Adrian IV the English Pope (1154-1159): Studies and Texts (review)

The occasion for this volume was the nine-hundredth anniversary of the birth, c. 1100, at Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, of Nicholas Breakspear, who was to become Pope Adrian IV (1154-1159), "the English pope" (a historical anomaly less striking perhaps to contemporaries in light of the existence of a Polish pope). This event was celebrated in a conference at St. Albans in the summer of 2000 devoted to "the world and legacy of the only Englishman to sit on the papal throne" (p. ix). But Adrian IV is not simply the proceedings of that conference. In addition to the papers originally presented at St. Albans five others were specially written for this book. Adrian's predecessor, Eugene III, reigned for more than eight years and his successor, Alexander III, for twenty-two. In their preface, the editors wrote that "since the pontificate [of Adrian IV] has been largely neglected in recent historical scholarship," not only have they produced this collection of essays but they have added an array of Latin sources concerning Pope Adrian, with English translations.

The volume opens with an elegant study by Christopher Brooke, "Adrian IV and John of Salisbury." Christoph Egger, in an essay titled "The Canon Regular: Saint-Ruf in context," focuses on the house of canons near Avignon that the young Nicholas Breakspear joined at an unknown date (but probably before 1140), and over which he later presided as abbot. Two papers—Damian J. Smith, "The Abbot-Crusader: Nicholas Breakspear in Catalonia," and Anders Bergquist, "The Papal Legate: Nicholas Breakspear's Scandinavian Mission"—are devoted to Nicholas' ecclesiastical career before he became pope. Susan E. Twyman, "Summus Pontifex. The Ritual and Ceremonies of the Papal Court," discusses the liturgical environment surrounding Adrian's pontificate. The volume's editors contribute two papers apiece. Brenda Bolton's article titled "St. Alban's Loyal Son" investigates the relationship between Pope Adrian and his birthplace, which he showered with papal privileges. In a second study, "Nova familia beati Petri: Adrian IV and the Patrimony," she deals with Adrian'srelationship with the assemblage of lands centered on Rome over which the pope exercised and/or claimed various rights (adding [p. 179] an appendix giving a valuable "Summary Itinerary" of the pontificate). Anne Duggan, "Totius christianitatis caput: The Pope and the Princes," discusses the volatile political world with which Pope Adrian had to contend in the 1150's; and in the final essay, "Servus servorum Dei," she puts at readers' disposal her considerable knowledge of Adrian's chancery personnel and papal decretals (including an appendix which lists papal decretals transmitted in canon law sources).

The "Sources and Documents" which form the second part of this book are a small treasury. The first and longer section contains narrative sources, and the second offers a selection of Adrian's papal privileges and charters. Historians and students of the medieval papacy already possess valuable texts in English translation, e.g., the Register of Pope Gregory VII, and a lengthy selection from the correspondence of Innocent III. But for the great majority of medieval popes nothing is available in translation. The more than fifty pages of texts which are translated here, from and concerning Pope Adrian IV, are a welcome addition. The medieval authors included are Cardinal Boso (an intimate of Adrian IV who wrote the pope's Vita, which is given here in its entirety), Otto of Freising, William of Newburg, Godfrey of Viterbo, Gerald of Wales, Matthew Paris, Bernard Gui, and Bartolomeo Platina. It would be useful if the editors at some point make this collection of primary sources generally available to students. The perspective about Adrian offered therein is a valuable contribution toward seeing him per se and not merely in light of the events of the long reign of his successor.

Adrian IV the English Pope concludes with an index. But note certainly should be made...