The popes’ residence at Avignon in the fourteenth century contributed to a remarkable degree to the centralization of the government of the church and the elaboration of the bureaucracy of the papal court. The present volume illustrates and elucidates these developments insofar as they concern the papal chancery and the production of documents issued in the name of the pope. It contains essays published over more than thirty years in academic journals, Festschriften and conference proceedings. Although the essays were published in a wide range of places, they almost all have a single theme. They appear now in a revised form: new sources have been discussed, references to more recent secondary literature added, and errors corrected. On the other hand, two essays are published for the first time, one on autograph letters of the Avignon popes, the other on papal licences which permitted the appointment of a private confessor who could grant the beneficiary a plenary indulgence at the point of death.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

INTRODUCTION

1. The papal chancery: Avignon and beyond

PETITIONS AND REGISTERS

2. Petitions to the Pope in the Fourteenth Century

3. Fiat A: the Earliest Known Roll of Petitions Signed by the Pope (1307) (with P. A. Linehan)

4. The Origins of the Registration of Petitions in the Papal Chancery in the First Half of the Fourteenth Century

5. Inextricabilis curie labyrinthus: the Presentation of Petitions to the Pope in the Chancery and the Penitentiary During the Fourteenth and First Half of the Fifteenth Century

6. Changes in the Registration of Papal Letters Under the Avignon Popes (1305-1378)

THE CHANCERY AND ITS PRODUCTION

7. Some Early Letters of Pope Clement V (1305-14) in the National Archives

8. The Office of Notary in the Papal Chancery in the Mid-Fourteenth Century

9. At the Point of Death: Licences to Choose a Confessor in mortis articulo issued by the Avignon Popes

THE ROLE OF THE POPE

10.The Personal Role of the Pope in the Production of Papal Letters in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

11. The Political and Administrative Correspondence of the Avignon Popes, 1305-1378: a Contribution to Papal Diplomatic

12. Autograph Letters of the Avignon Popes

PAPAL LETTERS AND ENGLISH HISTORY

13. The Letters of the Avignon Popes (1305-1378): a Source for the Study of Anglo-Papal Relations and of English Ecclesiastical History

14. Proctors Acting for English Petitioners in the Chancery of the Avignon Popes (1305-1378)

15. The Papal Chancery and English Documents in the Fourteenth and Early Fifteenth Centuries

16. The Publication of Entries in the Papal Registers Concerning Great Britain and Ireland

17. Collective Indulgences from Rome and Avignon in English Collections

PAPAL LETTERS FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

18.When did Cambridge Become a studium generale?

19. Some Inedited Papal Documents Relating to the University of Cambridge in the Fourteenth Century

20. The Mendicant Orders and the University of Cambridge in the Fourteenth and Early Fifteenth Centuries

INDICES

Index of manuscripts

Index of persons and places

Index of subjects