Raiding Saint Peter : empty sees, violence, and the initiation of the Great Western Schism (1378) / by Joëlle Rollo-Koster.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rollo-Koster, Joëlle.

Series:

Brill's series in church history ; d. 32.

Brill's series in church history, 1572-4107 ; v. 32

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Catholic Church--Europe--Bishops--Appointment, call, and election--History--To 1500.

Catholic Church.

Schism, The Great Western, 1378-1417.

Violence--Religious aspects--Catholic Church--History--Middle Ages, 600-1500.

Violence.

Pillage--Europe--History--To 1500.

Pillage.

Europe--Religious life and customs.

Europe.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (278 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston [Mass.] : Brill, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Throughout the European Middle Ages, the death of high-ranking prelates was usually interwoven with violent practices. During Empty Sees, mobs ransacked bishops’ and popes’ properties to loot their movable goods. Eventually, in the later Middle Ages, they also plundered the goods of newly-elected popes, and the cells of the Conclave. This book follows and analyzes the history of this violence, using a methodology akin to cultural anthropology, with concepts such as liminal periodization. It contends that pillaging was attached to ecclesiastical interregna, and the nature of ecclesiastical elections contributed to a pillaging ‘problem.’ This approach allows for a fresh reading and re-contextualization of one of the greatest political crises of the later Middle Ages, the Great Western Schism.

Contents:

The empty see

Empty see governance and the papal electoral system

The liturgy of the empty see

Looting, charity, and liturgy

The empty see as liminal phenomenon

Looting the empty see : the early chronology

Introducing spolia: the connection with the ancient

Early spoils : historiography

Evidence

Right of spoil

Looting the empty see : the Great Western Schism (1378)

Rome 1378 : quick historiography

Rome 1378 : background

Rome 1378 : "Romanum volumus papam vel omnes moriemini!"

Conclusion : more loot.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [243]-256) and index.

ISBN:

1-283-06073-6

9786613060730

90-474-3311-4

OCLC:

706475315

Publisher Number:

10.1163/ej.9789004165601.i-267 DOI