Walter Ullmann - The growth of papal government in the Middle Ages : a study in the ideological relation of clerical to lay power

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
POLITICAL SCIENCE

THE GROWTH OF PAPAL
GOVERNMENT IN THE
MIDDLE AGES

THE GROWTH OF PAPAL
GOVERNMENT IN THE
MIDDLE AGES

A Study in the Ideological Relation of
Clerical to Lay Power

By

WALTER ULLMANN

Volume 35

First published 1955
Second edition first published 1962
Third edition first published 1970

This edition first published in 2010
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
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1970 Walter Ullmann

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 10: 0-415-49111-8 (Set)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-49111-2 (Set)

ISBN 10: 0-415-55575-2 (Volume 35)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-55575-3 (Volume 35)

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RECONSTRUCTION OF MEDIEVAL ST. PETERS, ROME

Originally drawn by H. W. Brewer in The Builder, vol. lxii (1892).

Drawing modified by M. Crostarosa (cf. H. Grisar, Geschichte Roms und der Ppste, Freiburg, 1901, pp. 239, 832)

THE GROWTH OF
PAPAL GOVERNMENT
IN THE MIDDLE AGES

A study in the ideological relation
of clerical to lay power

by

WALTER ULLMANN

METHUEN & CO. LTD LONDON

II NEW FETTER LANE, EC4

First published in 1955
Second edition 1962
Reprinted with minor corrections 1965
Third edition 1970
SBN 416 15890 0
3.1

Distributed in the USA
by Barnes & Noble Inc

Preface

T HERE are probably fewer topics in history which have attracted greater attention than the perennial problem of the relations between Church and State. For the medieval period, however, it is increasingly recognized that this modern dichotomy has little, if any, meaning. At the same time it is generally recognized that the medieval papacy, certainly after the late eleventh century, exercised considerable governmental authority over empires, kingdoms, princedoms, and so forth.

What this book attempts to do is to trace the development of papal governmental authority. Roughly speaking, the period which witnessed this evolution was that between Emperor Gratian and Master Gratian. By the time of Master Gratian the development was virtually concluded: the period from the mid-twelfth century onwards, beginning with Alexander IIIs pontificate, shows the papal government at work through the agency of the lawthe canon lawthe scientific elaboration of which owed so much to the monk of Bologna. In the last chapters I have found it advisable to indicate in the notes how the one or the other point developed in the later period.

This essay is not written from the papal, or imperial, or royal or any particular point of view; nor does it try to justify or to refute any standpoint or theory or ideology, past or present. It tries, with the limited resources accessible to a mere student of history, to find an answer to the question of how this papal government grew, what factors contributed to its growth, what obstacles it had to overcome, what were its essential features, and so forth. The problem of the secular power is most intimately linked with these central questions: what functions did papal doctrine attribute to a king or an emperor, and why was he to assume a position of inferioritythese and numerous other topics are so essential to the theory of papal government that they are part and parcel of the central theme. Therefore, this essay is not a history of the medieval papacy or of the medieval Church, but is concerned with the development of the basic principles upon which rested the governmental authority of the Roman Church in the medieval period. A very modest attempt is here made to explain this development with the help of historical facts. I felt that one kind of modern historiography is too much concerned with the presentation of facts to the detrimental exclusion of ideas which, after all, are closely related to these facts, whilst another kind of historiography deals too much with the presentation of ideas and virtually excludes the historically relevant facts. This essay is a very humble attempt to build a bridge between these two extremes by the combination of the processes of re-thinking and therefore of re-assessing.

Considering the multitude of elements which went to make the governmental edifice of the medieval papacy, I am fully aware of the weaknesses and shortcomings of this essay. Perhaps not its least defect lies in its not taking into account St Augustine. I may perhaps be allowed to say that originally I had of course intended to give Augustinian thought its due, but I became convinced that its presentation would not only involve his political theories, but also his teleology of history, Platonism and Neo-Platonism no less than the other agencies which moulded the great Africans mind. But this can no longer be done within a chapter or two. As it was, I had to deal with a great number of topics whichfor inscrutable reasonslie outside the historians view, such as liturgy, symbolism, and so forth. I can only hope that I have not made too many blunders in these departments which I strongly feel are far too little the direct concern of medieval historians, although they are by no means the only ones which should at least be accorded the status of auxiliary sciences.1

The long period which this book covers, necessitated some care in the selection of literary sources. I preferred to rely on the actual texts and have therefore quoted at fairly great length from them, because so much depends on the actual (and usually carefully chosen) wording of the record. I have for this reason also preferred, if possible, not to translate. The pitfalls of translating medieval Latin, particularly of official records, and the consequential blurring of their meaning, are commonplace knowledge. I am fully conscious of the inadequacy of my modern literary apparatus, but if the footnotes were not to become too unwieldy, a severe pruning had to take place: even so, they are still very long and numerous. I have cited liberally modern authorities in the language in which they were originally written. I believe that herewith a service to the reader is rendered who, indeed, is not helped when confronted with a string of references to authoritiesoriginal and secondarywhich he is not usually in a position to check, unless he is permanently resident in some great library. The terminology adopted which at first sight may seem unfamiliar, is derived from the actual expressions, terms, phrases, etc., occurring in the historical documents. I am not unaware of a certain repetitiveness, but in mitigation I may plead that this is conditioned by the subject itself. Nor do I fail to see that some concepts and facts merited lengthier treatment, but again my plea is that if the study was not to become too unwieldy, it was advisable to indicate certain developmentspointing to further literaturerather than to try and attempt to write exhaustively. My main object was to concentrate on the fundamental principles.