Zecevic, Nada. 2015. The Endowment License of Pope Sixtus IV to Leonardo III Tocco (10 September 1476): The Church of St. Demetrios on Lefkada and its place in the Plans of the Roman Curia. Initial: A Review of Medieval Studies, 3/2015, pp. 225-240. ISSN 2334-8003 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

The paper focuses on a license which Pope Sixtus IV granted to Leonardo III Tocco on 10 September 1476. This license allowed the Tocco lord to found a Catholic church dedicated to St. Demetrios on the Ionian island of Lefkada. The research shows that the immediate motives for this endowment reflected wider political interests of the pontifical Curia which regarded Leonardo as one of its allies in the Crusade planned against the Ottomans. The stability of Leonardo’s power was reinforced by the Curia’s ambitions to strengthen Catholicism in his domain. The licensing of Leonardo’s ipso iure patronage over the newly founded church, as well as the permission to dedicate the endowment to the popular Orthodox warrior-saint Demetrios, both appear in this document as distinctive methods of this papal policy. The paper also discusses the size of the church of St. Demetrios, its location, and chronology, as well as the paleo-diplomatic features of this pontifical license, providing also a transcription in which the document’s significant vocabulary follows diplomatic standards of reading.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	church of St. Demetrios on Lefkada; Leonardo III Tocco; church endowment; patronage; ius patronatus; late Crusades; Union; Pope Sixtus IV
Related URLs:	Publisher
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	History History > Centre for the Study of the Balkans (CSB)
Dates:	Date Event 2015 Published
Item ID:	27179
Date Deposited:	21 Nov 2019 12:45
Last Modified:	21 Nov 2019 12:59
Peer Reviewed:	Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/27179

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