Legati, delegati e l’impresa d’Oltremare (secoli XII-XIII) / Papal Legates, Delegates and the Crusades (12th-13th Century)

While the huge historiographical production on medieval crusades mainly stresses the part played by princes, the aristocracy and military orders, the proceedings of the international congress held at the Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan on 9th-11th March 2011 focus on a topic which has received far less attention: the importance of the popes and their delegates in the organization before departure and the conduct of the armies sent to liberate the Holy Land in the 12th and 13th centuries. The recent revival of studies on the representation of the Supreme Pontiff has led to reconsider the actions of the papal governement in the crusades. In this volume, fourteen specialists throw new light on the clerks and prelates (cardinals, legates, nuncios, papal chaplains, etc.) who were commissioned by the popes to set up and lead crusades, on their origins and careers, on their methods of preaching and collecting taxes, on their diplomatic relations, on the obligations of their missions and their liberty to act, etc. Devoting greater attention to papal delegates will help to better understand the complex inner history of the military pilgrims to Jerusalem.

Maria Pia Alberzoni is Professor of medieval history at the Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan (Italy). Pascal Montaubin is Maître de conférences in medieval history at the Université de Picardie-Jules Verne in Amiens (France).