This study encompasses the extraordinary history of the papacy, from its beginnings nearly 2000 years ago, to the reign of Pope John Paul II. In this edition, Eamon Duffy has revised and updated the final chapter on 20th-century popes and added a supplement on how the next pope will be elected.
The change from empire to kingdom, from toga to trousers, however, was to take generations to make its full imaginative impact. The barbarian kings of Italy pursued their own interests, but they ruled, to begin with at least, in the name of the distant Emperor in Constantinople, maintaining and h...