Understanding Intercession: Sources and Approaches

Abstract

This chapter treats the phenomenon of intercession as a discrete form of political action, arguing that intercessory politics were as much about forging and maintaining bonds of amity and consensus as they were about asserting and acknowledging hierarchical distinctions of power and authority. It begins by surveying sources for medieval intercession, in particular epistolary collections and the diplomatic corpora of the Carolingian and post-Carolingian rulers of Western Europe. Then, the chapter considers the various ways in which the phenomena described in such sources have been interpreted by diplomatists, historians, and social theorists. It argues that while each of their approaches offers useful insights into intercession, each also fails to account adequately for the compound and complex nature of intercessory practice, as revealed so disarmingly by de Regniers.Keywords: Carolingian rulers; de Regniers; medieval intercession; social theorists