Abstract
Abstract The Peace of Venice (1177), which ended the nearly twenty-year-long schism between Pope Alexander III and his opponents supported by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, has long been the subject of controversy among scholars, who focused initially on the concrete provisions of the treaty and more recently on the symbolic acts that affirmed it. This paper uses Alexandrian sources to concentrate on peace itself as the pope’s most important political goal: the biography of Alexander written by his cardinal Boso, the frescoes in the Lateran Palace painted after the victory, and other statements made by the pope himself and his supporters reveal his primary goal to be the restoration of unity and peace. This thinking may have been rooted in the Christian ethic of peace as well as in the enduring ideal of cooperation between pope and emperor. It offers an explanation for the pope’s willingness to compromise in Venice, often viewed with astonishment today, expressed through the choice of location, the staging, as well as personnel and material decisions. Alexander did not aim to supercede the emperor, nor to achieve victory on specific issues in detail; instead, his goal throughout the schism seems to have been a return to peace and cooperation.
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