Description
Book SynopsisThis 2002 book describes power and politics in Rome and the role of the papacy in early modern European politics. It attempts to overcome the traditional historiographical approach to the papacy during this period by focusing on the actual mechanisms of power in the papal court - political, personal, spiritual and ceremonial.
Trade ReviewReview of the hardback: ' … this [is an] important collection of articles … together they present a new and intriguing view of the early modern state apparatus.' The Historical Journal
Table of ContentsIntroduction Gianvittorio Signorotto and Maria Antonietta Visceglia; 1. A turning-point in the history of the factional system in the Sacred College: the power of the pope and cardinals in the age of Alexander VI Marco Pellegrini; 2. The court and the city in the ceremony of the possesso in the sixteenth century Irene Fosi; 3. 'Rome, workshop of all the practice of the world': from the letters of cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici to Cosimo I and Francesco I Elena Fasano Guarini; 4. The 'world's theatre': the court of Rome and politics in the first half of the seventeenth century Mario Rosa; 5. Factions in the Sacred College in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Maria Antonietta Visceglia; 6. The Secretariat of State as the pope's special ministry Antonio Menniti Ippolito; 7. The cardinal protectors of the crowns in the Roman curia during the first half of the seventeenth century: the case of France Olivier Poncet; 8. The squadrone volante: 'independent' cardinals and European politics in the second half of the seventeenth century Gianvittorio Signorotto; 9. Roman avvisi: information and politics in the seventeenth century Mario Infelise; 10. Hegemony of the social scene and zealous popes, 1676–1700 Renata Ago.
