The post of papal librarian was pivotal in the latter half of the ninth century, an age when international politics were tumultuous, especially in terms of what exactly constituted papal power,
and few had the languages to cope with it all. Such a post required someone with the language skills of a scholar and the cross-cultural sensibilities of a diplomat. Anastasius Bibliothecarius
had both and used them well, angling his translations of texts to support papal primacy. Here Neil (ecclesiastical Latin, Australian Catholic U.) has gathered Anastasius’s texts on Pope Martin
I and the monk Maximus the Confessor, both of whom suffered terribly due to their opposition to secular primacy. Neil provides the rich political and social contexts of the debate along with
fresh translations of the texts. The result is a fascinating look into a complex and violent age. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc.,
Portland, OR (booknews.com)
