ABSTRACT
The second half of the thirteenth century was the high tide of the power of the medieval papacy. The individual popes of the period are not generally memorable, but they presided over the wealthiest, most sophisticated institution in Christendom. Their authority rested on widespread voluntary acceptance of the view that they were the successors of St Peter, to whom Christ had entrusted the headship of the church. Several generations of canon lawyers had given that theological belief a legal definition which made the pope the 'universal bishop' of the church. All other clergy were regarded by the lawyers as the pope's assistants, entrusted by him with their specific role in the ministry of the church. The papal bureaucracy helped to make the pope's theoretical authority effective to the far corners of Christendom and it had means to force opponents to accept papal views or at the minimum to be silent. The papal law courts, the inquisition, crusades, interdicts, excommunications and above all the cooperation of many lay rulers were used at various times in the thirteenth century against religious dissenters, heretics, political opponents and even those who were unwilling to pay their bills. 1
In spite of widespread support and a generally effective exercise of power, the pontificates of the fourteen popes from Innocent IV (1243-54) to Boniface VIII (1294-1303), which averaged about four years, were not placid. As always, the inhabitants of the city of Rome were turbulent. Elsewhere in Europe, rulers and popes periodically opposed one another and were often forced to compromise in the many
grey areas where secular and religious claims overlapped. The frequent papal elections were sometimes bitterly contested by candidates motivated by personal, familial, or national rivalries. The political ambitions of some popes outran the resources available to pay for them. In particular, the financial pressures of war and diplomacy were a constant
f . 2source 0 anxiety. The theory of the papal monarchy was rarely attacked directly in
the thirteenth century although there was a steady stream of criticism about how it functioned in practice, particularly from litigants who complained about the expense of conducting business at the papal court and from moralists who denounced its worldliness. Aside from scattered bands of heretics, who were dismissed by the overwhelming majority of Europeans and successfully repressed by the inquisition, no serious person in the thirteenth century could imagine the church without the pope. Although lawyers debated about the outer limits of papal power and rulers resisted some papal claims that had financial effects on their domains, there was no well developed alternative theory to that of the divinely established papal monarchy. Both on a practical and a theoretical level, papal control over the church seemed complete.
