Die Päpste: Von Petrus zu Johannes Paulus II by Horst Fuhrmann
Thomas F. X. Noble
BOOK REVIEWS Papal Die Päpste: Von Petrus zu fohannes Paulus II. By Horst Fuhrmann. (Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck. 1998. Pp. 305, 191 black and white plates. DM48,-.) This book has a long pubUshing history. In 1980, in connection with papal visit to Germany, Fuhrmann delivered series of radio addresses which were revised for publication equipped many excellently captioned pictures. 1984 substantially expanded edition appeared. When that went out print the publisher sought new one. Although not called either third or edition, this one basic text second an treatment current pontificate, some pictures, interesting valuable essay on history histories. was formerly president Monumenta Germaniae Histórica. He is world's top medievalists, leading authority canon law, foremost expert medieval forgeries. also, as he frankly admits, Protestant but without compelling confessional point view. His interest papacy goes back lectures University Tübingen 1960's. good, readable, engagingly written book. It no single thesis polemical objective outlook. would probably sell well English translation. Still, it little hard see what audience attract. divides his into two parts. The first, about whole, treats (Das Papsttum) institution. Its comments elections are other aspect government treated equal, or, really, adequate scope. longer portion popes (Die Päpste). section anecdotal extreme and, betraying its origins individual addresses, episodic. Antique generally overlooked. Leo I Gregory I—the "Greats"—are more detail. Carolingian age treatments III, because renewed western empire, Nicholas I, juristic precociousness. tenth century predictably dark. eleventh sections emphasize VlI way conventional unlikely be found roundly satisfying. Innocent III Boniface VIII stand height world power. complex dynamics Avignon Great Schism periods get summary treatment. Reformation era brief accounts X Sixtus V. As 435 436HOOK so often case general histories, seventeenth eighteenth centuries glossed over. Pius IX stands whole epoch characterized reactions revolutions 1848, Syllabus Errors, proclamation Mary's Immaculate Conception, decree infallibility , pope's assumption position "universal ordinary." twentieth-cenuiry chapters juxtapose "Pius Popes," who finally made peace Italy retreated behind veils pseudo-Byzantine ceremonial, withJohn XXIII successors, have tried accommodate, mixed success, both modern ancient traditions Roman Church. said elsewhere any understanding must come grips men, institutions, ideas. does decent job first bvtt slights third. If neither critical nor polemical, certainly sympathetic. do mean fails approve 's actions. mean, instead, attempt view did, do. regard, Eamon Duffy's Saints Sinners (New Haven, 1997) better book, much fuller Thomas F. X. Noble ofVirginia Vatican Archives: An Inventory Guide Historical Documents Holy See. Edited by Francis Blouin, Jr. York: Oxford Press. xii, 588. $150.00.) Secret Archives (ASV), intrinsic component See, only oldest most...
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