Brett Edward Whalen's The Medieval Papacy is designed as an accessible introductory survey for readers who are unfamiliar with the study of medieval Europe. Covering the period from the origins of the Christian tradition in Rome to the excommunication of Luther, Whalen asserts throughout his narrative that the papacy existed in a constant state of paradox as it projected an ideal of majesty and universality while carrying out its affairs in a mundane, often local, and highly limited circumstantial reality. Reminding his readers of this paradox throughout the book, the author often returns to The Donation of Constantine as a sort of emblem of the medieval papacy's aspirations and failures, arguing that the success of the papacy depended largely on its ability to convince European Christians of its particular interpretation of history. The book unfolds by showcasing the heirs of Saint Peter and those of Constantine, tracing their intertwined histories in order to provide the dramatic tension that propels Whalen's story of the medieval papacy.
The structure of Whalen's The Medieval Papacy is similar to that of Geoffrey Barraclough's 1968 Norton survey by the same title. He begins in a premedieval Roman Empire, with the apostles and the first elaboration of a theory of papal authority based on apostolic succession. He briefly discusses early Christian organization of the church and ritual as detailed in The Didache, and for this source and all others, he provides references to easily available English translations. Students may be surprised to learn that bishops were originally indistinguishable from priests in their duties to serve the sick, administer charity, and perform rituals of the church, as Whalen notes that the special status of bishop as an overarching source of authority with administrative responsibilities over a city and its environs did not emerge until the second century. Historicizing the creation of this office, he then moves on to the legalization of Christianity and the consequent quest for unity within the church, as well as the elaboration of doctrine, promulgation of the cult of saints, standardization of Latin liturgy, and the uncertain status of the bishop of Rome in the eyes of the eastern clergy.
Chapters two and three forward the narrative from the Roman Empire to the Germanic Kingdoms and their successors among the Carolingians. After the final collapse of centralized Roman authority in the west, the papacy was able to fill a power vacuum, asserting Roman primacy more vocally than ever before. Whalen gives attention here especially to Leo's Tome, the Council of Chalcedon, the Acacian and Laurentian schisms, the civic ministrations of Gregory the Great, and the missionary activity of Augustine and Boniface. The iconoclastic controversy provides an opportunity for him to include a few paragraphs on the rise of Islam and the loss of goodwill between Rome and Byzantium, setting the stage for the papacy's formal relationship with Frankish royalty. Whalen helpfully projects for readers the implications of the so-called “Franco-papal alliance,” clearly outlining how, through their relationship with the Carolingians, popes freed themselves from Byzantine dependence, sanctioned a new imperial power in the west and became territorial rulers over the Republic of Saint Peter. At the same time, he is careful to note that Carolingians rulers, particularly Charlemagne, often stifled papal ambitions. The section of the book closes with a cacophonous picture of Viking attacks, Muslim raids, ineffective Carolingian leadership, and aristocratic squabbling within Rome, all of which led to a cultural questioning of Rome's unique status and ability to provide spiritual direction of Christendom.
Chapter four, “Reform and Crusade,” opens with the debacle caused by Benedict IX's successive turns at the papal office, and the Emperor Henry III's response in the eventual choice of Leo IX, often considered the first “reformer” pope. In keeping with his stated mission to offer an uncomplicated narrative, his portrayal of papal reform is uncontroversial, offering no reassessment or revisions. Whalen is careful, however, to offer a qualified definition of reform, and he subtly explains problematic constructions like “reform movement.” Whalen does an excellent job in this chapter of providing deeper historical context to both terms of his chapter, reform and crusade. He locates the roots of the eleventh-century transformation of the papacy in earlier monastic efforts to disentangle secular from spiritual personnel and property, and he contextualizes crusading efforts in prior calls for peace that were intended to constrain and redefine organized violence in western Europe.
Chapters five and six, “Papal Monarchy” and “The Whole World to Govern,” move the narrative forward through the twelfth- and thirteenth-century elaboration and implementation of papal bureaucracy. Readers will experience the elevated pace of the narrative as Whalen discusses the growth of the Roman Curia, the formalization of Canon Law, and the emboldening of the College of Cardinals. Whalen sets these developments within European intellectual and cultural life, explaining the term “twelfth-century renaissance” and giving attention to monastic innovations. A welcome surprise was the inclusion of a subsection on the economic engine of the papacy, explaining how these developments were funded. More unsurprisingly, Whalen gives a good deal of space to the pronouncements of Lateran IV and Innocent III. While detailing this papal splendor, he also inserts critical, and catastrophic, failings such as the ongoing crusades and conflict with the Hohenstaufens. These endeavors reveal, for Whalen, the persistent vigor of the papal paradox—that the popes maximized their claim to fullness of spiritual and temporal power, heirs of both St. Peter and Constantine, while simultaneously experiencing their greatest setbacks.
Chapters seven and eight bring this brief survey to a close, chronicling the ways that worldly success gradually eroded papal authority. Whalen carefully evokes the cultural tone of exasperation with the papacy, beginning with the Avignon popes' creation of a whole new administrative machinery, funded by cumbersome fees on appeals and taxes on church properties. Exasperation of course gave way to criticism and loss of confidence during the three-ring circus that was the Great Schism, and papal claims to temporal authority were further undermined by humanistic endeavors such as Lorenzo Valla's Discourse on the Forgery of the Alleged Donation of Constantine. Whalen's survey of fifteenth-century popes provides an entertaining glimpse into papal attempts at outmaneuvering the conciliarists, and ultimately depicts monumental events such as the Fall of Constantinople, the invention of the printing press, the conquest of the Americas, and the challenge of reformers like Wyclif, Huss, and Luther as fundamentally restructuring European social perspectives such that the papacy had finally to reckon with its limited ability to exercise anything like the universal authority it once claimed.
The Medieval Papacy is a clear and readable survey with which to supplement undergraduate courses on medieval church history. The lengthy chapter introductions and introductions to each subheading provide a useful apparatus for orienting the reader, as do the two maps. Whalen occasionally dispels popular misconceptions such as the persistent notion that the catacombs provided refuge for Christians seeking safety from persecution, and he enlivens the narrative with salacious anecdotes that will appeal to undergraduate readers, such as a description of the “Cadaver Synod” of 897 and reference to the papal pornocracy. As a general survey, however, there are also missed opportunities to restructure the way we convey our historical narratives to undergraduates. The nearly exclusive attention to the theme of papal power omits other important ramifications of the medieval papacy, such as the way it influenced perceptions of gendered behavior and persons. Although Whalen mentions the legend of Pope Joan and Catherine of Siena's intervention into Avignon governance, and he notes canons on marriage and ordination, he does not use these episodes as an occasion to elucidate their greater social and cultural context and significance. On other occasions terms like “barbarian” and “discovery of the Americas” are used, when undergraduates might be compelled to rethink these tired descriptors with explanations of those uncomfortable terms or fresher substitutes for them. One also yearns for examples of the grand and ever changing material culture of the medieval papacy, a sense of how, through monumental art and architecture, successive popes chose to represent themselves and their office. These criticisms aside, The Medieval Papacy is a welcome update to the survey material through which we can support courses on the European middle ages.
