Tra due poli: fonti e caratteri giuridico-istituzionali dei rapporti tra Papato e vescovati siciliani in età normanna (secc. XI-XII)

Abstract

The aim of this work is to examine the sources relating to the legalinstitutional relations between the Papacy and the bishoprics of the island of Sicily, between the 11th and 12th centuries. The investigation aims to verify in what ways, and according to what forms, each pope directed his action to get in touch with the bishops in charge of the different ecclesiastical sees. On the other hand, it is also intended to examine whether the Sicilian bishops themselves attempted in some way to accredit their action towards the Apostolic See. The two poles evoked in the title – the Sicilian Monarchy and the Church of Rome – represent respectively the two highest authorities for the Churches of the Kingdom; on the balance between them, concretely, depended different possibilities of exercising the officia connected to the episcopalis dignitas, also with respect to what happened in the rest of Christian Europe at the time.