ABSTRACT
When one look at Denmark, it is evident that royal cooperation with Rome was much more common than conflicts. Thus, there is no reason to doubt that also in Denmark the pope really was regarded as the successor of Saint Peter and Rome as the centre of Christianity. The British historian J. A. F. Thomson has pointed out that in the relations between the popes and the secular princes in the Late Middle Ages there were three 'spheres of conflict': provisions, taxation and jurisdiction. Thus, there were conflicts also in Danish-papal relations, but the question is how they should be interpreted. A canon law foundation for the papal provisions was developed during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and was codified in the Liber Sextus from 1298. The strong expansion in the papal system of provisions during the Avignon papacy led to criticism and the first attempt to put a stop to the provisions in the form of the English Statutes of Provisors.
