Property, Power, and the Political State: Angevin Theologians in the 1322 Consultation on Apostolic Poverty

The 1322 consultation launched by Pope John XXII on the theological doctrine of Apostolic Poverty is one of the most catalyst moments in European intellectual history, where a question of religious practice evolved and exploded into a question of property, power, and the political state. The MSCA-PF ProPPS is an interdisciplinary project that brings together theological doctrine, religious and political identities, and royal and papal politics within the canvass of the medieval intellectual, spiritual, and political life of the Angevin state and theologians. ProPPS will be the first attempt to map and analyse a collection of texts connected to the patronage of King Robert of Naples, to study the group Angevin theologians as part of an intellectual network within the poverty debate, and to situate the intellectual position of King Robert in his sacral-political symbiosis with the papacy. The project will shift current scholarly focus from the papal-imperial conflict to highlight the intellectual richness and diversity of the theological and philosophical treatises within a complex network of political and religious loyalties. ProPPS has three research objectives: (1) a doctrinal, philosophical, and philological study of a major treatise in the poverty debate by the trusted papal adviser Francis of Meyronnes, of his thoughts on property, social and economic power, and the nature of civil and political state, before proceeding to (2) a prosopographical and doctrinal study of the Angevin theologians and their contributions to the poverty controversy in 1322, on where they stand individually and collectively on the controversy, and finally (3) a macroscopic study of the court of Robert of Naples in its relationship with the Franciscans, the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and the papacy. The project will adopt methods of manuscript studies, conceptual and contextual analysis of selected texts, and document and archive analysis.