Debating Papal History, c. 250-c. 1300

Through a series of case studies with translated supporting documents, D.L. d'Avray offers a fresh reinterpretation of papal history from the third to the thirteenth century. He argues that papal authority was not imposed from the top but emerged through responses to resolve tensions between subsystems, both ecclesiastical and lay.

D. L. d'Avray is Emeritus Professor of History at University College London and Supernumerary Fellow at Jesus College, Oxford. His previous publications include The Power of Protocol: Diplomatics and the Dynamics of Papal Government, c. 400 - c.1600 (Cambridge, 2023), Papal Jurisprudence, 385-1234: Social Origins and Medieval Reception of Canon Law (Cambridge, 2022), and Dissolving Royal Marriages: A Documentary History, 860-1600 (Cambridge, 2014).