<i>Inter rectores et pastores</i>: Thietmar of Merseburg and episcopal action

Abstract

Some decades ago, Timothy Reuter challenged the imperial church system or Reichskirchensystem, a long-lasting notion in German historiography used to explain the close union between bishops and kings/emperors of the Ottonian era. Following this static view, bishops were considered mere performers of specific functions within said system. Over the last decades, more dynamic perspectives have emerged, inquiring about the type of office rising from concrete actions. In the last book of his Chronicon, the chronicler and Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg reflects on the tasks of the good shepherd and he intends to offer some advice to readers and/or prospect bishops. Suggestions include earthly matters, the administration of the diocese and pastoral care; tackling what is expected as to episcopal status and how the office is personally constructed and developed. This article proposes to analize both the episcopal figure in Thietmar’s Chronicle by placing the bishop in the middle of two worlds: secular and spiritual¸and the tensions deriving from this, not only regarding the construction and exercise of authority, but also in relation with the rest of the (secular) powers.