Avignon Papacy

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)

After a short introduction of Nicholas of Lyra's biographic and intellectual path, I will show how this exegete's reflection on the Apocalypse is placed within a specific groove according to which the pages of the Book of Revelation provide an opportunity for a continuous reading of the history of Christianity. I will therefore focus mainly on the most problematic moment of the work, namely the author's comment on Revelation XX. In fact, it is precisely in this chapter that Nicholas, declaring his lack of access to the prophetic gift, reveals his myopia in the face of any attempt to recompose the events surrounding him from an historical-eschatological perspective. As I will show in Part II, with this strategy, the prophetic word is therefore subjected to a speculative work aimed at subtracting it from the claims of the apocalyptic thought and at relocating it adequately within a social project suited to the needs of the Church of the time.

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

La delizia di Belfiore - non più esistente ma originariamente ubicata nella periferia nord di Ferrara - ha rappresentato uno dei capitoli più rilevati del mecenatismo della casata tra Tre e Quattrocento. Famosa soprattutto per avere ospitato il celebre studiolo di Leonello, Belfiore fu oggetto di un’importante campagna decorativa negli anni immediatamente successivi la fondazione ad opera del marchese Alberto V d’Este (1388-1393). Stando a quanto rendicontato da Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti nel suo De Triumphis religionis, il ciclo abbelliva il muro di fondo della loggia di facciata del palazzo ed aveva per protagonista il marchese Alberto. La rilettura della fonte ha permesso l’individuazione di tre episodi narrativi principali e una loro interpretazione sulla base di quanto posposto nelle camerae pictae a soggetto venatorio di pieno Trecento di ambito avignonese e transalpino, quindi con quelle messe in opera nelle corti del nord Italia tra anni Ottanta e Novanta. Il contributo muove poi dall’idea che il ciclo trecentesco (forse incentrato sul tema della caccia d’amore) non solo sia stato fondamentale per l’aprirsi della decorazione di tardogotica a Ferrara, ma soprattutto che la sua messa in opera sia l’espressione lampante dei rapporti precoci e intensi intrattenuti dalla corte ferrarese con il mondo della curia pontificia negli anni che videro il succedersi dei governi di Nicolò II e del di lui fratello Alberto.

In this paper, I shall inquire into the story of the distinction between God's absolute and ordered power (‘potentia Dei absoluta’ and ‘potentia Dei ordinata’) in the fourteenth century. This period saw the emergence of orientations that would prove decisive for the fate of modernity. In my analysis, I will try to explain the reasons, both historical and doctrinal, for the success of such a distinction as a specifically legal question during this key period. I shall dwell, in particular, on the years from 1316 to the 1330s, under John XXII’s pontificate, explaining the relevant religious and political issues of those times. To this end, I will examine the perspective of John XXII himself in relation to his two great doctrinal rivals Meister Eckhart (†c.1328) and William of Ockham (†1347), and pay special attention to the dispute between the pope and the Franciscans over evangelical poverty.

This paper analyses the leading figure of Cardinal Gil Alvarez de Albornoz (1302-1367) in regards to the levels, agents and strategies of the construction of his memory, in particular in the context of artistic patronage, from 14th century until today in Spain, Italy and Avignon.

The papal palace in Avignon (figure 1) was an architectural
marvel. In describing it, an anonymous fourteenth-century
chronicler enthusiastically noted that the building also displayed
‘marvelous painting and more marvelous writing.’1 The chronicler was referring to a lost cycle painted by the Italian artist Matteo Giovanetti. Giovanetti was known as the ‘painter of the pope,’ and although some of his wall- and ceiling-paintings have been lost, others survive.2 This study focuses on the two remaining cycles that are the most complete. These are the Chapel of St.Martial, dating ca. 1344–46, and the Chapel of St. John, dating ca. 1346–48, both executed under the patronage of Pope Clement VI. The chronicler celebrates the high quality of the painting, but is even more impressed by the ‘more marvelous’— mirabilioribus — painted texts that form part of each ensemble. It is those texts that I will explore most closely.3

In both chapels, substantial painted Latin inscriptions appear
repeatedly within and below the image fields (figure 2).
Although previous scholars have noted the emphasis on the
written word in these programs, none have pursued their analysis further.4 I propose that these texts and, more particularly, the forms in which these texts appear are integral to our understanding of the programs. The letter forms, placement in space, and support on which a text is presented deliver information that directs a particular understanding of the text. More specifically, I show that in each chapel, text forms are nuanced to direct two different interpretations. In the Chapel of St. Martial, the form of the text and its placement within the cycle emphasize the transfer of divine authority from Christ to St. Martial, a French saint seen as the precursor of the French popes, and from St. Martial to the chapel’s patron, Pope Clement VI. In the Chapel of St. John, the appearance of the word is nuanced to suggest silence, dialogue, and divine speech, such that historical scenes are enacted through eyes and ears in a way that makes them seem miraculously present. This presence of historical scenes may be tied to the performance of the Mass, the Divine Office, and other liturgies that allude to and in some sense reenact depicted scenes.

