Papal Adventus at Rome in the Twelfth Century

Abstract

AbstractThe vitae of the 12th-century popes and other literary sources contain references to reception ceremonies performed to honour a pope arriving at Rome. For the papacy these events were a part of its imitatio imperii, a conscious imitation of the antique imperial ceremony of adventus, and an opportunity for the Romans to express their consent to papal rule. But detailed investigation reveals the hitherto unnoticed fact that these ceremonies almost invariably occurred at times of transition and upheaval such as when a papal election had been disrupted or contested, or after popular rebellion against papal rule. Under such circumstances adventus was performed as part of the process of reconciliation between the pope and the Romans.