ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to single out Peter from the crowd of other saints by placing him in new interpretive categories, particularly that of the "Triple Crown”. Peter's martyrdom provided the papacy with a saint who was anti-imperial and anti-heretical. His canonization represented one of the first attempts of the Roman curia to create and maintain a trans-national cult through legislation. Peter's cult enjoyed great success in the medieval period but, like all cults, it had to evolve to meet the needs of subsequent times. By the Reformation, his cult underwent a profound alteration, especially when Sixtus V proclaimed him the "Prince of the Holy Inquisition," and he was adopted as the patron of the Spanish version of that institution. Historical efforts in the nineteenth century opened up Peter's dossier for examination. F. T. Perrens and H. C. Lea were among the first historians to deal with Peter from a critical perspective.
