ABSTRACT
According to the standard narrative about the Schism of 1054, the patriarch Keroularios and the papal legates engaged in bitter disputes resulting in their mutual excommunication, as Keroularios tried to undermine the Western policy of Konstantinos IX Monomachos. This chapter argues that the evidence does not support this interpretation. There was no confrontation between the legates and Keroularios, who was obedient to the emperor throughout. Keroularios was hardly involved in the legates’ visit and they excommunicated him because they erroneously concluded that the emperor supported the agenda of papal reform whereas the patriarch did not. The ‘arrogant Keroularios of 1054’ is a myth.
