Popes and Antipopes ─ The Politics of Eleventh Century Church Reform

Guiding readers through the byzantine politics of the 11th- and 12th-century papacy, Stroll lays out in detail the political to and fro of all of the popes of the period, with attention to the roles played in their careers by the secular rulers. The Investiture Controversy, the reforms of Gregory, the kidnapping of Henry IV, and the papal schism are all described, in a series of chronological chapters devoted to the careers of each pope, including the anti-popes. The result is a nuanced view of the decidedly non-linear give and take of the never-ending struggle between the powers of the church and the state. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mary Stroll, PhD (1975), University of California, San Diego, is a Visiting Scholar at UCSD. She has published extensively on the relationship between the Church and the Empire in the twelfth Century. Her latest book is Calixtus II (1119-1121): A Pope Born to Rule (Brill, 2004).