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Only a few months after his death, Pope Formosus (891–896) was exhumed, put on a throne and tried. The resistance of the result of this "synod of corpses" under Pope Sergius III. (904–911) persecuted clergy ordained by Formosus found its literary expression in pamphlets, the majority of which were written by a southern Italian cleric named Auxilius. His texts offer, in constantly new compilation and using various literary forms, canonical arguments for the defense of the Formosus and the consecrations donated by him. These writings are central to the period around 900, which was recently seen again and again as shaping the professionalising papacy. For the first time, the present edition contains a complete critical text of all tracts by Auxilius as well as some texts from the same context of origin and transmission. It also offers a synopsis of the sources and templates and thus illuminates the legal knowledge in the Naples area at the turn of the 10th century. In addition, the interdependencies of the individual tracts and the development of the argumentation are made visible for the first time. Not only does it become clear how contemporaries fought out the dispute over Formosus, but also the emerging genre of polemical pamphlet is examined more closely, which should experience a climax in the age of the investiture dispute.

Papacy --- History --- Formosus, --- Auxilius, --- Papauté --- Formose --- Formosus p.