UPPSALA AND SPALATO

Abstract

Scholarship frequently applies the terms centre and periphery to different parts of Western Christendom, but there is no consensus on exactly which lands can be characterized by these terms. This paper aims at appr oaching the centre periphery problem in Western Christendom through two case studies: the archbishoprics of Uppsala and Spalato, both lying on the rim of the Latin West, were chosen as the objects of the analysis. On the basis of papal letters from the tim e of Pope Alexander III (1159 1181) the intensity and nature of contacts between the Holy See and these “faraway places” were studied. The main question addressed was what perceptions the Roman Curia had of these territories in the second half of the twelf th century.