Construction of alterity in 8th- and 9th-century papal Rome

In the course of the eighth and ninth centuries, the papacy had to deal with a multitude of Others, especially with other peoples, partly in connection with its strife to enlarge its secular power. The popes were thus right in the middle of the political events on the Apennine peninsula. The dissertation makes use of the extant papal letters of the period and of the Roman Liber Pobtificalis. The bulk of papal letters transmitted from the eighth century stems from the so called Codex Carolinus. This collection is preserved in the codex Vienna, CVP 449. It contains a selection of some 100 papal letters to the Carolingians from 739 to 792. The transmission of letters from the ninth century is far more dispersed; the big complexes are to be found in the extract from the register of John VIII, and, with reserves, the so called Collectio Britannica. Three cases have been analyzed more closely in the thesis, each of them representing a relationship that in one way or another has had a special impact on the papacy of our period. The first case deals with the papal relations to the empire in the eighth century. This is maybe the most complex case, because Rome was still part of that empire until c. 776 and the papacy saw itself as part of the empire for a long time. Only from the 750ies onwards, the popes began to implement quite consequent Othering against the emperor and the core of the empire in the east in their writings, which they mainly achieved by labeling those Others as Greci. The next case examined more closely is that of the Lombards. As opposed to the Greci, it was never difficult for the papacy to portray the Lombards as Others. However, cooperation and conflict took turns in this relationship for more frequently than modern historiography often has us believe. The case of the Lombard king Desiderius provides a very good example: At first he was praised in Roman sources, only to be vilified in unprecendented manner a few years later in a papal letter. However, just one year later he was called excellentissimus filius noster, our most excellent son by the very same Pope Stephen III. The Franks are in some respects a quite similar case, because it was initially easy to present them as Others hence they are dealt with in a joint part of the book with the Lombards. From 754 onwards, the Carolingian Franks were the most important allies of the papacy, which is why it was all the more important for the popes to keep them at a convenient distance. They were not integrated into the papal in-group during the eighth century. The last case then ventures into the ninth century. It is dedicated to the one conflict with Others that had the greatest impact in the papacy in this century the conflict with the Saracens. In 846, a Saracens group attacked Rome and plundered the city outside of the walls, especially the important shrines of St Peter and St Paul. This shocking event led to a fundamental change of the papal self- perception and of the papal theological position on warfare. For one, fighters who were killed in battle against pagans were more and more styled as martyrs. For another, the popes tried far stronger to integrate the South Italian Lombards and other powerful fiefdoms of that region, who had (to various degrees) been designated as Others for a long time by then. This case alone illustrates that the perception of Others could never be absolute but always has to be understood in relation to different Others. Thus in comparison with the Saracens, all other inhabitants of Italy were closer to the popes.