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Smiling, Laughing and Joking in Papal Rome

Thomas of Marlborough and Gerald of Wales at the Court of Innocent Iii (1198–1216)

Bibliographic Data

ID10966302
AuthorsIben Fonnesberg-Schmidt (0000-0001-6043-794X, corresponding author), William Kynan-Wilson
Year2018
Volume86
Pages153-181
Publication date2018-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePapers of the British School at Rome (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0068-2462 • E-ISSN: 2045-239X
PublisherOpen Book Publishers (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0068246217000435
OpenAlexW2792585458
LanguageEN
References cited35

This article examines textual descriptions of smiling, laughing and joking with the pope in thirteenth-century Rome. It focuses on two Anglo-Norman accounts of conducting litigation at the papal curia: Thomas of Marlborough's (d.1236 ) Chronicon abbatiae de Evesham and Gerald of Wales's (c. 1146–1220×23) De jure et statu Menevensis ecclesiae . Both authors include several careful and prominent references to smiling, laughing and joking, and specifically in relation to Pope Innocent III. These passages have previously been read as straightforward examples of wit and friendship, but this study shows that the authors use these physiological expressions to convey complex and subtly different pictures of the papal curia. Above all, this article demonstrates how Thomas and Gerald's descriptions of humorous interactions with the pope play crucial narrative and mnemonic roles within their work

Art · Friendship · Linguistics · Literature · Mnemonic · Narrative · Relation (database · Computer Science · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Psychology · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Social Psychology

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Citation velocityhistorical
Highly citedNo
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