Imprint Academic Ltd. History of Political Thought

Imprint Academic Ltd.
INTENTIONS, CONCEPTS AND RECEPTION: AN ATTEMPT TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE

MATERIALISTIC AND DIACHRONIC ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS
Author(s): Leidulf Melve
Source: History of Political Thought, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Autumn 2006), pp. 377-406
Published by: Imprint Academic Ltd.
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INTENTIONS, CONCEPTS AND RECEPTION:
AN ATTEMPT TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE
MATERIALISTIC AND DIACHRONIC ASPECTS OF
THE HISTORY OF IDEAS
Leidulf Melve'
Abstract: The article outlines an approach to the history of ideas which cap
the discussion of the theoretical sides of the history of ideas and the history
thought during the last three decades. Two aspects are of particular import
outlined approach, namely a focus on the materialistic aspect of the text — t
manuscript. A second important aspect is the need to come to terms with th
side to the history of ideas. By combining the insights of linguistic context
Begriffsgeschichte, Receptionsgeschichte and Wirkungsgeschichte, the en
an approach that perhaps is able to grasp the innovative ideas at the mo
appear as well as to trace their eventual further destiny through subsequent
The first part of the article presents the theoretical synthesis, whereas the
exemplifies the use of the approach by analysing a medieval text in a m
namely Pope Gregory VII's letter to Bishop Hermann of Metz from 1081
Introduction
In recent years there has been a new interest in the theoretical aspects of the
history of ideas.2 Undoubtedly spurred on by the so-called 'linguistic' or 'his
torical turn' in the humanities,3 the need to contextualize has been strongly
underlined. With regard to the history of political thought, this new interest in
contextualization is perhaps best seen in the works of Quentin Skinner and
J.G.A. Pocock.4 Starting in the sixties and seventies, Skinner and Pocock
1 Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7800, N-5020 Bergen,
Norway. Email: Leidulf.Melve@hi.uib.no
2 History of ideas is not a clearly delineated field, and its relationship to history of
mentality, intellectual history, history of political theory and Begriffsgeschichte has
often been noted, see D.R. Kelley, 'Horizons of Intellectual History: Retrospect, Cir
cumspect, Prospect', Journal of the History of Ideas, 48 (1987), pp. 143-69. The prob
lems of defining what the history of ideas should be after the linguistic turn has not yet
resulted in any agreement, see for instance D. Harlan, 'Intellectual History and the
Return of Literature', American Historical Review, 94 (1989), pp. 581-609; D.R.
Kelley, 'What is Happening to the History of Ideas?', Journal of the History of Ideas, 51
(1990), pp. 3-25.
3 For an overview, see Beyond the Cultural Turn: New Directions in the Study of
Society and Culture, ed. V.E. Bonnell (Berkeley, 1999).
4 For a good recent overview, see I. Hampsher-Monk, 'The History of Political
Thought and the Political History of Thought', The History of Political Thought in a
National Context, ed. D. Castiglione and I. Hampsher-Monk (Cambridge, 2001),
pp. 159-74.
HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT. Vol. XXVII. No. 3. Autumn 2006
378 L. MELVE
offered new ways of app

history of ideas also took
which is Begriffsgeschich
concepts in their proper h
the need to contextualize
the reception of texts and
In the following I use
approaches — linguistic
geschichte — in order to
These three approaches ar
show that this is not nece
Being a medievalist, I h
approaches is an inadequat
by this? Needless to say, t
to the history of ideas. He
rary reception, but also f
contained in the so-called
text, much energy has be
first and foremost its sem
devoted to its materialisti
been taken for granted, e
sented as a manuscript. A
5 While Begriffsgeschicht
institutionalization, Rezeptio
lematic categories. For a his
tory (Begriffsgeschichte) an
In the following, Rezeptionsge
and its continuation in the
receptionist theory will be
contextualism', two meaning
linguistic contextualist. The f
the paradigm or episteme t
contextualists, however — p
vide a central point of depart
ence between the hard and th
Linguistic Contextualism', H
6 The conception of 'third
direct attention to a level of
crete' world. A 'text' conceale
is an example of 'ideas' exis
edge: An Evolutionary Appr
7 R. Wokler, 'The Manuscrip
Thought, 20 (1999), pp. 107-2
manuscripts as well as the co
INTENTIONS, CONCEPTS AND RECEPTION 379
quantitative terms — the hand-copying of a text sets definitive limits on the

