Benedict XII and the Outbreak of the Hundred Years’ War

When questioning how far political change and conflict affected the growth of diplomatic and administrative practices in late Medieval Europe, and how human agency contributed to bureaucratic reforms, especially with regard to record-keeping, the outbreak of the Hundred Years’ War in 1337 ought to be considered as a major turning-point. This chapter specifically focuses on Pope Benedict XII (1334–42) to see how the outbreak of the conflict between England and France impacted on Anglo-papal diplomatic discourse and practice during his pontificate. First, it addresses the Anglo-papal diplomatic relations in the period 1335–42. Second, it focuses on the chancery records of the English crown, especially the Roman rolls and the so-called Treaty rolls, which enroll most of the diplomatic correspondence exchanged between England, the papal curia, the Empire, and France in the 1330s, as well as other diplomatic documents. These records will be investigated to question how diplomatic and administrative practices provided a satisfactory means to inform the diplomatic discourse between England and the papacy, especially within the political milieu that characterized the first few years of the Anglo-French conflict, itself notoriously subject to sudden changes of alliances.