Urban V. (1362-1370): Kirchenreform zwischen Kardinalkollegium, Kurie, und Klientel by Ludwig Vones (review)

BOOK REVIEWS619 Urban V. (1362-1370): Kirchenreform zwischen Kardinalkollegium, Kurie, und Klientel. By Ludwig Vones. [Päpste und Papsttum,Volume 28.] (Stuttgart : Anton Hiersemann. 1998. Pp. xii, 719. DM 340.) Raised from an abbacy to the throne of St. Peter without having been either bishop or cardinal, and after a career in which his most notable role had been as a legate in Italy, Guillaume Grimoard succeeded Innocent VI as Pope Urban V in 1362. One of the succession of Avignon popes, in 1367 he led the papacy back to Italy. This proved to be only a temporary shift: in 1370 he would return to Avignon, to die. A few years later the first examination began in his process of canonization, but beatification was delayed until 1870. In this massive tome, Ludwig Vones offers a detailed dissection of aspects of the pontificate, in a revised version of his Habilitationsschrift of 1994. Following a lengthy introduction, establishing a broad context (with a strong focus on reform movements and eschatology), the volume divides into three parts. The first, at just under a hundred pages, tackles the pope's family, tracing the genealogy and inheritance from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Here Urban himself plays only a minor part, although his early career merits some twenty pages. In the nature of genealogical studies, there is little debate or argument here, the stress being very firmly on establishing facts and tracing a succession. The second section (pp. 147-309) treats Urban Vs election as pope in 1362, and his dealings with the College of Cardinals, paying particular attention to his appointments to the College and his policy on the cardinals' benefices. The third part (pp. 31 1-457) considers the personnel surrounding the pope; his involvement in monastic reform (notably at St-Victor at Marseilles and Montecassino ); his fostering of universities; and preparations for the return to Rome. A final consideration (pp. 459-487) summarizes Urban's reform policy in the context of the Church as a whole. This is a major study, but by no means a full dissection of the pontificate. The focus is very much on concerns in the curia, only moving to a larger canvas when assessing particular aspects. Events in southern Italy accordingly gain prominence as they connect with factional divisions among the cardinals; England comes to the fore when considering the problem of benefices and clerical careers; Germany and eastern Europe are important in the discussion of universities . There is, however, no comprehensive analysis of the pope's impact on international politics, for instance, in the diplomacy of the Anglo-French conflicts . Vones spreads his net widely; in consequence Urban himself often sinks from sight: pages pass with nary a mention. Although Guillaume Grimoard's pre-papal career receives some attention in the section on family history, he does not dominate that part of the book. Although he would eventually emerge as a compromise candidate from outside the Sacred College, in the analysis of the conclave he is a minor player in relation to the aims and factioneering of the main protagonists. Elsewhere, he often gets lost in the contexts, or in the background to a situation—a somewhat elusive main character. 620BOOK REVIEWS Vones certainly aims to be exhaustive, especially in his referencing. The volume is massively—indeed, dauntingly and overwhelmingly—documented: footnotes must account for at least half of the printed area of the main text. The scale of the referencing often appears excessive, if not self-indulgent—but it does mean that the notes are potentially also extremely useful in other areas. Potted biographies abound. These are clearly necessary and central to the genealogical analysis; they also appear regularly elsewhere, especially when discussing the people associated with the pope. This prosopographical approach is at its extreme at pages 350-354: a single sentence consisting of a list of names (which actually starts on p. 349), occupying twenty lines of text, with notes which are almost exclusively biographies. The bibliography is comprehensive , to put it mildly; the list of printed material, primary and secondary, extends to over 100 pages. The foreword says that the original thesis has been cut in places, but further pruning would...