amount of copies of a manuscript. In addition, there are also important qua
tative differences, the most important of which is probably its lack of stability:
the original text is constantly in danger of being altered because of a numbe
of factors, scribal inaccuracy being the most important.8
These differences with regard to the text, however, cannot be separated from
the patterns of communication affecting the contemporary reception of a tex
Again the Middle Ages offers an illustrative case; the relatively restricted
literacy-rate and the concomitant reliance on oral and aural (oral recitation of
text) forms of communication influence both the reception and the transmission
of the text. Basically, when the text is composed not only for silent reading but
also for oral recitation, the communicative context alters fundamentally. For
instance, oral recitation is closely linked to a symbolic dimension in the form of
gestures and demonstrative facets involved in face-to-face communication. Th
failure of recent approaches to the history of political ideas to take these tw
aspects into account — the difference between a manuscript and a print cultur
and contextualizing the text in terms of patterns of communication — under
mines the universality of the approaches.
I
The Theoretical Approach: The Theoretical Components
In the following I present an approach to the history of ideas based on Skin
ner's linguistic contextualism. The approach pays particular attention to the
diachronic and hence the materialistic dimension.9 The third part of this arti
cle will exemplify the use of this approach by turning to the Middle Ages, or
to be more specific, to the Investiture Contest (c. 1030-1122) and to one of the
most famous texts of this period, namely Pope Gregory VII's letter to Bishop
Hermann of Metz (1081).10
8 The fundamental lack of stability characterizing a manuscript culture has long been
evident to medievalists. It is only in recent years, however, that the diverse patterns of
manuscript tradition have been analysed. This research has primarily concentrated on
four aspects of manuscript transmission: first, the role of the scribe and copyist within the
Latin written culture; second, the function of the vernacular translator; third, a new disci
pline called 'materialistic philology' which attempts to understand the principles of col
lection in manuscript collections; and fourth, the ideological factors behind manuscript
transmission has also received attention, see P.J. Geary, Phantoms of Remembrance:
Memory and Oblivion at the End of the First Millennium (Princeton, 1994).
9 See below, II: The Theoretical Approach: Integrating the Theoretical Components.
10 See below, III: Exemplification of the Theoretical Approach: 'Intended Meaning',
'Received Meaning' and 'Language' in Pope Gregory VII's Letter to Hermann of Metz
(1081).
380 L. MELVE
The Theoretical Component
Three different schools hav

