Calixtus II (1119-1124): A Pope Born to Rule

Mary Stroll, Ph.D. (1975) in History, the University of California, San Diego, is a Visiting Scholar at UCSD. She has published three books with Brill, the last of which was The Medieval Abbey of Farfa (1998).

• Acknowledgements; Preface; Abbreviations; List of Maps and Illustrations; PART I. GUY OF VIENNE; Introduction: Guy of Vienne; 1. Guy as Archbishop: The Velvet Glove; 2. Acting on a Larger Stage; 3. Election as Pope; PART II. ENGLAND; 4. England and the German Alliance; 5. York Versus Canterbury; 6. Papal/Anglo-Norman Negotiations; 7. The Victory of Calixtus and Thurstan; 8. Thurstan in York; 9. England: A Qualified Success; PART III. GERMANY; 10. The Empire; 11. Guy's Family and Henry V; 12. The Lay and Ecclesiastical Princes; PART IV. SPAIN AND FRANCE; 13. Raymond, Alfonso and Diego; 14. Calixtus and Spain; 15. The Denouement in Spain; 16. France: The Perspective of Geoffrey of Vendome; PART V. ITALY; 17. Entry into Italy; 18. Corsica; 19. Italy and the Normans; 20. Burdinus, Farfa, and a Revisit to France with Abelard; 21. The Second Expedition to the South; PART VI. THE CONCORDAT OF WORMS; 22. The Background; 23. 1119: Negotiations Fail; 24. The Concordat of Worms; 25. The First Lateran Council; PART VII. SUMMING UP; 26. Cluny and Montecassino; 27. New Ventures; 28. The Final Years; 29. Conclusion; Bibliography; Indexes; Index of Persons; Index of Places; Subject Index

'Given the immense importance of those years between 1119 and 1124, Stroll's weighty survey of the achievements of the reign of Calixtus is to be welcomed... She has provided much food for further thought.' Constant J. Mews, BMR, 2006. The author deserves considerable thanks for the thoroughness of her research and for providing us with the first biography of Calixtus in more than a century. She demonstrates that this pontificate is not just merely interesting but essential to understand the problems confronting the papacy, not just in terms of church and state but also the fundamental divisions within the leadership of the church. Those who continue to study the reform papacy will certainly find this work useful. James M. Powell, Speculum