The Power of Protocol
Diplomatics and the Dynamics of Papal Government, c. 400 – c.1600

Explores how the papacy came to govern European religious life without a proper bureaucracy and the normal resources of a state.

D. L. d'Avray (Author)

9781009361118, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 August 2023

280 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

'David d'Avray's latest book - his third since 2019 - is the fruit of decades spent researching the medieval papacy, and years teaching the basics of papal Diplomatic to generation after generation of UCL Masters students … D'Avray has now recorded his insights and arguments in this book. The book is clear, incisive and erudite …' Ben Wiedemann, The English Historical Review

How did the papacy govern European religious life without a proper bureaucracy and the normal resources of a state? From late Antiquity, papal responses were in demand. The 'apostolic see' took over from Roman emperors the discourse and demeanour of a religious ruler of the Latin world. Over the centuries, it acquired governmental authority analogous to that of a secular state – except that it lacked powers of physical enforcement, a solid financial base (aside from short periods) and a bureaucracy as defined by Max Weber. Through the discipline of Applied Diplomatics, which investigates the structures and settings of documents to solve substantive historical problems, The Power of Protocol explores how such a demand for papal services was met. It is about the genesis and structure of papal documents – a key to papal history generally – from the Roman empire to after the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century, and is the only book of its kind.

1. Introduction
2. The history of papal diplomatic
3. Papal documents, c. 400 – c. 1150
4. The religious governance of the Latin world, 1150–1378
5. From schism to counter reformation, c. 1450–c.1600
6. Retrospective: some long-term continuities
Reproductions.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]