In the course of the 11th century, the Papacy increasingly claimed a universal authority over all Christians. Even if this programme was not fully implemented, it is still the most successful example of territorial claims being staked in medieval Europe. The present volume of collected papers approaches this topic from a number of directions, dealing above all with the organisation of papal power, legal processes and the ways in which religious ideas were communicated. The basic approach of the papers is to examine the history of communication and to analyse the paths of information exchange and the barriers to communication in a Church which regarded itself as having universal authority and laboured to establish this claim.

This volume examines the antagonism between tradition and innovation in the Middle Ages. There were lines of thought which presume adherence to authoritative examples, but also believe in the purposefulness of history, in that, starting from an original state, there is a succession of redemptive actions, threats of danger and promises of happiness, and at times even the expectation of an ideal final state. New processes, new skills, new knowledge, new ethical attitudes and new forms of co-existence are seen as representing progressive steps which do not cease in the present and are directed towards the promise of future happiness. This view was, however, confronted with those which bemoaned change as a deviation from past ideals and as a decline, and which held that the present and future could only be improved through recourse to tried and tested states legitimised through tradition. There was, therefore, the legitimation through tradition, but at the same time there was a commitment to innovation, which was judged to be an improvement. The image of dwarves who stand on the shoulders of giants, but are thus able to see farther, demonstrates the dichotomous attitude of the Middle Ages. The volume presents papers from a variety ofdisciplines involved in medieval studies. The papers focus on views of time and change, technological invention, the accumulation of goods and profit, reform and innovation in communities and the state, the increase in knowledge, innovation in art and literature, and the possibilities and boundaries of progress in human knowledge.

Pope John XXII, elected in 1316, reigned for 18 years and was the most significant if also the most controversial of the Popes who resided in Avignon. The essays in this volume, drawn from the disciplines of history, art, philosophy, theology, and the law, examine the conceptual and institutional conditions and the impact of his papacy and seek to show the ways it was organized according to both time-honored and innovative practices.