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The Two Powers
THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES
Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor
Edward Peters, Founding Editor
A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.
The TWO POWERS
The Papacy, the Empire, and the Struggle for Sovereignty in the Thirteenth Century
Brett Edward Whalen
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright © 2019 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Whalen, Brett Edward, author.
Title: The two powers: the papacy, the empire, and the struggle for sovereignty in the thirteenth century / Brett Edward Whalen.
Other titles: Middle Ages series.
Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, [2019] | Series: The Middle Ages series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018044569 | ISBN 9780812250862 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Gregory IX, Pope, approximately 1170–1241. | Innocent IV, Pope, approximately 1200–1254. | Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, 1194–1250. | Popes—Temporal power—History—To 1500. | Church and state—Holy Roman Empire—History—To 1500. | Papacy—History—To 1309. | Holy Roman Empire—History—Frederick II, 1215–1250. | Church history—Middle Ages, 600–1500. | Sovereignty—History—To 1500. Classification: LCC BX1238.W47 2019 | DDC 943/.025—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018044569
For Jack and Amelia
Contents
Chapter 2. Reforming the Peace
Chapter 4. Christendom in Crisis
Chapter 8. The Price of Victory
Map 1. Italy in the thirteenth century.
Map 2. Europe in the thirteenth century.
Introduction
Entering the chapel of Saint Sylvester in the basilica of Santi Quattro Coronati in Rome, one encounters a sequence of frescoes from the year 1246 that speaks to the dual nature of Christian sovereignty in the Middle Ages. The images present a meeting over nine hundred years earlier between Pope Sylvester, the bishop of Rome, and Constantine, the Roman emperor. Although this encounter never actually happened, medieval Europeans generally believed that that it did. The paintings commence with scenes of the pagan ruler’s leprosy and refusal to bathe in the blood of slaughtered infants, a cure recommended to him by pagan priests, followed by his vision of the apostles Peter and Paul. The two saints instruct him to seek out Sylvester, who was hiding on the outskirts of Rome due to the imperial persecution of the Christian church at the time. The pope meets and baptizes the stricken ruler, healing him of his affliction. Out of gratitude, the emperor hands over his