Les études des huit dernières années ont beaucoup contribué à mettre en lumière la production de manuscrits juridiques enluminés entre le XIIIe et le XIVe siècle dans l’histoire de l’enluminure du Midi de la France. Cette production est très significative et présente un caractère typique. Entre le XIIIe et le XIVe siècle, en effet, elle est influencée par le gothique linéaire du nord de la France, ouverte à des courants stylis- tiques diversifiés, venus de la Péninsule italienne, de la Catalogne mais aussi de l’Europe centrale, et elle montre une évidente originalité. Le Midi de la France devient donc à cette époque – grâce aussi à la présence d’enlumineurs, de commanditaires, de possesseurs et de manuscrits étrangers – le territoire où se rassemblent et d’où se transmettent des expériences artistiques et culturelles différentes : ce n’est pas seulement un lieu de rencontre entre le nord et le sud de l’Europe, c’est aussi un lieu de contacts et d’échanges entre les diffé- rents territoires qui bordent la Méditerranée (par exemple, les côtes liguro-toscanes et catalanes). La production de manuscrits enluminés de contenu juridique soulève beaucoup de points d’interrogation concernant les centres de production (les lieux et les villes comme, par exemple, Toulouse, Montpellier et Avignon), mais aussi la question des échanges artistiques ainsi que le rôle joué par les artistes itinérants dans le système de production du livre juridique qui était, dans la plupart des cas, contrôlé par les universités. Ces recherches ont mis en évidence les influences réciproques qui se sont exercées dans le monde nord-méditerranéen entre les personnes, les modèles iconographiques et stylistiques et les réalités spatiales. Très récemment nous avons repéré deux nouveaux témoins de cette production, qui n’ont fait jusqu’ici l’objet d’aucune étude approfondie et que nous apportent quelque nouveauté sur l’œuvre du Maître du Missel d’Augier de Cogeux et du Maître du Pontifical de Pierre de Saint-Martial. Ce sont ces manuscrits que sont présentés ici.

The topic of this contribution is a legal manuscript, now in the Arras Library, the ms. 499 [593], which can justifiably be considered illustrated and decorated in the South of France, probably in Avignon, in the first half of the fourteenth century by the so-called workshop of Liber de visionis Ezechielis Rotis. The discovery of this manuscript enriches the corpus of legal manuscripts connected with Avignon and this important workshop.

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».

Ces études, provenant d’expériences de recherche très différentes, parcourent l’histoire des parfums et odeurs en croisant sources et traditions allant de l’Antiquité à la période moderne, dans l’esprit transversal des colloques de Micrologus. On y traite du myron baptismal affirmant le pouvoir du patriarche de Constantinople; des odeurs que privilégient les fabliaux; de l’empoisonnement qui peut venir de l’odorat; de l’air infecté des villes au Moyen Âge; de la civette à la Renaissance et à l’Âge classique; de l’odorat des épices ou de celui qui peut être représenté par un artiste; du parfum comme privilège social lors de la mort; des parfums qui interfèrent dans la supplication de Dieu et la conjuration des démons, ou dans l’imaginaire du sabbat; de l’odeur de sainteté ou de l’interprétation symbolique des parfums du Cantique des Cantiques; de la pensée sensorielle dans les commentaires du De anima d’Aristote ou dans l’exégèse de l’Exode à l’époque moderne; et de la tradition médiévale des bestiaires, où, par exemple, la panthère charme des autres animaux par la saveur douce de sa bouche, image du Christ attirant à soi l’humanité.

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.

La Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal conserve un recueil de textes latins dont la première partie présente un des rares exemplaires du Romuleon dans sa version latine produits en France. Si l’analyse textuelle, iconographique et des marques d’appartenance ne permettent pas de dater ou localiser le manuscrit de manière précise, son décor à l’idiome parfaitement reconnaissable le rattache au milieu artistique avignonnais du milieu du XVe siècle. Représentant des Auteurs classiques devant Rome, la première peinture du manuscrit est comparable à certaines enluminures attribuées à Enguerrand Quarton. Non moins intéressant, le reste du cycle illustré est conçu par un enlumineur avignonnais proche de Barthélemy d’Eyck ; par ailleurs, le manuscrit de l’Arsenal cite à plusieurs reprises l’un des plus importants manuscrits produits en Provence à cette époque, les Heures Morgan (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M 358).

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b525069732/f33.item

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.

Presentazione del volume "Virgo digna coelo". Caterina e la sua eredità, a c. di A. Bartolomei Romagnoli, L. Cinelli, P. Piatti, Città del Vaticano 2013  (Pontificio Comitato di Scienze Storiche, Provincia Romana 'Santa Caterina da Siena' dell'Ordine dei Predicatori. Memorie Domenicane, Atti e documenti, 35), pp. 768

The system of papal provision – through which medieval clergy were appointed to ecclesiastical benefices across Christendom – has remained controversial ever since its inception in the 12th century. Xenophobic contemporary commentators, such as the 13th-century English chronicler Matthew Paris, lambasted the appointment of large numbers of foreign clergy to church livings through papal intervention – criticism that has endured in the modern historiography on papal provisions. The predominant historiographical interpretation remains that popes proactively developed an autocratic and nepotistic system of provision, expanding their own powers to reserve benefices through encyclicals such as Licet ecclesiarum, so as to increase their authority over the western Church, and to finance the curia by rewarding cardinals and kinsmen with valuable benefices in local churches throughout the West. An unresolved tension in the historiography has been created, however, by a newer approach that emphasises the importance of petitioners, rather than the popes, in fuelling the development of curial institutions. This article maps the state of the historiography, synthesises the differing scholarly traditions and suggests avenues for future research.

