Insights on Byzantium: The Medieval Papacy and Its Foundations

Greetings,

In my first official post of the my new series "Insights on Byzantium", I will be discussing an interesting element regarding the history of the Byzantine Empire: the cause for the rise of the Medieval Papacy.  In the book "A Short History of Byzantium" by John Julius Norwich, the author describes the events that took place within the Western and Eastern Roman Empires.  Within the 4th chapter, he deals with the fall of the Western Empire and how it was overtaken by barbarians.

Towards the end of the chapter, John Julius Norwich introduces the political context of Italy during the late fifth century.  Zeno was the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire from 474-491.  In 476, Romulus Augustulus, the Western Emperor, was deposed as the Emperor in Rome.  Odoacer, a barbarian general, aspired to gain the title of Patrician and sought to administrate Italy in the name of the Emperor. He was granted the Latin title of "rex" (king).  This decision created a fundamental change in the power play within Italy: it became one of the causes for the foundation of the Medieval Papacy.  John Julius Norwich comments,

"Odoacer`s decision also created a political vacuum in the old capital. Instinctively, men looked for another father figure. And so they raised up the Bishop of Rome, already Primate of Christendom, investing him with temporal authority as well as spiritual and surrounding him with much of the pomp and semi-mystical ceremonial formerly reserved for the Emperors. The age of the medieval Papacy had begun." (P 54)           

The Medieval Papacy would shape much of Western European history and the cultural interactions between the West and East for following centuries.