Piety and Power: The Renaissance Papacy

3 units

While Cardinal Lawrence declared that the election of a pope was "not a war" in Conclave (2024), early modern cardinals might have disagreed. Inspired by the recent popular attention on the papacy thanks to the award-winning film followed by the election of Pope Leo XIV in 2025, this course will consider the medieval and Renaissance history of the institution beginning with the papacy's transfer to Avignon in 1309. We will consider how the papacy shaped the landscape of both Avignon and Rome, and the ways in which popes and their artists created a legacy that far outlasted their reigns. Through the study of painting, sculpture, architecture, manuscript illumination, tapestry weaving, and other forms of artistic production, we will examine how medieval and Renaissance popes maintained a delicate balance between sacred and secular, piety and power.