This book is a study of the politics of episcopal elections in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Normandy and Greater Anjou. This was a crucial period in the development of canon law and Jorg Peltzer offers the first analysis to bring together legal theory and practice, local custom, and politics. He explores the development of electoral theories and examines each election in context, offering insights into the varying balance of royal, papal and regional baronial power and the various career paths leading to an episcopal see. He shows how different systems of patronage worked, to what extent...