The status quaestionis on the tenth-century Papacy highlights a historiographical tradition strongly influenced by negative sources such as Liutprand of Cremona, which have contributed to portraying this period as one of darkness and decline. The scarcity and fragmentary nature of the sources—partly due to the interruption of the Liber Pontificalis and the loss of original documents—hinders a comprehensive reconstruction. Nevertheless, recent scholarship has demonstrated a renewed interest in themes such as the political role of the papacy in Rome, its relationships with local churches, ecclesiastical discipline, and synodal activity. Many unresolved issues remain, however, particularly concerning documentation and the actual authority of the papacy within the Ottonian context. Modern historiography has begun to move beyond the traditional narrative, yet much remains to be explored in order to fully grasp the complexity of the tenth-century papacy. The narrative of tenth-tentury Rome tends to marginalize the popes, focusing instead on the emergence of the urban aristocracy as the central political and social actor. Unlike previous centuries—where historiography has successfully integrated the papacy with the urban context—the tenth century is often described as a period marked by a crisis of papal authority and aristocratic domination, in line with the concept of Adelpapsttum. However, recent studies have offered less negative interpretations: aristocratic control did not necessarily lead to chaos, but rather to new forms of governance and local stability. The crisis in papal historiography, along with the relative abundance of documentary sources concerning secular power, contributes to this perspective. A rebalancing of scholarly focus has been proposed, aiming to rediscover the institutional role of the popes and the complex relationships they maintained with the aristocracy—interactions that were crucial for the mutual prestige and influence of both parties. The interplay between elite groups and the papacy was a determining factor in the political, religious, and territorial dynamics of the period.
SISMEL – International Society for the study of Medieval Latin culture, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-3666-598X
Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes – CNRS Paris, France - ORCID: 0000-0001-8540-8141
Titolo del capitolo
Il papato nel X secolo: uno status quaestionis e un affondo
Autori
Maddalena Betti, François Bougard
Lingua
Italiano
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1094-2.07
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
Repenser le Xe siècle. États des lieux et perspectives / Ripensare il X secolo. Bilanci e prospettive
Curatori
Gianmarco De Angelis, Tiziana Lazzari
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
490
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1094-2
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1093-5
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1094-2
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-1096-6
Collana
Reti Medievali E-Book
ISSN della collana
2704-6362
e-ISSN della collana
2704-6079