objects (13th-early 14th cs.) excavated 1990s at the rocca, Campiglia Marittima. These include an agnus dei (1316-1334) showing the Lamb of God with the inscribed name of pope John XXII, and on the reverse, the Crucifixion. Suggests that the object was deliberately discarded after John XXII's excommunication. Other objects treated include toilet articles, costume accessories, rings, and a bone flute.