Lindsey Wissel
Agnellus Book of the Pontiffs of Ravenna
The balance of power between Bishops/religion and imperial rule/law.
Evidence Matrices for assignment #3
Do one for each piece of evidence
Citation: Medieval Worlds, page 141
Description: The passage describes the beginnings of the Carolingian family and how “founding and
controlling important monasteries and influencing important bishops were practiced by the family as
far back as Pippin I and Itta.”
Balance of power
Party 1 has power
( bishops/monasteries)
X
Party 2 has power
(Carolingian family)
Place an “x” underneath the column that best represents the balance of power
What specific question would you ask about to further examine this piece of evidence:
In what ways did the Carolingian family influence important bishops?
Citation: Medieval Worlds, page 143
Description: This passage is describing political problems with Pippin around 747, eventually he
sends an envoy out to ask the Pope Zacharias is it was right to rule without royal power Zacharias
answered that he who has royal power should be king. By 751, Pippin had banished Childeric III to a
monastery and ceremonially named himself king.
Balance of power
Party 1 has power
(Pippin)
X
Party 2 has power
(Childeric III)
Place an “x” underneath the column that best represents the balance of power.
What specific question would you ask about to further examine this piece of evidence:
Was Childeric being sent to a monastery and a new person taking the seat of power another common
way to take the rule without actually killing someone?
Citation: Medieval Worlds, page148
Description: This passage describes the bishops and archbishops as being both powerful and
influencing in local officials as well as members of the royal court. It goes on to describe the
relationship between them and the Carolingian Kings. “Around the Carolingian kings, and exercising
much influence on them, we find the abbots of the great monasteries….Such abbatial influence at
court was new with the Carolingians and reflected not only the growing power and wealth of the
monasteries but also the Carolingians’ long-standing use of monasteries to help secure the family’s
influence on the local level.”
Balance of power
Party 1 has power
(Carolingian rule)
X
Party 2 has power
(monastic rule)
Place an “x” underneath the column that best represents the balance of power.
What specific question would you ask about to further examine this piece of evidence:
Is the Carolingian family the only royal/ruling family to exercise a balance of power with religious
authority?
Citation: Agnellus Book of the Pontiffs of Ravenna, page 8
Description: This passage describes how Galla Placidia ordered that the image of the “blessed John
the Evangelist, because of his sanctity,” be moved to “adorn the lower wall of the apse, behind the
back of the bishop, over the seat where the bishop sits.”
Balance of power
Party 1 has power
(Galla Placidia)
Party 2 has power
(John the Evangelist)
X
Place an “x” underneath the column that best represents the balance of power.
What specific question would you ask about to further examine this piece of evidence:
Is this a form of monastic power after death or is this an act of respect for the bishop from the imperial
family?
Citation: Agnellus Book of the Pontiffs of Ravenna, page 7-8
Description: This passage is describing the burial procedure for Holy Peter I. It talks about his talk
with God concerning his “holy image”. After Peter dies the people bury him quickly with both of the
lions that were with next him. Agnellus goes on talk about how his tomb was “of precious
proconnesian stone”. This passage gives the impression that bishops were buried much the same way
as kings.
Balance of power
Party 1 has power
(burial of bishops)
X
Party 2 has power
(burial of kings)
Place an “x” underneath the column that best represents the balance of power.
What specific question would you ask about to further examine this piece of evidence:
Since most of these bishops are buried in or by their churches or monasteries, are they also buried with
material things like the kings are?
Citation: Agnellus Book of the Pontiffs of Ravenna, page 10-11
Description: This passage is describing the interaction between Bishop John and Attila the Hun
during the time that Ravenna was almost under siege by the Huns. It goes on to talk about how Attila
would spare Ravenna only if he and his army were allowed to march through the city of Ravenna,
without harming anyone or anything, so he could maintain his reputation.
Balance of power
Party 1 has power
(Attila the Hun)
Party 2 has power
(Bishop John)
X
Place an “x” underneath the column that best represents the balance of power.
What specific question would you ask about to further examine this piece of evidence:
Would Attila have reacted the same way if another king had approached him in the same manner that
Bishop John did?
Citation: Agnellus Book of the Pontiffs of Ravenna, page 12
Description: This passage is still talking about the interaction between Attila the Hun and Bishop
John when it becomes known that the bishop would sacrifice himself before his flock much the same
way that Christ sacrificed himself for sinners.
Balance of power
Party 1 has power
(Attila the Hun)
X
Party 2 has power
(Bishop John as a sacrifice)
Place an “x” underneath the column that best represents the balance of power.
What specific question would you ask about to further examine this piece of evidence:
How did this change the conquest of Attila and the Huns after sparing Ravenna?
Citation: Agnellus Book of the Pontiffs of Ravenna, page 12
Description: This passage is still talking about the interaction between Attila and the Bishop and
how the bishop saved his people from the pagan ways.
Balance of power
Party 1 has power
(Attila as the scourge of
God)
X
Party 2 has power
(Bishop John as a savior)
Place an “x” underneath the column that best represents the balance of power.
What specific question would you ask about to further examine this piece of evidence:
Did this interaction have any effect on the saturation of the Christian religion during this time?