This volume is the first comparative study of the political tools employed by the Popes and the perception of the Papacy in different regions, so combining the perspectives of the Roman center and that of the churches on the periphery. The Roman view of the means by which it exerted its influence over the Church is set against the reaction of the various regions to them. In this way the discrepancy between Roman prototypes and actual interpretations from the mid-11th to the end of the 12th century is further enhanced by the differences revealed by contrasting regional sketches.