The Long Arm Of Papal Authority: Late Medieval Christian Peripheries And Their Communication With the Holy See

The volume contains selected papers from two conferences in 2003, at the University of Bergen (Norway) and at CEU. They deal comparatively with the communication of the Holy See with Northern Europe and Eastern Central Europe in the Late Middle Ages, both areas at the margins of Western Christendom. Special emphasis is placed on the analysis of the registers of the Apostolic Penitentiary. Even though the regulations of canon law were in theory the same for every Christian, regional differences in interpreting and applying them emerged in the Late Middle Ages. The need to turn to the papal authority in matters of canon law varied depending on the role of local bishops and the prescence or abscence of papal legates or collectors. Also, people in the central territories of Christendom had different opportunities for turning to the papal curia with their requests than those living on the peripheries of the Christian world.