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c h a p t e r 2 The Many Faces of Leo’s Peter As we might expect for a figure as significant as Leo ‘‘the Great,’’ scholars have explored many different aspects of his career and thought, ranging from the ideological and theological to the political.1 One historiographical trajectory in the scholarship of the twentieth century suggests an attempt to locate specific ways the pope appropriated or transformed imperial signs and symbols for his Christian purposes.2 Walter Ullmann, for example, argued that Leo deliberately borrowed the phrase ‘‘unworthy heir’’ (indignus heres) from Roman legal terminology as he sought to strengthen the bond between his office and Peter’s uncontested authority.3 Bronwen Neil has sufficiently shown that there are problems with Ullmann’s interpretation (Ullmann essentially missed the fact that Leo is, in a sense, inverting the phrase, because in Roman law an ‘‘unworthy heir’’ cannot legally inherit). Yet there is little doubt that Leo’s styling of himself as the ‘‘heir’’ of Peter reflects a blending of Roman imperial traditions with what Conrad Leyser identifies in another context as a Christian rhetoric of ‘‘unworthiness.’’4 This chapter will similarly focus on Leo’s narrative decisions in his formulation of Roman authority. In some respects, therefore, I am indebted to Trevor Jalland’s 1941 biography of Leo, which emphasizes Leo’s ‘‘greatness’’ in terms of his ability to assert papal prominence on the basis of an imagined Petrine legacy that, in Jalland’s eyes, had little hope of historical verification.5 I am also appreciative of Susan Wessel’s insightful comments regarding the importance of Peter for Leo’s vision of Rome’s universal reach and exercise of ecclesiastical justice.6 All historical studies of Leo, of course, must take note of the dramatic transformation of Roman society that occurred in the fifth century as a consequence of the Germanic invasions/migrations. At the same time that the authority of Western emperors increasingly gave way to Germanic warlords, 40 chapter 2 the landholding aristocrats of Rome (men who held positions in the Senate as consuls or as the illustri of the state) managed to increase their wealth and influence in the city. As a result, these families continued to play an integral role in civic and religious dynamics, whether or not particular members of a family took on leadership roles in the Church. At the time of Leo’s election in 440, the Western empire was ruled by Valentinian III (425–455), first cousin to Theodosius II (416–450), his more powerful counterpart in the East. Typical of the political infighting of the period, Valentinian grew envious of his most effective general, Aetius, and murdered him in 454. Valentinian was himself murdered in March 455. Because Valentinian had no male heirs, the Western empire fell into a period of further instability that partly enabled the ascendancy of the Gothic kingdom of Italy a generation later.7 One of the most remarkable features of Leo’s large corpus is its almost complete silence about these political developments. Not only does Valentinian’s murder go unmentioned, so do Attila the Hun’s invasion of Italy in 452 and the Vandal siege of Rome in 455.8 We know little of Leo’s life before his election as pope.9 We do know that he served as an advisor and archdeacon to Pope Sixtus III (432–440) and was on a diplomatic mission in Gaul on his behalf when Sixtus died and Leo was elected his successor in 440.10 While biographical details are scant, the surviving corpus is substantial. In fact, Leo is the first pope whose writings survive in relatively complete editions. Of the 173 letters in the extant corpus, approximately 140 are believed to be genuinely his (in addition to several spurious letters, approximately 20 letters are addressed to him or have been transmitted with his corpus).11 His is the largest surviving papal correspondence before Gregory the Great. In addition to the letters, there are 96 surviving sermons, organized by topic rather than chronologically. As noted in the Introduction, Carolingian editors chose to begin the collection with those sermons that most forcefully advocate Roman authority and do so by connecting that authority to the Apostle Peter. For Leo’s Carolingian editors, his legacy was tied directly to his promotion of Roman authority via Peter. By paying close attention to where, how, and why Leo employed the...

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