Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes; Fourth Edition (82 page)

On the Goths and other Barbarians: J. M. Wallace-Hadrill,
The Barbarian West 400–1000
, London 1967; P. S. Barnwell,
Emperor, Prefects and Kings:The Roman West 395–565
, London 1992; C. Wickham,
Early Medieval Italy
,
London 1981. R. McKitterick (ed.),
The New Cambridge Medieval History Volume 2 c.700–900
, Cambridge 1995, contains many essays of direct relevance. For a one-volume survey of the religious background of the period see D. Knowles and D. Obolensky,
The Christian Centuries Volume 2: the Middle Ages
, London 1969, (good on Byzantine-Latin relations); C. Mango,
Byzantium:The Empire of New Rome
, London 1980 for fuller treatment of the Byzantine church and its relations with the West; survey and good bibliographies in J. M. Hussey,
The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire
, Oxford 1986; J. Pelikan,
The Christian Tradition Volume 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom 600–1700
, Chicago 1977 is excellent on theology and spirituality. L. Duchesne’s
L’Eglise au VIe. siècle
, Paris 1925 is strong on the often bewildering theological controversies of the sixth century, and the role of the popes in them.

The fundamental source for the popes of the period is the
Liber Pontificalis
, the great papal chronicle which provides contemporary biographies of the popes from the sixth to the ninth centuries. The Latin text with splendidly full French notes was edited by L. Duchesne,
Le Liber Pontificalis:Texte, Introduction et Commentaire
, Paris 1886–92, and then reissued with a third supplementary volume, edited by C. Vogel, Paris 1955–7. A good English translation from Duchesne’s edition, incorporating much of the material from his notes, has been published in three volumes by Raymond Davis:
The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis)
, Liverpool 1989;
The Lives of the Eighth-Century Popes (Liber Pontificalis)
, Liverpool 1992;
The Lives of the Ninth-Century Popes (Liber Pontificalis)
, Liverpool 1995.

The fullest narrative history of the popes for this period is H. K. Mann,
The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages
, London 1902–32 (18 volumes). Mann was a Roman Catholic priest and Rector of the English College in Rome. His book was solidly grounded in the available sources, and wears its prejudices on its sleeve. It is uncritical, but readable and (mostly) factually reliable.

On Ravenna, Rome, and the Empire: R. A. Markus, ‘Ravenna and Rome 554–604’,
Byzantion
51 (1981); T. S. Brown, ‘The Church of Ravenna and the imperial administration in the seventh century’,
English Historical Review
94 (1979) pp. 1– 28; G. Bovini,
Ravenna Mosaics
, Oxford 1978; L. Von Matt and G. Bovini,
Ravenna
, Cologne 1971; J. Meyendorf,
Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions
, New York 1989.

On Monophysitism: A. A. Luce,
Monophysitism: Past and Present
, London 1920; W. H. C. Frend,
The Rise of the Monophysite Movement
, Cambridge 1972.

On Gregory the Great, F. H. Dudden,
Gregory the Great: His Place in History and Thought
, London 1905 (two volumes) is still valuable; Jeffrey Richards,
Consul of God:The Life and Times of Gregory the Great
, London 1980; R. A. Markus,
From Augustine to Gregory the Great
, London 1983, (important for English mission), and the same author’s
Gregory the Great and His World
, Cambridge 1997; C. Straw,
Gregory the Great: Perfection in Imperfection
, Berkeley 1988; C. Dagens,
Saint Gregoire le Grand: Culture et Experiences Chrétiennes
, Paris 1977. His letters and the Pastoral Rule have been translated into rather stiff English in J. Barmby (ed.),
The Book of Pastoral Rule and Selected Epistles of Gregory the Great
, Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series 12 and 13, New York 1895; his dialogues were translated by E. G. Gardner in
The Dialogues of St Gregory
, London 1911. The best treatment of the patrimony remains E. Spearing,
The Patrimony of the Roman Church in the time of Gregory the Great
, Cambridge 1918, but see also Jeffrey,
The Popes and the Papacy
, chapter 18.

For the Church in Ireland, K. Hughes,
The Church in Early Irish Society
, London 1966, and a survey of recent literature in Dáibhí ó Cróinín,
Early Medieval Ireland 400–1200
, London 1995.

For ‘micro-christendoms’ in the age of Gregory, see Herrin,
Formation of Christendom
, and Brown,
Rise of Western Christendom.