ideasover the past thirty ye
with Marxist affinities, is o
the historical protagonist in
founded by Arthur Lovejoy
This approach treats ideas a
cal context and thus attem
ism — through the centurie
result of a confrontation w
linguistic contextualism. In
guistic contextualists have
original trans-historical con
ideas that situates ideas with
can be understood only throu
11 An interpretive historiogra
cal Theory: Tradition and Inter
of Political Theory', in J. Dunn
bridge, 1996), pp. 11-39.
12 A central contribution to
sessive individualism', see C.B
vidualism (Oxford, 1962).
13 A O. Lovejoy, The Great Ch
William James Lectures Delive
14 In order to provide a more a
claim in Daniel J. Wilson's histo
ics ... have failed to distinguish
as an atomistic entity ... and the
Chain of Being ... The notion of
"unit-idea" but not, I would sug
'Lovejoy's The Great Chain of B
48 (1987), pp. 187-206, pp. 187
the History of Ideas', Eighteent
not pointed to specific ways i
betray failures of understanding
is not much merit in criticizing
his conclusions'. For a relativ
approach, see F. Oakley, Omnip
of Ideas from Abelard to Leib
15 It should be noted that the 'o
sisted of at least three differen
about 'perennial problems' amon
riculum; second, treating select
tified with the development of l
and philosophical commentary.
R.G. Colling wood16 and initiated by Peter Laslett,17 the leading represen
tives of this revisionist movement have been Pocock and Skinner.18
Pocock's main interest has been a contextualized understanding of th
history of political thought in which a plurality of languages or 'paradigm
strongly influences a set of ideas. In his major work, The Machiavelli
Moment (1975), Pocock traces the complex development of Machiavelli
political theory: this republican discourse was adopted, adjusted and altere
in terms of the plurality of political languages that were operative in the c
text in which the Machiavellian ideas were received, from the Italian city
states to the Anglo-American reception.19 The criticism levelled at Pocock
theoretical approach has been extensive: (1) determinism — authors are vic
tims of their linguistic and conceptual environment;20 (2) reductionism —
because the history of ideas is seen as a history of 'languages', the mind is
being reduced to a social construct;21 (3) neo-idealism — the 'language
conceptualized as a trans-historical entity derived from its uses;22 (4) lack
clarity pertaining to key terms — the terms derived from Kuhn, 'paradigm
Languages: Pocock, Skinner, and the Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe', History and Theo
29(1990), pp. 38-70, p. 54.
16 R.G. Collingwood, The Idea of History (Oxford, 1966).
17 P. Laslett, Philosophy, Politics and Society. First Series (Oxford, 1956).
18 Although the discussion primarily revolves around Skinner and Pocock, two oth
representatives of this school should not be forgotten, namely John Dunn and Dunc
Forbes. See respectively Dunn, 'The History of Political Theory' and D. Forbes, Hume
Philosophical Politics (Cambridge, 1975).
19 J.G.A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the
Atlantic Republican Tradition (Princeton, 1975).
20 I. Hampsher-Monk, 'Political Languages in Time—The Work of J.G.A. Pocock
British Journal of Political Science, 14 (1984), pp. 89-116, p. 104: 'There is also a t
dency to overdetermination. Thinkers appear to be making the only conceptual mov
available... in a situation where the range of possibilities is itself drawn from the sorts o
things they, and those who spoke their "language", did in fact do.' See also C.D. Tarlt
'Historicity, Meaning, and Revisionism in the Study of Political Thought', History a
Theory, 12 (1973), pp. 307-28, p. 313; M.J. Shapiro, Language and Political Und
standing: The Politics of Discursive Practices (New Haven, 1981), p. 167.
21 M. Bevir, 'Mind and Method in the History of Ideas', History and Theory,
(1997),pp. 167-89,p. 169: 'Pocock portrays the history ofideasasahistoryoflanguag
in a way that reduces mind to a social construct. '
22 Hampsher-Monk, 'Political Languages in Time', p. 104: 'Pocock ... runs the ri
of a kind of neo-idealism through schematising a transhistorical "language" from a ra
of uses to which it is put.'
382 L. MELVE
and 'revolution', are ambiv

status of 'interpretation'.24
While some of this criticis
spurred revisions on the p
plurality of languages at a
criticism with regard to r
ism has partially been met
'performance', conceptuali
Without being unfair to P
cessful in detecting faults i
implications of his revisio
relationship between the d
diachronic interaction? Ho
'performance' of actors in
on the 'languages' operati
approach in which it is po
guage and concepts by inv
tion of the text.
While the aim of Pocock i
has a stronger philosophica
and the conventions govern
to the history of politic
23 P.L. Janssen, 'Political Th

Skinner and Pocock', History
lier work tended to suffer bec
he employed, particularly as
toricity, Meaning, and Revis
24 Gunnel, Political Theory,
advocating a method for interp
but rather a philosophical arg
25 For a treatment of the cri
cal Thought as Traditionary A
26 Pocock abandons the notio
Pocock, 'The Reconstruction
Thought', Modern Language
27 Pocock, 'The Reconstruct
model in which a number of l
nised as occurring together, so
another, so that a debate may
written, in several idioms and
28 See J.G.A. Pocock, Politic
History (London, 1972).
29 The heritage of Wittgenst
Quentin Skinner's Analysis o
pp. 489-509.
scheme.30 Following Skinner, writings of the past should be viewed as

