Between Two Empires: Annotated Bibliography

Chapter 2, “Between Two Empires,” covers a period that non-Christians call “the dark ages” (461-1000) but that saw foundational developments in the history of the church. Duffy ably narrates the Western dispute with the Byzantine Empire’s pronounced tendency to elevate the emperor to the status of Kosmocrator, lord of the world and church; the era of Gregory the Great (590-604), “arguably the greatest Pope ever,” which included the mission to England that resulted in the demise of Ireland as an independent center of Christian authority; the melding of Greek and Latin-Roman elements in Rome, creating a “vibrant and solemn religious culture which fascinated and dazzled the newly Christianized peoples of Europe”; the growth of the papal territories; and the emergence under Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire, whose head had to …show more content…
“Set Above Nations, 1000-1447” details the rise of “papal monarchy” and the elevation of the institution to full spiritual and temporal primacy in the West. For Protestant readers accustomed to the idea that it required Martin Luther to set in motion the purification of Christianity, Duffy’s characterization of the eleventh century as the beginning of the era of papal reform will come as a surprise. Duffy’s tangy prose captures well the need for reform after the degradations of the previous century. In theory, the popes were world-orderers; in practice, they “were strictly and often humiliatingly subordinated to the power of the local Roman aristocracy, or to the German ruling house.” The venerable idea that no one could judge the pope was belied by the fact that popes often were regularly appointed by an emperor or nobility. As for moral character, the picture often was unbelievably bleak. Benedict IX (1032-1048) “was both violent and debauched, and even the Roman populace, hardened as they were to unedifying