‘Uproot and destroy, build and plant’: legatine authority under Pope Gregory VII
Kriston R. Rennie
Confronted with the need for scholarly criteria in properly defining ad hoc papal institution existent under Pope Gregory VII (1073–85), this paper seeks to clarify title, office, and jurisdiction of eleventh-century reforming legate. Discussing Roman origins office through twelfth century – taking into account political, ecclesiastical legal constraints period questions are raised concerning extent nature legatine authority (especially as reformers understood it). Contemporary unclear, but modern scholars can infer some regularities from VII's Register other contemporary sources how operated last quarter eleventh century, ultimately, understand more clearly reform was being implemented provinces.
Journal of Medieval History