This public klecture is held in the framework of the Faculty Research Seminar.
The fifteenth century brought changes in the system of papal representation. The second half of the century especially, after the conflict with the council ended, witnessed a revival of the papal interests in Europe and a renewed supremacy of the pope within the Church. This period up to the beginning of the sixteenth century is the end of the classical period of the papal legates. After the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the system was gradually changed and modified to fit the changing needs of the papal curia. The end of this system was marked by substantial changes in papal “diplomacy” in the 1520s, when the status of standing nuncio was introduced and stabilised.
The needs of the fifteenth century – the renewal of papal power, struggles between the pope and the cardinal consistory, Turkish and Hussite dangers – necessitated a few changes that contributed to the development of the general system. One of them was the introduction of the papal nuncios cum potestate legati de latere. The lecture will concentrate on elucidating the system and introducing some examples of legates and their activities, sources and possibilities for further research.
Antonín Kalous is Associate Professor at the Department of History at Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic. He is a CEU graduate with an MA in Medieval Studies (2000) who earned his PhD in History at Palacký University in Olomouc (2005). He has been in close connection with the CEU Department of Medieval Studies since his graduation.
He researches the political, cultural, and church history of Europe in the later Middle Ages with a special focus on Central European countries. He has become interested in new political history with a focus on representation, both secular and ecclesiastic. Apart from articles and book chapters on these topics, he has published two books: one on Matthias Corvinus, which focuses on the representation and functioning of the king’s government in both his kingdoms (Matyáš Korvín, 1443–1490: Uherský a český král [Matthias Corvinus, 1443–1490: King of Hungary and Bohemia], 2009); and a study on the system and prosopography of the papal legation in the later Middle Ages (Plenitudo potestatis in partibus? Papežští legáti a nunciové ve střední Evropě na konci středověku (1450–1526) [Papal legates and nuncios in late medieval Central Europe (1450–1526)], 2010). Currently, he continues his research on the system of the papal legation in the later Middle Ages.