speech-acts, containing what Austin called 'illocutionary force' — the act
performed in saying something. The illocutionary force, or the intentions of
the author, is understood by paying attention to the conventions governing the
'speech act' or 'text'.31 In order to reconstruct the linguistic conventions one
ought to study as many contemporary texts as possible. This context, or what
Skinner calls 'beliefs', thus provides the background against which intensions
become intelligible and meaningful. It is only in this way that it becomes pos
sible to distinguish between the original and the commonplace in writings of
the past.32
With regard to the criticism levelled at Skinner's approach, some of the
points are similar to that levelled at Pocock: (1) reductionism — unfounded
generalizations and the neglect of interpretive possibilities;33 (2) confusion
30 Skinner deals with the philosophical basis of his approach in Q. Skinner, On Per
forming and Explaining Linguistic Actions', Philosophical Quarterly, 21 (1971), pp.
1-21, p. 21: 'Those philosophers who have (correctly, I believe) emphasized the impor
tance of intentions and conventions in the study of voluntary human action often write as
though it follows that the attempt to apply causal models to such actions must be a confu
sion, even a "pernicious confusion"; Conversely, those philosophers who have insisted
(again correctly, I believe) on the impossibility of such an exclusion often write ... as
though it follows that intentions and conventions must necessarily be treated as causes of
action. I have sought to argue that neither of these implications follows, and that both are
in fact mistaken.'
31 Q. Skinner, Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes (Cambridge, 1996),
p. 7: 'The essence of my method consists in trying to place such texts within such con
texts as enable us in turn to identify what the authors were doing in writing them. '
32 At the same time, Skinner criticizes three different approaches to the history of
political theory and history of idèas: first, approaches which are solely concerned with
the text and assume that the text contains the entire field of meaning; second, those that
understand the history of political thought in terms of their later 'influences'; and third,
Marxist approaches in which a superstructure determined by the objective needs and
interests of a ruling social class are responsible for the political ideas at a given moment.
See Q. Skinner, 'Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas', History and
Theory, 8 (1969), pp. 3-53; Q. Skinner, 'Conventions and the Understanding of Speech
Acts', The Philosophical Quarterly, 20 (1970), pp. 118-38; Q. Skinner, 'Some Problems
in the Analysis of Political Thought and Action', Political Theory, 2 (1974), pp.
277-303; Q. Skinner, The Foundation of Modern Political Thought. Volume One: The
Renaissance (Cambridge, 1980); Q. Skinner, Ά Reply to my Critics', Meaning and
Context: Quentin Skinner and his Critics, ed. J. Tully (Cambridge, 1988), pp. 231-88;
Q. Skinner, Visions of Politics. Volume I: Regarding Method (Cambridge, 2002).
33 J.G. Gunnell, 'Interpretation and the History of Political Theory; Apology and
Epistemology', The American Political Science Review, 76 (1982), pp. 317-27, p. 326:
'There are far too many unpacked, and possibly conflicting, generalizations in Skinner's
approach, too many elements omitted from the analysis, too many interpretative pos
sibilities left unconsidered, and too many gaps in the reconstructed context.' See also
384 L. MELVE
regarding the meta-theoretic

tives, however, are more par
both the notion of 'intentio
structs;35 (2) lack of diachro
idea' approach has led to a ne
of an 'idea' and the past and f
nation — for the theory of e
to be severely restricted;3
work — the focus on intent
the complete works of an aut
the author in order to please
reification of context as a m
Similar to the criticisms aim
are unfair as they fail to tak
Still, three of the criticisms
Ν. Tarcov, 'Quentin Skinner's

