Working draft. Do not cite without permission. William Caraher © 2011
Schabel, Christopher, ed.,
Bullarium Cyprium: Papal Letters concerning Cyprus
. 2 Volumes. Volume 1 1196-1261, volume 2 1261-1314. Series: Cyprus Research CentreTexts and Studies in the history of Cyprus (Nicosia, Cyprus: Cyprus Research Centre,2010).Over the last 15 years, Christopher Schabel’s name has become synonymous with thehistory of Medieval Cyprus. His translations and editions of important sources for thehistory of Cyprus and his numerous articles, many of which have been collected in a single volume also published in 2010, have not only expanded the documentary base forCypriot history, but also pushed scholars to reconsider the complex relations betweenGreeks, Latins, and other groups on the island. In light of the island’s recent, troubledpolitical history and the scholarly tendency to approach the island’s distant past througha post-colonial lens , Schabel’s contributions, while conservative in approach,nevertheless have immediate, contemporary relevance to the study of Cypriot history.The two volume
Bullarium Cyprium
marks Schabel’s third major contribution to thedocumentary foundation for the Medieval history of the island and complements the twoother Lusignan period collections by the Cyprus Research Center: Schabel’s and N.Coureas’
The Cartulary of the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom of Nicosia
(Nicosia 1997) and theSchabel’s
Synodicum Nicosiense and Other Documents of the Latin Church of Cyprus 1196-1373
(Nicosia 2001). The former concerns matters of ecclesiastical authority andproperty on the island and the latter focuses primarily on the various legal mattersinvolving the status of the Latin church and clergy. The dearth of secular documentsfrom Cyprus makes the ecclesiastical texts edited in these volumes central to any understanding of political and religious life in Medieval Cyprus and indispensible to any research collection with an emphasis on either Cyprus or the history of the CrusaderStates. While this review will focus on the
Bullarium Cyprium
, Schabel’s introduction tothe
Synodicum
still represents the best introduction to the entire corpus of Latindocuments on Cyprus and should be read in conjunction with his fine introduction to the
Bullarium Cyprium
. In the
Synodicum
, he places the reading of all these texts within thecolonial history of the island and argues that the only path to reconsidering the island’shistory is to return to the documents themselves.The two volume
Bullarium Cyprium
should be understood in the context, then, of thesetwo earlier collections. This newest contribution collects nearly 600 Papal lettersinvolving ecclesiastical and political affairs on the island of Cyprus from 1196 to 1314.Schabel argues that these letters may represent less than 20% of the total number of correspondence between various officials on Cyprus and the Papacy (1.77). The reasonfor the substantial quantity of Papal correspondence with the political and ecclesiasticalelite on the island stems from the Papacy’s recognition of the island’s ecclesiastical
Working draft. Do not cite without permission. William Caraher © 2011
independence from the Patriarchal authority of Antioch or Jerusalem. As a result, theLatin church and by extension the Greek clergy on the island a were direct papaldependencies. The historical and textual context for this unique collection of correspondence is provided by Jean Richard and by Schabel respectively.Schabel’s introduction to the texts is model of methodological and critical clarity. He listsfive goals to his work. First, he sought to prepare editions for most of the papal lettersconcerning to Cyprus from 1191-1314, to produce English summaries of these letters, toprovide critical notation on all extant manuscripts of the letters, to reference all previouseditions of the letters and their summaries, and finally, to include historical commentary as a guide for future research. His introduction makes clear the tedious process involvedin the discovery and editing of the letters (which he claimed to represent the work of 8months of 100 hour weeks!). Schabel conducted a massive search of the Vatican’sdigitized holdings, the letters of Innocent III published in the
Patrologia Latina
and the
Pontifica Commissio ad redigendum codicem iuris canonici orientalis
(CIC0), as well as various editions by Horoy, Pressutti, Mas-Latrie, La Porte du Theil, and BEFAR(Bibliothèque des Ecoles Françaises d'Athenes et de Rome). This exhaustive researchenabled Schabel to correct the sometimes significant problems preserved in earliereditions; now, scholars should regard his editions as definitive. Schabel notes that theletters preserved in the Papal registers and a small number of outside sources (like the
Cartulary of the Nicosia Cathedral
