Summary Bishops were powerful individuals who had considerable spiritual, economic, and political power. They were not just religious leaders; they were important men who served kings and lords as advisers and even diplomats. They also controlled large territories and had significant incomes and people at their command. The nature of the international Church also meant that they travelled and had connections well beyond their home countries, were players on an increasingly international stage, and were key conduits for the transfer of ideas. This volume examines the identities and networks of bishops in medieval Europe. The fifteen papers explore how senior clerics attained their bishoprics through their familial, social, and educational networks, their career paths, relationships with secular lords, and the papacy. It brings together research on bishops in central, southern, and northern Europe, by early career and established scholars. The first part features five case-studies of individual bishops' identities, careers, and networks. Then we turn to examine contact with the papacy and its role in three regions: northern Italy, the archbishopric of Split, and Sweden. Part III focuses on five main issues: royal patronage, reforming bishops, nepotism, social mobility, and public assemblies. Finally Part IV explores how episcopal networks in Poland, Sigüenza, and the Nidaros church province helped candidates achieve promotion. These contributions will thus enhance of our understanding of how bishops fit into the religious, political, social, and cultural fabrics of medieval Europe. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction - SARAH E. THOMAS Part I. Cohorts of Bishops Understanding the Appeal of the Courtier Bishop in Thirteenth-Century England - KATHERINE HARVEY Bishops, Kings, and Grievances in Medieval Portugal (1268-1289) - HERMÍNIA VASCONCELOS VILAR Bishops, Nepotism and Social Mobility in Central and Northern Italy in the Fourteenth Century - STEFANO G. MAGNI The Bishops of Meaux, 1197-1510: From Chapter's Men to King's Men - CHRISTINE BARRALIS Part II. Episcopal Networks Premeditation and Determination on the Way to the Polish Episcopacy in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries - JACEK MACIEJEWSKI Bishop, Chapter and Social Networks in Castile: The Cathedral Chapter at Sigüenza (Fourteenth - Fifteenth Centuries) - AÍDA PORTILLA GONZÁLEZ The Nidaros Church and the Insular Parts of its Province: Metropolitan Authority and Relations with Their Suffragans - STEINAR IMSEN Part III. Individual Bishops The Scolari Family at the Head of the Bishopric of Volterra (1261-1269) - JACOPO PAGANELLI Pedro Pérez de Monroy (1310-1324): A?New Bishop for a New Era in Salamanca - FERNANDO GUTIÉRREZ BAÑOS Power, Culture, and Ecclesiastical Reform in Late Medieval Castile: The Bishop of Burgos, Luis de Acuña (1456-1495) - SUSANA GUIJARRO Part IV. Bishops and the Papacy Episcopal Appointments in Northern Italy during the Papacy of John?XXII - FABRIZIO PAGNONI Episcopal Appointments and Careers of the Archbishops of Split (1294-1426) - MI?O PETROVIÆ Between Uppsala and Rome: Swedish Bishops' Contacts with the Papal Curia in the Late Middle Ages - KIRSI SALONEN Index