Manipulating the Message: Letters of Gelasius and Nicholas I on Papal Authority
Bronwen Neil
Gelasius I, bishop of Rome during the problematic period Odoacer’s replacement as rex Italiae in 493, was greatly concerned with power Rome. While one most significant bishops first five hundred years Roman church, he is primarily known for his letter to Byzantine emperor Anastasius 494. His Epistula 12 introduced controversial theory “two powers” or swords.” The idea taken up mid-ninth century by another champion papal primacy, when Nicholas I embedded a quote from denunciation Michael III. examine use political rhetoric ecclesiastical contexts late antiquity and early Middle Ages, particular way that extracts such letters could go on have life their own canon law. Finally, measure historical impact each form soft diplomacy.
The Journal of epistolary studies