This study reinterprets the relationship between the medieval papacy and independent states, suggesting that kings and governments were able to increase their effective power through close relationships with the international papacy, making the papacy integral to the creation of centralized national states and kingdoms in Europe.

Benedict Wiedemann is an Early Career Research Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He was born in Bristol and received his PhD, postgraduate, and undergraduate degrees from University College London. He taught briefly at the University of Kent before coming to Cambridge in 2018.

• Introduction


• 1: Investiture: Papal Investiture of Secular Rulers prior to and during the Investiture Contest


• 2: Homage: Popes and Homage in the Twelfth Century


• 3: Protection: Papal Protection of Kings in the Twelfth Century


• 4: Vassalage: The Birth of Feudal Overlordship in Sicily, England, Man and Aragon in the early Thirteenth Century


• 5: State-Building: The Prince-Bishops of Maguelone and Papal Overlordship in Southern France in the Thirteenth Century


• 6: Wardship: Theory and Practice of Papal Protection for Underage Rulers in the Thirteenth Century


• 7: Confiscation: Deposing Vassal-Kings in the Thirteenth Century


• Epilogue