While numerous studies on legates have appeared in the past few decades, the period of legatine history under consideration in this monograph—the century between the conciliar and reformation periods—has been largely ignored by historians. This volume seeks to fill that gap. As is customary, the introduction clearly lays out the reason why such a volume is warranted (even necessary), discusses its overall structure, paying close attention to the nuances of researching and analyzing the subject in this particular period, and ably demonstrates the complexities of describing exactly how and why papal legates became an indispensable part of papal administration in the second half of the fifteenth century. Kalous is careful to note that while the topic is approached from a “general European perceptive” (15), the examples he uses are from the “context of Central Europe” (15), which he lists as Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, because this “area often appeared united in legatine mandates” (13). While the legatine records may be spread all over Europe, Kalous argues further that his approach is sound, because the legatine system of the fifteenth century was stable and constant throughout Europe so that it functioned the same in “England [as in] Poland” (15).
Chapter 1 examines the history and evolution of the terminology used to describe and refer to papal legates, that is, legatus a/de latere, legatus missus, and legatus natus. Numerous sources from late antiquity to and through the high Middle Ages are covered; these include decretals, canonists’ commentaries, individual letters, and other sources and specific examples that show the evolution and, as Kalous rightly points out, the difficulty or challenge regarding the interchangeability of terms. The author is also careful to note that other papal representatives with a lower status were common, for example, nuncios cum potestate legati de latere; however, legates de latere, drawn exclusively from the college of cardinals, were the most powerful and duly embodied the dignity and authority of the pope himself, as codified by canon law.
Chapter 2 discusses the history and evolution of legatine rights and powers, legatine authority from special mandates and faculties, including the authority to offer dispensations and absolutions, confer benefices and grant indulgences in cases normally reserved for the pope or Apostolic Penitentiary. The chapter does address the limitations of legation mandates, but it stresses that legates, beginning with pontificate of Gregory VII and persisting throughout the high Middle Ages, became an indelible part of papal government. Moreover, aided by canon law and the ever-expanding use of papal terminology used to reinforce the pope as the head of the Church—that the pope is the vicar of Christ, and as such enjoys plentitude of power—legates enjoyed the jurisdictional supremacy of the pope while on legation.
Chapter 3 reviews the everyday conditions of legates when preparing for to carry out a new mandate. The ceremonies and liturgical rituals that accompany this pomp were highly formal and stylized so that Kalous is able to maintain that while the legatine office was not on par with the others in the Curia within Rome, it was regarded as the highest authority outside of Rome to the point that formal ceremonies were observed to mark a legation's departure from and return to Rome: “all that came about between the two dates of departure from and return to Rome constituted the legation itself” (112). The chapter then considers the modes and conditions of travel to legation destinations, the financial cost involved, adding that legates de latere were awarded a monthly salary of five hundred florins during the later Middle Ages, an amount that surpassed the annual income of “almost all Italian bishoprics” (139).
Whereas the first three chapters examine “the how,” the fourth and final chapter is concerned with why papal legates became an indispensable part of papal administration in the second half of the fifteenth century. By an examination of the numerous and various tasks assigned to them, Kalous demonstrates how legates served papal diplomatic and political purposes such as the crusades against the Bohemian Hussites and the Ottoman Turks among other international conflicts. Legates also served papal spiritual and legal interests, adjudicating disputes (even at the local, parish level) for those petitioners that would normally be forced to travel to Rome for redress of their grievances.
Overall, like most monographs, the text is specific and comprehensive, and is meant primarily for specialists concerned with the development of papal legates and legations in the high and late medieval periods. The skillful use of tables and visual images helps with the reader's understanding of this complex subject. The work certainly fills the literature gap on the history, role and import of papal legates leading up to and including the second half of the fifteenth century.
