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IMC 2018: Sessions

Session 741: The Lives of the Medieval Popes: Memory and Construction

Tuesday 3 July 2018, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Paul Maria Baumgarten Institut für Papsttumsforschung, Bergische Universität Wuppertal
Organiser:Jochen Johrendt, Lehrstuhl für Mittelalterliche Geschichte, Bergische Universität Wuppertal
Moderator/Chair:Jochen Johrendt, Lehrstuhl für Mittelalterliche Geschichte, Bergische Universität Wuppertal
Paper 741-aLife of Pope Leo IX: Memory of a Saint and Apology of a Zealous Reformer
(Language: English)
Francesco Massetti, Fakultät für Geistes und Kulturwissenschaften - Historisches Seminar, Bergische Universität Wuppertal / Dipartimento di Storia, culture, religioni, Università degli Studi di Roma 'La Sapienza'
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Hagiography, Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought
Paper 741-bThe Righteous Must Suffer: History and Legitimation in Cardinal Boso's Life of Alexander III
(Language: English)
Stephan Pongratz, Historisches Seminar, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 741-cRespublica and Ecclesia Sancti Petri: Holy Roman Empire in the Liber Pontificalis
(Language: English)
Longguo Li, Department of History, Peking University
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 741-dConstruction of the Enemy: Frederick II in the Anonymous Vita Gregorii IX
(Language: English)
Wendan Li, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy
Abstract

Writing and reading the lives of the popes have been the ways by which the medieval Roman Church constructed and memorised its past. This practice was deeply involved in the development of the papacy. The authorial intention and the targeted audiences, the intertextuality and the method, the continuity and the change of these narratives are some of the many features to be further explored. In this four-paper session we will discuss the serial biographies of the popes with case-studies of the 'Life of Leo IX', the Life of Alexander III, the Life of Gregory IX, and the Holy Roman Empire in the Liber Pontificalis.