For Anglo-Saxon Christianity: H. Mayr-Harting,
The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England
, London 1972; discussion of Rome and England in Eamonn ó Carragáin,
The City of Rome and the World of Bede
, Newcastle upon Tyne 1994; for the Lindisfarne Gospels lectionary and Southern Italian influence, J. Backhouse,
The Lindisfarne Gospels
, London 1981, chapter 3. Essential sources translated in J. F. Webb and D. H. Farmer (eds.),
The Age of Bede
, Harmondsworth 1983 (includes Eddius Stephanus, ‘Life of Wilfred’) and Bede,
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People
, edited by J. McClure and R. Collins, Oxford 1994.

For the anti-Gregorian reaction in Rome, Peter Llewellyn, ‘The Roman Church in the Seventh Century: the legacy of Gregory the Great’,
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
35 (1974), pp. 363–80.

For the rise of Islam: F. Gabrieli,
Muhammad and the Conquests of Islam
, London 1968; H. Kennedy,
The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates
, London 1986.

For Iconoclasm: Herrin,
Formation
, chapter 8; Brown,
Rise
chapter 14 and ‘A Dark Age Crisis: Aspects of the Iconoclastic Controversy’,
English Historical Review
88 (1973), pp. 1– 34; Hussey,
The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire
, pp. 30–68.

For Roman Pilgrimage: Debra J. Birch,
Pilgrimage to Rome in the Middle Ages
, Woodbridge 1998; a delightful exploration of English pilgrimage, mostly focused, however, on later periods, is Judith Champ,
The English Pilgrimage to Rome: A Dwelling for the Soul
, Leominster 2000.

For the emergence of the papal state: L. Duchesne,
The Beginnings of the Temporal Sovereignty of the Popes A.D. 754–1073
, London 1908; P. Partner,
The Lands of St. Peter
, London 1972; T. F. X. Noble,
The Republic of St. Peter:The Birth of the Papal State, 680–825
, Philadelphia 1984.

For the popes and the Franks: Noble,
The Republic of St Peter:The Birth of the Papal State, 680–825;
R. McKitterick,
The Frankish Kingdoms and the Carolingians 751–987
, London 1983; J. M. Wallace-Hadrill,
The Frankish Church
, Oxford 1983; D. Bullough,
The Age of Charlemagne
, London 1973; L. Wallach, ‘The Roman Synod of 800 and the alleged trial of Leo III’,
Harvard Theological Review
49 (1956) pp. 123– 42; sources in L. Thorpe,
Two Lives of Charlemagne
, Harmondsworth 1969; B. W. Scholz and B. Rogers (eds.),
Carolingian Chronicles
, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1970; C. H. Talbot (ed.),
The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany
, London 1954 (contains a selection of the correspondence of St. Boniface with a series of eighth-century popes, which throws a flood of light on attitudes to the papacy, and the self-understanding of the popes of the period).

On Nicholas I and the East: F. Dvornik,
The Photian Schism: History and Legend
, Cambridge 1948. Much of Dvornik’s scholarship was distilled into the brief and readable
Byzantium and the Roman Papacy
, New York 1966; F. A. Norwood, ‘The Political Pretensions of Nicholas I’,
Church History
15 (1946), pp. 271– 85; Y. Congar, ‘Nicolas 1er: Ses Positions Ecclésiastiques’ in
Rivista di storia Della Chiesa in Italia
21 (1967), pp. 393–410; the whole subject of East-West relations is surveyed by a great scholar in Henry Chadwick,
East and West:The Making of a Rift in the Church: From Apostolic Times until the Council of Florence
, Oxford 2003.

There is no satisfactory overview of the ‘Dark Century’. A detailed picture can be built up from the relevant volumes of Mann’s
The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages
(embarrassed) and the third volume of F. Gregorovius’ eight-volumed
History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages
, London 1894–1902 (censorious), while the early chapters of Peter Partner,
The Lands of St Peter
, provide an overarching political narrative. Helpful brief discussion of the Ottonian revival in C. N. L. Brooke,
Europe in the Central Middle Ages 962–1154
, London 1994, pp. 211ff. The greatest gossip of the tenth century was the chronicler and diplomat Liudprand of Cremona, the source for some of the most entertaining and
discreditable stories about the popes of this period. His observations on the papacy, on an embassy to Byzantium, and on the reign of Otto the Great are translated by F. A. Wright in
The Works of Liudprand of Cremona
, London 1930.

