Salus Populi : the eschatological imagination of Saint Peter Damian (c.1007 - 1072)

Abstract

Peter Damian (c. 1007 - 1072) was an influential voice in the monastic, papal and ecclesiastical movements for spiritual and institutional reform in the eleventh century. He served as a rhetorician in the schools of Northern Italy prior to his monastic conversion and adoption of the eremitic life at the hermitage of Fonte Avellana in Umbria. He carved out a significant network of influence in monastic circles and became a confidant of bishops, popes, emperors and the secular aristocracy. From 1057 he served as cardinal bishop of Ostia and began to assert substantial influence as a guarantor of the papacy's authority to lead the reform movements. Damian left behind a corpus of 180 letters, 54 sermons and a volume of poetry and prayers. Together these writings form the basis of the analysis of the evolution of Damian's ideology presented in this dissertation.