The Medieval Podcast · Danièle Cybulskie

On the Supremacy of the Pope with Patrick Nold

March 12, 2026·44 min·3 clips

When a semi-divine king and a pope speaking for God clash, who has the final say on Earth?

The question is blunt. If a king is semi-divine and the pope speaks for God, Danielle Cebulski asks who finally gets to command the world below heaven. Patrick Nold answers through Dondinus Papiens and A Dialogue on the Power of the Supreme Pontiff, a text he has translated about the pope's ultimate authority on Earth. The case is political, but it does not stay there. It runs through philosophy, hierarchy, and the belief that power flows from God through ordered ranks. Nold lingers over the examples because they are odd and useful: the pike above the carp, the falcon above the duck, the dog above the hare. For Dondinus, creation itself has a pecking order, so papal supremacy can sound like part of nature rather than an office fight. The early fourteenth century gives the argument teeth. John XXII is dealing with apostolic poverty, imperial sympathies, and the need to defend ecclesiastical authority. The Dominican context makes it sharper. These friars preach, but here they also act as inquisitors. Matteo Visconti is where the theory meets pressure. The accusations against him include illegitimate rule, violence against clerics, necromancy, and refusal to answer ecclesiastical proceedings. Procedure can turn doctrinal fast. Refusal to appear becomes contumacy; resistance after correction starts to look like heresy. After that, Nold notes, a crusade can be declared on spiritual grounds. Dondinus is not writing in the clouds. The friars around Pavia help explain why his defense of papal authority feels so pointed. The conversation stays careful, but the stakes are plain: theology, jurisdiction, and coercive power are hard to pull apart.

As heard by us

A close look at papal power, heresy, and medieval authority.

The episode treats papal supremacy as a real medieval fight over where final authority sat. If kings were semi divine and the pope spoke for God, the question was simple to ask and hard to settle.

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Why you'd press play

If you like papal politics, this one follows the pope's claim to ultimate power all the way into heresy.

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