Angelus Pacis: The Legation of Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, 1326-1334 (The Medieval Mediterranean, 67)

Angelus Pacis explores the largely overlooked legation of Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, who served as Pope John XXII’s legatus a latere to central Italy from 1326 to 1334. Orsini's appointment constituted a break from the Avignon papacy's traditional reliance on Gallic agents in Italy ― a fact which contributed significantly to both the successes and the failures of his legation. The book examines Avignonese papal policy in Italy and the peculiar circumstances that necessitated Orsini's legation; Orsini's powerful Roman family; the nature of the legatine power he wielded; his campaigns in Tuscany and the Papal States; his provocative signoria in Rome; his reform initiatives; and the reasons underlying the ultimate failure of his mission.

Blake R. Beattie, Ph.D. (1992) in Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, is Associate Professor of History at the University of Louisville. He has published articles on Avignonese curial preaching and later medieval Italy.