The "Gentle Yoke" of the Popes - Apostolic Chamber and Merchant Bankers in Papal States in the 13th Century

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The research project examines the interaction of authority and autonomy in the papal financial administration of the 13th century, and is placed in the context of recent research on the alternative structures as well as on the financial history of high medieval society. The object of study is the temporal domain of the papacy, the Patrimonium Petri, which was subjected by Innocent III (1198–1216) to an iugum suave (Mt 11,30) – the easy yoke of the popes. The papal administration, according to this hypothesis, was focused on securing financial means for the papacy due to a lack of resources instead of being concerned with the political-territorial enforcement of the so-called Papal State. Papal financial administration is thereby examined from a cultural-historical perspective, whereby the question is no longer about authorities and hierarchies, but about the specific administrative practice of the involved actors, their symbols and mechanisms. In reference to the alternative structures of the papal financial administration, this protagonist-centred approach will be applied by means of two in-depth analyses: 1. on the personnel and functioning of the Apostolic Chamber, the ruling administrative authority for the patrimony of Saint Peter, and 2. on the autonomously operating Italian merchant bankers (mercatores).