pp. 692-709.
34 Gunnell, Political Theory, p. 102: 'What they specify as a method of interpretation
is actually a claim about what they believe takes place.' See also Tarcov, 'Quentin Skin
ner's Method', p. 701.
35 G.J. Schochet, 'Quentin Skinner's Method', Political Theory, 2 (1974),
pp. 261-76, p. 270: '. . . Skinner's notion of "intention" and the theory of meaning on
which it depends are themselves twentieth-century concepts... In fact, it is not clear how
he could make the necessary case without committing one or another of the methodologi
cal fallacies he has identified and criticized in others.' See also C.J. Nederman, 'Quentin
Skinner's State: Historical Method and Traditions of Discourse', Canadian Journal of
Political Science, 18 (1985), pp. 339-552.
36 Hampsher-Monk, 'Political Languages in Time', p. 104: 'The continuing identity
of the idea through time is in danger of being sacrificed to the particular purposes for
which it is employed at any particular time.' Janssen, 'Political Thought as Traditionary
Action', p. 144: '. . . intentionality cannot be construed in terms of a context of simply
synchronic relations, but must involve reference to pasts and futures'. See also Schochet,
'Quentin Skinner's Method', p. 271.
37 Tarlton, 'Historicity, Meaning and Revisionism', p. 325: 'His theory of explana
tion demands that the range of possible practical intentions which we can assume a writer
to be operating be severely closed.'
38 Bevir, 'Mind and Method', p. 173: Ά focus on illocutionary intentions has the
effect of undermining a concern with the coherence of an author's work.'
39 R. Lamb, 'Feature Book Review. Quentin Skinner's "Post-Modern History of
Ideas" ', History, 89 (2004), pp. 424-33, p. 432: 'Skinner seems reluctant to defend the
idea of the author, making it difficult to know exactly what his theoretical stance is, and
what, apart from a commitment to scepticism — makes him a post-modernist. '
40 P. King, 'Historical Contextualism: The New Historicism?', History of European
Ideas, 21 (1995), pp. 209-33, pp. 213 and 219: '... the preference for contexts over texts
merely reduces to a positional preference for later over earlier claims . . . "Con
textualism" can just as readily lead to overinterpretation as can "textualism" '.
rightly be accused of being deterministic, albeit to a lesser degree than that o

Pocock. Second, the approach, although not devoid of a diachronic perspec
tive, is comparatively less interested in this dimension than in the search for
the author's intentions. Third, because of his focus on conventions governing
intentions, Skinner has problems in identifying and explaining conceptual
shifts which might result in political-theoretical innovations. Below, I return
in more detail to these criticisms.
The Theoretical Components II: Begriffsgeschichte
The aims of Begriffsgeschichte have been to specify and explain conceptual

changes:41 first and foremost the editors wished to test the hypothesis of
whether the concepts central to the political and social language of German
speaking Alt-Europa — for instance the concepts of 'democracy', 'civil soci
ety' and 'the state' — were transformed during the so-called Sattelzeit
(1750-1850). By alternating between a synchronic and diachronic analysis,
the approach makes it possible to determine the role of a concept in a given
semantic field.42 The approach has had a profound influence, one indicator of
which is the publication of a Begriffsgeschichte dealing with France in the
period 1680 to 1920.43
41 Basic to the analysis of political and social language are four sets of distinctions:
(1) the contrast between language and speech; (2) the sharp separation of synchronic
from diachronic analyses of language; (3) that between semasiological and onomasio
logical analyses; (4) that between a semantics seeking to determine 'meaning' through
analysis of single words and another type of semantics that studies 'meaning' within a
larger linguistic field, see Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe, Historiettes Lexikon zur politisch
sozialen Sprache in Deutschland, ed. O. Brunner, W. Conze and R. Koselleck (Stuttgart,
1972-97).
42 Richter's discussion of the conceptions behind the Begriffsgeschichte points cor
rectly to a problem in relation to determining social usage, Richter, 'Conceptual His
tory', p. 628: 'But if the purpose of research in Begriffsgeschichte is to determine usage,
problems arise about how to weight evidence drawn from elite sources against that origi
nating in other strata.' See also I. Veit-Brause, Ά Note on Begriffsgeschichte', History
and Theory, 20 (1981), pp. 61-7.
43 Handbuch politisch-sozialer Grundbegriffe in Frankreich 1680-1920, ed. R. Reichardt
and Eberhard Schmitt (Munich, 1985-). There are certain differences between the Ger
man and the French variant of Begriffsgeschichte·. Instead of exploring the origins and
nature of modernity, the French Handbuch focuses on the way concepts were created,
discarded and transformed during the French Revolution. In addition, the Handbuch is
more influenced by the history of mentalités, in contrast to the GG [Geschichtliche
Grundbegriffe) that owed a great deal to structural social history. For a discussion of
these differences, see M. Bevir, 'Begriffsgeschichte', History and Theory, 39 (2000), pp.
273-84. For an outline of the adaptation and modification of the research programme in
the Italian context, see S. Chignola, 'History and Political Thought and the History of
Political Concepts: Koselleck's Proposal and Italian Research', History of Political
Thought, XXIII (2002), pp. 517-41.
386 L. MELVE
In what ways can Be griff

