The Reception of Papal Legates in England, 1170-1250

Narrating the Adventus Ceremony
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-83765-057-6
Verlag: Boydell & Brewer

Buch, Englisch, Band 57, 280 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 572 g

Reihe: Studies in the History of Medieval Religion

Considers the reception of legatine missions to England during a significant period in the development of Anglo-Papal relations.

Papal legates, as the most powerful representatives of the pope, wielded significant influence in establishing and upholding papal authority throughout Christendom. The adventus - the elaborate ceremony of lordship on their arrival - provided a reception to mark their status. While the ceremony was ostensibly a straightforward display of power, communicating the lordship and authority of the papal legate, and a tool for establishing, negotiating, and gauging the relationship between the pope and other European powers, it was also susceptible to manipulation and distortion.

This book investigates how four chroniclers - Roger of Howden, Gervase of Canterbury, Roger of Wendover, and Matthew Paris - observed and interpreted such legatine adventus ceremonies in England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. These writers, aware of the curia's view that the reception of a papal legate signified acquiescence to papal authority and hegemony, offer a range of responses, from ridicule to praise. Drawing on chronicles, customaries, decretals, and other sources, it sheds new light on the intricate interplay between the expectations of both the papacy and the legates, and the diverse viewpoints found in the response of English writers.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Christensen, Emil Lauge

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Praktische Theologie Liturgik, Christliche Anbetung, Sakramente, Rituale, Feiertage
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Gottesdienst, Riten und Zeremonien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Mittelalterliche, neuzeitliche Archäologie (Europa)
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction

Part I: Communicating and Perceiving Legatine Expressions
1. The Papal Legatus a Latere: An Everchanging, Contradictory Figure
2. Expressing Papal and Legatine Authority: Insignia and Adventus
3. Instructing a Proper Welcome: Normative Guides to the Adventus

Part II: Narrating Legatine Adventus Ceremonies
4. Dependent on the King: Roger of Howden and the Legatine Adventus
5. The Road of St Thomas: Gervase of Canterbury and Local Adaptation
6. Treason and Slavery: Roger of Wendover and the Plight of England
7. Choosing Submission: Matthew Paris and the Foolishness of the English

Conclusion
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Christensen, Emil Lauge
EMIL LAUGE CHRISTENSEN is External Lecturer in History at Roskilde University.