CHAPTER THREE
: ‘
SET ABOVE NATIONS
’

Mann,
The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages;
Gregorovius,
City of Rome;
Krautheimer,
Rome;
Barraclough,
Medieval Papacy
, and Ullmann,
Short History
, all remain valuable for this period. Two books by R. W. Southern provide profound introductions to the medieval world and the place of the Church within it:
The Making of the Middle Ages
, London 1987, and
Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages
, Harmondsworth 1970 (particularly good on the evolution of papal institutions). Brooke,
Europe in the Central Middle Ages
provides general political context and a strong emphasis on the religious dimension, with up-todate reading-lists. For the rest of the period two books in the same seriesq

J. H. Mundy,
Europe in the High Middle Ages 1150–1309
, London 1991, and (especially) D. Hay,
Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
, London 1989 – are invaluable.

Two surveys of the reform papacy provide essential and complementary coverage: Colin Morris,
The Papal Monarchy:The Western Church from 1050 to 1250
, Oxford 1989 is beautifully written and very comprehensive with exhaustive bibliographical essays, and I. S. Robinson,
The Papacy 1073–1198
, Cambridge 1990, an exploration in depth of institutional and ideological transformation. Also valuable but drier is G. Tellenbach,
The Church in Western Europe From theTenth to the EarlyTwelfth Centuries
, Cambridge 1993.

Fascinating early sources are edited and translated by Ian Robinson in
The Papal Reform of the Eleventh Century: Lives of Pope Leo IX and Pope Gregory VII
, Manchester 2005.

On Cluny and monastic reform: B. Bolton,
The Medieval Reformation
, London 1983; C. H. Lawrence,
Medieval Monasticism
, London 1984; H. E. J. Cowdrey,
The Cluniacs and Gregorian Reform
, Oxford 1970; N. Hunt,
Cluny under St Hugh
, London 1967; N. Hunt (ed.),
Cluniac Monasticism in the Central Middle Ages
, London 1971.

On celibacy of the clergy, A. L. Barstow,
Married Priests and the Reforming Papacy
, New York 1982; C. N. L. Brooke,
Medieval Church and Society
, Cambridge 1971, pp. 69–99 (on Norman England).

On the Normans in the South: R. H. C. Davis,
The Normans andTheir Myth
, London 1976; D. C. Douglas,
The Norman Achievement 1050–1100
, London 1969, and
The Norman Fate 1100–1154
, London 1976; D. Mack Smith,
Medieval Sicily 800–1713
, London 1968; J. J. Norwich,
The Normans in the South 1016–1130
, London 1967 and
The Kingdom in the Sun, 1130–1194
, London 1970 (compulsively readable popular accounts). On Byzantium and Rome: Hussey,
Orthodox Church
, and C. M. Brand,
Byzantium confronts the West
, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1968.

On the Cardinals: Robinson,
Papacy
chapter 2, and S. Kuttner, ‘Cardinalis: The History of a Canonical Concept’,
Traditio
3 (1945), pp. 129–214.

There are extended discussions of Gregory VII, in Ullmann, Morris, Robinson and Brooke; magisterial biography by H. E. J. Cowdrey,
Pope Gregory VII, 1073–1085
, Oxford 1998. Cowdrey has also edited and translated Gregory’s letters,
The Register of Gregory VIII 1073–1085
, Oxford 2002. The best short life is that in the
Bibliotheca Sanctorum;
a survey of modern interpretations is provided by I. S. Robinson, ‘Pope Gregory VII: 1073-1085 Bibliographical Survey’,
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
36 (1985), pp. 439–83. A selection of his letters has been edited by E. Emerton,
The correspondence of Pope Gregory VII: Selected Letters from the Registrum
, New York 1932, and see also H. E. J. Cowdrey (ed.),
Epistolae Vagantes of Pope Gregory VII
, Oxford 1972. For the papacy after Gregory, one of the best treatments is H. E. J. Cowdrey,
The Age of Abbot Desiderius
, Oxford 1983, which covers the pontificate of Blessed Victor III and much more.

On the Investiture controversy: B. Tierney (ed.),
The Crisis of Church and State 1050–1300
, New Jersey 1964 (documents); K. Morrison,
Tradition and Authority in the Western Church, 300–1140
, Princeton, New Jersey 1969; I. S. Robinson,
Authority and Resistance in the Investiture Contest
, Manchester 1978, and W. Ullmann,
The Growth of Papal Government
, London 1970. Y. Congar,
Eglise et Papauté: Regards Historiques
, Paris 1994, collects some important papers on the theology of the papacy by a great historical theologian: chapter 6 deals with the seminal influence of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. St. Bernard’s seminal instructions to Pope Eugenius III have been translated by J. D. Anderson and E. T. Kennan in
St. Bernard of Clairvaux: Five Books on Consideration:Advice to a Pope
, Kalamazoo, Michigan 1976.