Skinner has recently spok
without addressing this que
contextualism, with its foc
difficult to combine with
historical level.45 However
between the synchronic an
of Skinner's approach outl
vital elements. Firstly, Beg
the author within a histor
tain structural features, su
approach enables the histo
ventionality of a linguistic
makes it possible to trace
adds an awareness of instit
the text, hence supplement
by groups, movements or p
to belong.46
In other words, Begriffsgeschichte can contribute the important diachronic
dimension to Skinner's basically synchronic approach.47 With regard to
Pocock as well as to Skinner, Begriffsgeschichte provides institutional and legal
44 Skinner, Visions of Politics, pp. 177-87, mentions that he has no general theory
about the mechanisms of social transformation, and consequently has paid little attention
to the long-term social transformations that cause terms to lose or alter their evaluative
force. Whereas Koselleck is interested in the entire process of conceptual change, Skin
ner is chiefly interested in one of the techniques by which it takes place.
45 It is doubtful whether Skinner's attack on the 'unit-ideas-approach' also can be
directed at Begriffsgeschichte. See Richter, 'Reconstructing the History of Political Lan
guages', p. 64: '... Skinner's objections do not extend to the GG's way of writing the his
tory of concepts. What he in fact continues to attack is that type of history which assumes
that we can treat the morphology of concepts in isolation from questions about agency
and explanation.' See also M. Richter, Ά German Version of the "Linguistic Turn":
Reinhard Koselleck and the History of Political and Social Concepts', in The History of
Political Thought in a National Context, ed. D. Castiglione and I. Hampsher-Monk
(Cambridge, 2001), pp. 58-79.
46 See Richter, 'Reconstructing the History of Political Languages', p. 60.
47 For an illustration of the theoretical notions underlying Begriffsgeschichte in rela
tion to the concept of revolution, the connections between Begriffsgeschichte and social
history, and between history and formal structures of time, see R. Koselleck, Futures
Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time (Cambridge, MA, 1985), pp. 39-54, 73-92
and 92-104; R. Koselleck, 'Linguistic Change and the History of Events', The Journal of
Modern History, 61 (1989), pp. 649-66.
contexts, aspects mostly lacking in the analyses of the linguistic cont

Also, in relation to the more developed diachronic dimension of the
called 'weak intentionalism',48 Begriffsgeschichte has much to offe
form of attaching the 'web of belief of the author to institutional arran
Because we have retained the main features of the linguistic contex
approach — those dealing with the reconstruction of 'belief an
tion' — the recently voiced concern with the historical dimension of
geschichte is of no great concern.49 As will be shown below,50 nor
problem of identifying processes of agency that explain conceptual
and innovation — another problem that allegedly stems from takin
ual concepts as the principal unit of historical analysis51 — hamper t
native approach.
The Theoretical Components III: Rezeptionsgeschichte
The combination of linguistic contextualism and Begrijfsgeschichte

fore, has given the scheme of Skinner a clearly defined diachronic d
on the one hand, and a firmer institutional side on the other. In the f
attention is directed beyond the 'intentions' disclosed by the text an
its 'reception', in other words towards Rezeptionsgeschichte. Conseq
we are not dealing with the history of political thought or the histor
any longer, but rather with general text-theory. To simplify a little
sible to distinguish between substantialist and pragmatic text theor
substantialist approach — represented by E.D. Hirsch — texts ar
48 M. Bevir, The Logic of the History of Ideas (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 252
'Diachronic rational explanations uncover the conditional connections betw
tion, an initial web of beliefs, a dilemma, and a later web of beliefs . . . The
form of explanation I reached requires historians to make sense of the way peop
their webs of belief by portraying the new beliefs as responses to dilemmas c
the old ones.'
49 J. Schmidt, 'How Historical is Begriffsgeschichte?', History of Europ

