Sub beati Petri et nostra protectione suscipimus: Re-framing the relations between Rome and the kingdoms of Portugal and Aragon (eleventh-thirteenth centuries)

Project Information

RAP

Grant agreement ID: 894678

DOI

10.3030/894678

Project closed

EC signature date 18 March 2020

Start date 1 November 2020

End date 31 December 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 147 815,04

EU contribution

€ 147 815,04

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDADE CATOLICA PORTUGUESA
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RAP (Sub beati Petri et nostra protectione suscipimus: Re-framing the relations between Rome and the kingdoms of Portugal and Aragon (eleventh-thirteenth centuries))

Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2022-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

My Marie Curie project examines and compares the relations of the Papacy with the kingdoms of Portugal and Aragon between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Portugal and Aragon have been chosen because were the only political realities in the Iberian Peninsula to enjoy the protection of St Peter in these centuries.

- This research project enhances modern scholarship by tackling the relationships between Rome, Portugal, and Aragon from the Roman point of view. The new approach sheds light not only on the Iberian kingdoms but also on the papacy and on the strategies adopted to support its claims of primacy. These relations thus emerge as more complicated and subtle than what has previously been perceived.
- The project provides a different perspective on the so-called “Gregorian Reform” by challenging the idea of a papacy following a predetermined plot leading towards the creation of a papal monarchy. The Apostolic See appears responsive to events, and very often with no control at all.
- This study also contributes to a deeper understanding of the history of the formation process of Europe. This process made extensive use of written communication at various levels, influenced by circumstances and by the different areas analysed. In particular, ecclesiastical and political communication played a pivotal role in creating links and contacts between different realities which lasted long beyond the Middle Ages.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

2021
- February-March: Portuguese Foreign Language (A1.2) - Intensive Course at Universidade do Porto.
- January-March: revision of the historiography.
- April-July: collection of published and unpublished sources.
- August: I went to Madrid for two weeks to visit the CSIC library Tomás Navarro Tomás, which proved fundamental in recovering material concerning both Portugal and Aragon.
- October: I have started the actual analysis of the letters.
- Presentation of the paper 'Duas realidades medievais "emergentes": Observações sobre as relações entre a Sé Apostólica e Portugal (séculos XI-XIII)' at CEHR's Seminário de História Religiosa - O Catolicismo Português em diáspora: Agentes, instituições e sensibilidades religiosas in December.
- Creation of the project website.
2022
- 28 January: I presented my project in one of the sessions called "Papstzoom", organised by the Bergische Universität Wuppertal.
- 28 April: I presented my project at the Seminar "Investigar em Idade Média VII", organised by the Faculty of Arts and Umanities of the Universidade do Porto.
- I went to Rome twice (in April-May and June, a month and a half in total) to work at the Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, where I was able to analyse the original registers of Popes Honorius III, Gregory IX, and Innocent IV.
- 4-7 July I presented the paper "Sancho II of Portugal, also known as the Rex Inutilis: Reframing the Cultural Background of His Alleged Deposition" at IMC Leeds.
- Submission of a first article for publication in a special volume of the journal Lusitania Sacra.
- 10-11 November, Lisbon: organiser of the international conference "Regnum Hispanie ab antiquo proprii iuris Sancti Petri fuisse. Relações entre o Papado e a Península Ibérica (séculos XI-XIII)" and presentation of the paper "Some preliminary observations on the relations between Rome and the Kingdom of Aragon in the Thirteenth Century".
- I applied for a FCT CEECInd5thEd Individual Grant and I have been granted a six-year fellowship at Universidade do Porto.
- I completed the calendar of letters (3385 entries) and I have begun writing an open-access monograph.
- Periodical seminars given by staff members as well as conferences run by the research centre (in particular I would like to point out the monthly series of seminars run in 2021, Seminário de História Religiosa - O Catolicismo Português em diáspora: Agentes, instituições e sensibilidades religiosas, and in 2022, Os longos séculos de uma instituição capitular: nos 300 anos da nova casa do Cabido portucalense) have also increased my knowledge of Medieval and religious history, in addition to having provided me with a chance to present my own research and receive useful feedback.

An open-access database of papal letters addressed to Portugal and Aragon will be published between 2023 and 2024 on the Portal de História Religiosa of UCP-CHER. A first article, Duas realidades medievais "emergentes": observações sobre as relações entre a Sé Apostólica e Portugal (séculos XI-XII), has already been sent for publication to a special volume of the journal Lusitania Sacra, in the first issue of 2023 (forthcoming). This same journal (in the second issue of the year 2023) will include a second work, Some preliminary observations on the relations between Rome and the Kingdom of Aragon in the Thirteenth Century, among the proceedings of the final conference of the Marie Curie project. A further article, written together with Francesco Renzi (UCP-CEHR Oporto) and based on the papers we presented at IMC Leeds 2022, will be submitted in 2023 to an open-access journal. The ultimate goal is the production of an open-access monograph, which I have already began writing. The book will be submitted in 2023 and published by Universidade Católica Press. It includes the database of the letters, together with an introduction on the status of their editions, the papal chancery, and the importance of the adoption of the point of view of Rome; there will also be an analysis of the letters concerning the relations between Popes and Kings of Aragon and Portugal, a case study demonstrating the kind of analyses will benefit from this publication and from the on-line database.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This action has achieved all its initial goals despite having been created and projected before Covid. My work has tackled the relationships between Rome, Portugal, and Aragon not only from the point of view of the Iberian Peninsula (an aspect which has been already considered) but also from that of the Roman Church, often overlooked by scholars. This change of perspective has led to a better understanding not only of the Iberian kingdoms as arising political actors, but also Rome as a reality seeking legitimisation and trying to claim its Primacy over the whole Church. How the Apostolic See interacted with Aragon and Portugal was highly influenced also by the context in which Rome found itself acting. These relations have emerged as more complicated and subtle than what has previously been perceived, as a system of communicating vessels, from which each reality benefited.
The action has also undermined further more the model of a unique “Gregorian Reform” by challenging the idea of a papacy following a predetermined plot. The true nature of the papacy was re-active, very often with no control at all on events, and its choices were dictated most of the time by the context.
Concerning the benefit for the general public, this project is an opportunity to understand better the creation and formation of the kingdoms of Portugal and Aragon and of the Roman Church. The action has also significant contemporary impact due to the increasing of far right and nationalist movements proposing anti-historical theories based on an alleged vision of the Middle Ages - especially in a time when war has surfaced again in Europe. A better understanding of the context, the formation of political actors, and the relations between them permits a more nuanced understanding and critique of contemporary anti-historical propaganda.

Bula "Manifestis probatum" - PT-TT-BUL-0016-20