The Good Ruler from a Papal Perspective: Continuities and Discontinuities in Papal Letters from the Fourth to Eighth Centuries

Abstract

Examining papal perspectives about and towards the good ruler presents two chal-lenges. The first challenge is the relatively long time period from the fourth to eighth centuries with which this volume concerns itself.¹ The second challenge is related to specific source-critical problems that arise because popes almost exclusively con-veyed their thoughts on the good ruler in letters,² as no pope of this period penned a Mirror of Princes (Fürstenspiegel). The broad catalogue of virtues such as the one outlined by Ambrose of Milan for church dignitaries does not resonate with histori-ography composed in the popes ’ inner circles.³ Some emperors were regarded as especially “ good ” by both tradition and church historians, so their catalogue of virtues could, in theory, permit drawing inferences about the idea(l) of a good ruler. ⁴ How-ever, because the popes did not themselves participate in this retroactive “ mytholo-gizing ” of individual emperors, we must rely almost solely on papal letters, the majority of which can be termed “ dogmatic letters ” or having theological, Christological, or canonical contents. ⁵ Perusing the papal letters, it soon becomes apparent that the particular reasons for writing a letter usually determined the specific labelling of the good ruler in each individual case. These reasons and the notions of the good ruler mirrored therein experienced only minor shifts throughout these 500  On account of this timeframe, the bibliography will be limited to absolutely necessary of the Catholic Church in hostile wars fought for the Christian people and you are fighting ec-clesiastical wars like the warriors of God.