Nel Songe du vieil pelerin, Philippe de Mézières racconta la storia della tres-simple en Dieu et tresdevote et catholique Marie Robien, che alla morte del cardinale Pietro del Lussemburgo giunse ad Avignone dalla Guascogna per pregare sul sepolcro del santo e lì, dopo essere stata benedetta da papa Clemente VII, ottenne una piena e completa guarigione dei suoi mali: Encores dit ma suer que la tressimple en Dieu et tresdevote et catholique creature Marie Robien appelle, des parties de Gascoigne, par revelacion et relacion dudit benoist cardinal, son pie premierement tout sain et a gran douleur tortu en un moment, et apres sa main saine et ouverte et en un moment, close et restraincte tenant la corde de la clochete, a la seule benediction du pasteur Debonnayre du pie et de la main ladicte Marie publiquement guerie en sa doulce creance, et conforte ma doulce suer en nostre election; c'est assavoir que le pasteur Debonaire, souven-tesfoiz repete, est souverain lieutenant de vostre tresame Pere, le benoist Filz de Dieu. Ma treshonnouree dame Verite la reyne, dist Ardant Desir, toutes les choses cy dessus simplement et grossement pour cause de brefvete tellement quellement reciteez par moy pour ma suer et pour tous noz adherans, pour conclusion de mon opinion avecques nostre champion et avec les simples vieilles devotees et catholiques, je confesse doulcement que le Debonnayre, pape Clement, est sou-verain lieutenant en terre du doulx Jesus et souverain chief de l'eglise (Philippe de Mézières, Le songe du vieil pelerin, pp. 373-4). L'episodio, oltre che dal cancelliere di Cipro, ormai ritirato da tempo nel monastero dei Celestini di Parigi, è riferito anche dal domenicano Robert Gervais, vescovo di Senez, nella Myrrha electa, un trattato che risale al pontifi-cato di Urbano VI. La sua testimonianza permette quindi di collocare il mira-colo tra il 1387, data della morte di Pietro del Lussemburgo, e il 1389, anno della scomparsa del pontefice romano. Inoltre Robert Gervais specifica che Marie era originaria di Essach (oggi Héchac), un villaggio nei pressi di Madiran, in diocesi di Auch, negli Alti Pirenei. Robine doveva essere un soprannome, deri-vante forse dal provenzale «Roubino», che stava per boiteuse, la zoppa. Può stupire l'interesse di questi due illustri personaggi per la vicenda di una povera storpia, di natali oscuri, ma il miracolo di cui era stata protagonista assu-meva in quegli anni anche una forte valenza politica. La guarigione da una malattia, quae secundum cursum naturae non poterat curari, era una prova infallibile 293

Abstract: The present paper aims, first of all, to show an overview about the existing results of the researches concerning the relations of the Papacy and the Hungarian Kingdom in the 14th century. Besides the abundance of sources, the relationship was presented generally from diplomatic point of view and other features (church government, jurisdiction, sociology) were neglected. Using the experiences of a previous research project (DeLegatOnline) the present work shows
shortly the available sources, the features to be analyzed and some methodological suggestion.
Keywords: Papacy, Hungary, diplomacy, church government, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, prosopography, 14th century.

In a private room for Clemens VI (1342–1352) in the palace of the popes at Avignon, frescoes show a peaceful vision of nature with flowering trees, numerous birds, and hunting scenes. There is a strong contrast between the castle-like architecture of the tower in which the room is located and the expansive view of plants and animals offered by the paintings. All of the people in the frescoes are more or less youthful, some collecting fruits, some bathing, and others trying to catch birds or rabbits. It is a very selective impression of nature, with much left out. The experience of nature articulated in the same period by Francesco Petrarca uses very similar elements. Apart from all differences, the frescoes and the writings of Petrarca share a newly emerged interest in nature in the middle of the fourteenth century.

The medieval army went through many important mutations over the centuries. One of these transformations occurred during the Hundred Years War, when Charles V completely reorganized the French armies in order to fight their English counterparts more effectively. But when the French armies were later on sent to Italy to establish a French power on the kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Genoa, they had to adapt themselves to the military and political reality of Medieval Italy. Des guerres en Italie avant les Guerres d'Italie offers a global study of these armies, and demonstrates that these armies are to be considered and investigated as micro-societies. While emphasising the important figure of the captain, this book addresses the composition, financing, objectives, actions, and choices of these armies, between knightly ideology and warrior pragmatism. This thorough inquiry allows Christophe Masson to question the official discourses which spread at the time: were the Great Western Schism and the service of Charles VI really the main goals of these first French campaigns led in Italy, before the so-called Italian Wars?