Father and Son, Brother and Friend: The Papal Curia and the Status of the Nordic Ecclesiastical Elite

This chapter examines how interaction with the pope and his curia was a potential source of local status and prestige for members of the Nordic ecclesiastical elite in the period around 1200. Knowledge of papal administrative procedures, practices and personnel as well as a network of curial contacts were politically important assets in Latin Christian Europe in the Middle Ages that could be used to strengthen and legitimise the position of this group vis-à-vis their local ecclesiastical peers and secular rulers. The chapter explores several members of the Nordic ecclesiastical elite, their contacts at the papal curia and their experience of the workings of the curia when attempting to obtain the papal support – in the form of privileges, judgements and more – that was sought by local secular and ecclesiastical rulers and religious institutions.