Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: From the late sixth until the eleventh century, African bishops were often in touch with the popes. African clergymen mostly adopted a pragmatic approach, turning to Rome when it suited their purposes and ignoring the popes when they did not need their support. This is particularly evident in the case of Carthage, whose prestige as the most important city in Africa did not correspond to a universally acknowledged hegemony over the other metropolitan sees. The bishop of Carthage cultivated a special relationship with Rome in order to overcome the embarrassing gap between his theoretical and actual authority, which became wider after the Arab conquest. However, the fact that the majority of the testimonies on the history of high medieval African Christianity are connected with the popes gives rise to a misleading impression of the relevance of both their support and Carthage itself, since the pontiffs understandably lingered on the calls for help coming from the most important city of ancient Africa and neglected to dwell on more mundane correspondence with other sees. When papal letters started to be preserved more systematically in the eleventh century, it becomes clear that other African bishops were prepared to exploit Rome to advance their own agendas.
Source: Isidorianum
Author: Marco Cristini
Institution: University of Florence
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4410767977