25 (1999), pp. 9-14.
50 See below, II: The Theoretical Approach: Integrating the Theoretic
nents.
51 See Bevir, 'Begriffsgeschichte', pp. 279 and 281: '... Begriffsgeschichte neglects
agency in a way that encourages a form of reductionism: individuals are assimilated all
too readily to a monolithic langue or mentalité identified with a given social formation '.
See also K. Tribe, 'The Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe Project: From History of Ideas to
Conceptual History. A Review Article', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 31
(1989), pp. 180-4, focusing on the problem of how one could develop a systematic his
torical semantics.
388 L. MELVE
being created by specific a

range of meanings which th
open to the texts' first reader
claims that the meanings of
place, and with the particula
From this point of depart
been subdivided into Rezept
Rezeptionsgeschichte stres
Wirkungsgeschichte attempt
over time. Consequently, t
they address different temp
with large time-spans in o
reception) of a text. Rezepti
ested in the immediate recep
audience interprets the text
Fish, has been criticized for
to be more precise, the rejec
creation of the epistemologi
has also been criticized for its use of 'innovation' as the sole criterion for
evaluating a text.56
52 E.D. Hirsch, Validity in Interpretation (New Haven, 1967).

53 Pragmatic text theory has a renowned representative in H.-G. Gadamer, Wahrheit
und Methode. Grundzuge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik (Tubingen, 1960).
54 The classic work is H.R. Jauss, Literaturgeschichte als Provokation (Frankfurt,
1973). See also S. Fish, Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Com
munities (Cambridge, MA, 1981). For an overview, see R.C. Holub, Reception Theory:
A Critical Introduction (London, 1984).
55 Three interrelated weaknesses are found to exist. See M.P. Thompson, 'Reception
Theory and the Interpretation of Historical Meaning', History and Theory, 32 (1993),
pp. 248-72, p. 257: 'First, the neglect of authorial intended meanings in fact involves a
contradiction. Second, the contradiction here has remained concealed in discussions of
reception history because of a widely held, but ultimately confused, notion of historicity:
the notion of historicity which underpins the view that the roles of historian and critic are
indissoluble. Third, the confusion of the roles of historian and critic is itself a product of
the mistaken idea that a literary history is a different kind of history from "the historical
study of literary matters".'
56 Holub, Reception Theory, p. 63: 'The root of the problem lies in the almost exclu
sive reliance on the formalists' theory of perception through defamiliarization to estab
lish value. Novelty apparently serves here as the sole criterion for evaluation, and
although Jauss makes an attempt at one point to consider "the new" as a historical as well
as an aesthetic category, he too often universalizes its function in determining aesthetic
value.'
How does this third theoretical component — Rezeptionsgeschichte and

Wirkungsgeschichte — fit in with our two other components, namely lingui
contextualism and Begriffsgeschichte? With regard to linguistic contextualis
this third component basically offers a way of understanding how an audien
contributes to the comprehension of a text. This comprehension is of two
kinds: firstly, it refers to the reception of a text soon after its compositio
secondly, it refers to the reception of the text by succeeding generations, a
consequently to the extent to which the text is interpreted in relation to pr
ous receptions on the part of one or several audiences.
With regard to Begriffsgeschichte, the stress on reception supplements
Begriffsgeschichte's exclusive concern with the conceptual level. Whi
Begriffsgeschichte is a valuable tool for providing an institutional dimensio
to linguistic contextualism, the approach is more interested in providi
typologies of a given concept than in giving an outline of the origin of t
given concept. As James Schmidt has observed, Horst Stuke's ninety-nine
page entry on Aufklàrung provides a typology of 'typical' formulations of t
concept in the last third of the eighteenth century, but offers no account of t
public debate over the concept in, for instance, the Berlinische Monatsschrift,5
In order to address this public debate in particular and the level in which c
cepts have their origin in general, the inclusion of reception and the extent
which different audiences influence the formation of concepts are of vit
importance.
II
The Theoretical Approach: Integrating the Theoretical Components

