The papal monopoly of the canonisation and translation of saints on the peripheries of Latin Christendom: the case of Bohemia before c.1150

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present paper discusses the attitude of Bohemian ecclesiastical circles towards the papal monopoly of the canonisation and translation of saints. Three cases known from sources dated to the first half of the twelfth century are analysed, all pointing to widespread adoption in the Bohemian Church at a relatively early date of the view that both the canonisation of new saints and the translation of those already recognised required papal approval. The issue is discussed against the wider background of contacts between Bohemian ecclesiastical elites and Rome, as well as Germany. It was the influence of the German Church, where the notion of papal monopoly of the canonisation and translation of saints was widely accepted early on, that provides the key to understanding the phenomenon in Bohemia.