From Ritual Openness to Juridical Disambiguation: The Relationship of the Papacy to the Normans and Hohenstaufen in Southern Italy (11th-13th Centuries)

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The relations of the papacy first to the Norman conquerors from 1059, thereafter, from 1130 to the Norman Kings of Sicily, and finally to their Hohenstaufen heirs from 1194 to 1268 are of central importance for the history of Southern Italy. In particular German scholars have viewed this relationship as a feudal bond, explaining thus central developments in terms of the norms of a supposed system of feudal law (Lehnsrecht) which is thought to have determined the spectrum of possible actions and motives of the involved parties. However, since Susan Reynoldsʼ book ‘Fiefs and vassals', feudal explanations have lost their formerly unchallenged dominance for the interpretation of political ties in the High Middle Ages. Extrapolating from this contemporary scholarly debate and incorporating cultural-historical questions this project aims to view the question from a fundamentally new perspective. By turning the focus on both the communication processes recorded in the historical sources as well as those tangible through symbolic and ritual practices, in addition to a rigorous contextualization of the events in question, the rigid categories and norms currently dominant in constitutional history research will be overcome. This new reading aims to achieve a reassessment of the relationship between the Papacy and the rulers of Southern Italy. In this context it will be necessary to analyze the effects of the increasing legal disambiguation in the 12th century on how the parties perceived and understood themselves and their counterparts. Did a changed perception of the symbolic acts that were displayed in previous meetings of the two parties result in a retrospective re-evaluation of the relationship that began as early as in the 12th century?