Search

The genealogies of peoples and families developed in Europe during the modern period are prevalently studied by scholars from the perspective of the political history of ideas, with the aim of explaining the practical utility of genealogical works. These analyses do not foreground the aspect that is the focus of this paper: the fact that genealogical reconstructions are full of absurdities. They mix factual information, or information that may seem credible, with fabulous details, often false, sometimes ridiculous, in a word "incredible". This is all the more interesting since these texts were composed during the centuries in which scientific methods applied to historical research were developed. Using tools borrowed from cultural anthropology, this paper suggests an epistemological approach that takes into consideration the meaning and credibility of the genealogical materials in the still authoritative framework of the Historia Salutis, the unitary vision of human history as a fusion of the classical legacy and Biblical tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relations between the public Notariat in the ecclesiastical province of Salzburg and the Papal Curia in Rome on three levels: that of the notarial certificates send from the ecclesiastical province of Salzburg to Rome and vice versa; the personal files overseen by various notaries from Salzburg at the Curia; the notaries from the ecclesiastical province of Salzburg who personally travelled to Rome. In this context we consider on the one hand the documents dispatched on a regional level, on the other the corresponding entries in the „Repertorium Germanicum“. It emerges that public notaries, by issuing proxies and mandates, made a fundamental contribution to the functioning of the procedures delegated. In Rome itself, it was possible to obtain authorization to work as a Papal or Imperial notary, and this path was also chosen by clerics from the Salzburg region. The notaries who managed to extend their imperial mandate with a Papal one in Rome sometimes added two decussate keys to their monograms, a motif frequently employed by the notaries authorized by the Pope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a motif present throughout the Middle Ages in a broad variety of texts: the refusal to ascend to the papal throne after election. Gregory the Great dealt with this issue on a theoretical level in his Regula pastoralis: driven by humilitas, the Pope elect should shrink from taking on the office assigned to him, but should not insist excessively in his refusal. Despite the Biblical motivations claimed by Gregory and others, this motif is already documented in the pre-Christian era, for example in the philosophical tradition (Plato, Cicero) and among the Roman emperors starting from Tiberius. From the 8th century onwards it was no longer a literary topos, but a ritual practiced with evident regularity: the Pope elect attempted to avoid his coronation by hiding, but was soon tracked down and taken „by force“ to the Lateran Palace in solemn procession. Popes often also argued that they had not desired to be elected, especially when attempting to demonstrate that they had not arrived at the Papal throne legitimately but, for example, through simony. Gregory VII is a striking example: he presented his entire career as an imposition from the outside. In the early and late Middle Ages this ritual was definitively institutionalized; the highly formalized announcements of the Pope’s election always stressed the new Pope’s initial refusal to accept; indeed, the very blessings imparted during ordinations expressly mentioned the imposition to which he had been subjected. Benedict XVI is currently the last Pope to have ascended to the Papal throne „against his wishes“. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Der Beitrag legt erste Ergebnisse des Forschungsprojekts 'Audienzen bei Mussolini' vor. Im Anschluss an eine Beschreibung der benutzten Quellen, die sich im Archivio Centrale dello Stato und im Archivio Storico Diplomatico del Ministero degli Aff ari Esteri befi nden, wird die aus dem Projekt hervorgegangene Datenbank kurz vorgestellt. Darüber hinaus wird Mussolinis Arbeitsweise in ihrem Entwicklungsverlauf skizziert. The text presents the initial results of the research project 'Mussolini's audiences'. The paper contains an analysis of the sources used, from the Archivio Centrale dello Stato and the Archivio Storico Diplomatico del Ministero degli Aff ari Esteri, as well as a short description of the database produced after this research. There are also some brief remarks on Mussolini's working method in its historical development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to describe and discuss the principal contents of the files kept in the Secret Vatican Archives - both in the Vatican Secretariat of State and the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs - concerning Catholic Jews and the 'would be'converted immediately after the promulgation of the Fascist racial laws (1938). The study is based on previously unpublished documents and research on this topic is still ongoing. My research is based on two main types of sources. First, the 'subjective documentation': letters and pleas written during the 'year of the Race' and sent to the Holy See. The authors of these documents were referred to as 'Jews by race, Catholic by faith' or 'Christian Jews' or 'converted Jews' or 'baptized Jews' or - more frequently - 'Catholic Jews'. Second, the contrasting nature of the documentation produced by the Church body in response to these letters. The Holy See's Secretary, Eugenio Pacelli, and the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, Domenico Tardini, answered these pleas in an official and diplomatic way, seeking a way to protect Catholic Jews without provoking a clash with the Fascist regime and its laws. These documents give us a more in-depth understanding of both the political and religious procedures adopted by the Church authorities regarding the Jewish persecution and in particular this specific aspect of the anti-Jewish laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]