), are representative of Papal attitudes and policiesregarding affairs on the island (1.78).Jean Richard provides a historical introduction to these texts and will edit a third volumein this collection focusing on the letters dating to the period of the Avignon Papacy (1316-1378). Richard’s introduction is an admirable survey of the history of the Papacy andCyprus organized around the content of the newly edited letters. The introductionorganizes the letters thematically, centered on the relationship between the papacy andthe Latin Church, the role of the papal intervention in the distribution of benefices onCyprus, papal role in managing the expansion of Latin religious orders on Cyprus, and thepapal policies on relations with the Greek and other Christians. Outside of the realm of ecclesiastical politics, Richard also looks at the place of papal intervention intoaristocratic Christian society on the island and the role of Cyprus in the history of theCrusader states. While it is clear that the letters included in these volumes expandssignificantly our view of both papal involvement in Cypriot affairs and the role of Cyprusin regional politics, it is unfortunate that Richard’s introduction did not considerexplicitly the impact of this collection of letters to scholarly debate. As Richard makesclear, these letters expand incrementally our knowledge of the relationship between the
Working draft. Do not cite without permission. William Caraher © 2011
Papacy and the political and ecclesiastical elite in the Holy Land, but tendency of the Popeto avoid interfering in the life of Greek communities means these letters provide littleadditional material concerning the majority of the population on the island (1.48).The letters will continue to discourage any view of Latin involvement on the island that isnot complex and dynamic. Papal attitudes toward both the Greek clergy and religious onthe island varied from attempts to accommodate their traditional practices within Latinexpectations to attempts to marginalize their influence over the local population and theLatin elite. The most explicit effort to limit the power of the Greek church appears in thehe famous
Bulla Cypria
(f-35 in Schabel’s collection) which circumscribed the authority and number of Greek bishops and placed the Greek church and clergy under Latin control.This created tensions and sometimes rebellion among Greeks, although little evidence forthis appears in the Papal letters which generally show the Papacy as reluctant to becomeinvolved in Greek affairs below the episcopal level. Papal concern does extend, however,to the various Crusading orders active on Cyprus, the Templars and Hospitalers inparticular, as well as the Franciscans and Dominicans friars. These groups not only controlled significant resources and influence on the island, but did not fall under thecontrol of local episcopal authority. As the political and military situation in the Latin East deteriorated, Papal letters reflectthe growing concern for the secular situation in the region. The letters show efforts toprevent the deteriorating political situation in the Levant from destabilizing the dynasticor social situation on Cyprus. At the same time, the correspondence reveal how deeply embedded Cyprus was in the affairs in the Holy Land. The Pope saw Cyprus as a bridgehead for re-establishing Latin authority in the region especially in the second half of the 13
th
century. At the same time, he recognized the deep involvement of the Lusingnanfamily in the politics of both the East and West and paid constant attention to dynasticaffairs. By the later 13
th
and early 14
th
century political conflicts centered on the rights of the dispossessed Latin feudal aristocracy who sought to retain some titular authority either in the remaining Latin possession in the Levant, like Cyprus, or elsewhere. Therepeated efforts of the papacy to resolve certain issues in dynastic politics provide clearillustrations of the limits of Papal authority in the later Middle Ages. While little in these letters will force a wholesale re-evaluation of Medieval Cyprus, they will provide the basis for more nuanced reading of the encounter between the Latin westand the Greek east in the Middle Ages. The ad hoc and reactive character of many of thePapal responses, remind us that any effort to seek a coherent policy in Western influencein Cyprus must be tempered by the realities of pre-modern statecraft and the inability toproject power consistently over the complex machinations of dynastic and ecclesiastical
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Review of C. Schabel's Bullarium Cyprium
A review of Schabel, Christopher, ed., Bullarium Cyprium: Papal Letters concerning Cyprus. 2 Volumes. Volume 1 1196-1261, volume 2 1261-1314. Series: Cyprus Research Centre Texts and Studies in the history of Cyprus (Nicosia, Cyprus: Cyprus Research Centre, 2010)
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