The Popes

An irresistible account of some of history's most illustrious - and iniquitous - figures, from one of our best-loved historians.

John Julius Norwich expertly examines the history of the oldest continuing institution in the world, tracing the papal line down the centuries from St Peter to the present

Of the 280-odd holders of the supreme office, some have unquestionably been saints;

Two thousand years of holiness, ambition, scandal and survival in one institution.

The papacy claims a line stretching back to St Peter, but its history is anything but simple. John Julius Norwich follows the bishops of Rome as spiritual authority becomes political power, survives catastrophe and repeatedly adapts to a changing world.

Some popes became saints. Others became notorious for corruption, ambition or spectacular misjudgement. There is the legend of a female pope exposed during a procession, and the extraordinary Cadaver Synod, when the corpse of Pope Formosus was exhumed, dressed in papal vestments and placed on trial.

Beyond such episodes lies a larger history of Byzantium and Rome, heresy and reform, Renaissance power, revolution, nationalism and the changing relationship between the Church and secular states.

Learned without becoming solemn, The Popes explains how an institution continually remade itself while insisting on continuity. It is a sweeping history of the personalities, conflicts and compromises behind one of the world’s most enduring religious offices.

‘Charming and learned…The prose is elegant, the witticisms are plentiful, and the volume’s enthusiasm is addictive.’ Jonathan Wright, BBC History Magazine