Books in the Longman History of The Papacy series

This survey launches a major five-volume series exploring the history of the papacy. This initial volume runs from the French Revolution to the fall of the Soviet Union. Its central theme is the response of this most ancient of institutions to the modern secular age.

A. D. Wright challenges the standard view that the development of Papal authority during this period simply reflected the 'Absolutism' of secular governments, and offers an analysis related to present historiographical debates on the subject.