In the following, I integrate these three theoretical components in an approach
that focuses on the materialistic aspect of the text on the one hand and on the
diachronic notion of 'received meaning' as a supplement to the linguistic
contextualists' concern with 'intended meaning' on the other. After the sche
matization of the approach below (Figure 1), I explicate its main components:
the synchronic dimension, the diachronic dimension and the question of
explanation. Thereafter, I exemplify the approach by using a medieval text as
a test case, namely Pope Gregory VII's letter to Bishop Herman of Metz.58
57 Schmidt, 'How Historical is Begriffsgeschichte', pp. 12-13.

'Received Meaning' and 'Language' in Pope Gregory VII s Letter to Hermann of Metz
(1081).
390 L. MELVE
Figure 1: The Theoretical Sc
Diachronic
dimension
t
Interpretive societies
Language'
'Language' (Wirkung) (Wirkune1 'Received meaning'
'Received meaning' (Rezeption) (Rezeption)
'Belief
'Belief 'Intended
'Intended meaning'
meaning
Author
Author
(agent)
Synchronic dimension The social context

- horizontal and vertical
institutional mediation
The Synchronic Dimension
In order to analyse the synchronic dimension, I am basically adopting the

approach of linguistic contextualism, particularly that of Skinner. Conse
quently, 'belief is defined as providing the background against which inten
tions become intelligible and meaningful. In order to recover 'intended
meaning', it is necessary, following Skinner, 'to grasp not merely the mean
ing of what is said, but at the same time the intended force with which the
utterance is issued'.59 From this point of departure, the linguistic contextualist
approach is supplemented in two ways.
Firstly, and in accordance with a concern for the materialistic aspect of the
text, the concept of the text is specified. 'Text' can refer to a single specific
text or to a collection of texts. It can also refer to a printed text — as taken for
granted by linguistic contextualism — or a manuscript text that is liable to
change over time. As will be shown below,60 the need to take several texts of
the same author into account is particularly important in order to delineate
'political theory' amongst authors that never had any 'intention' of writing
political theory in the first place.
Secondly, for all his stress on the need to take the context into account,
Skinner is in fact surprisingly vague on what counts as a context. In my
approach, the social context is specified in relation to Preston King's three
dimensions. The first is horizontal and covers the notion of contemporaneity.
The second is vertical, covering the past. The third is also vertical, but covers
the future. The first two of these contexts are of central concern in the linguis
tic contextualists' efforts to reconstruct the context of a text. The vertical
dimension, however, which covers the future and addresses the diachronic
dimension, is of considerably less interest to the linguistic contextualists.
Because the approach to the history of ideas proposed here is particularly con
cerned with diachronic receptions and the materialistic element of textual his
tory, the social context of the later reception of a text is of great importance.
Needless to say, it is impossible to put forward every variable that might
impinge on the interpretation of a text at a given point in time. However, I
want to suggest that the institutional complex responsible for mediating a text
and thus preparing for its subsequent reception should be given special atten
tion. The main reason is the need to take the materialistic dimension of the text
into account. Hence, the institutional variables should include the technologi
cal and ideological components in the main institutions involved in the media
tion of a given text. For instance, in the Middle Ages this would include an
outline of the role of the chanceries, courts, monasteries, bishoprics, cathedral
schools, universities, different types of messengers and intellectuals. In each
59 Skinner, Visions of Politics, p. 82.

'Received Meaning' and 'Language' in Pope Gregory VII s Letter to Hermann of Metz
(1081).
392 L. MELVE
of these institutions, the me

munication. As will be seen
ceived meaning' of the text.
The Diachronic Dimension
The second element of the approach addresses the diachronic dimension. As

mentioned, Rezeptionsgeschichte and a contextualized understanding of the
history of ideas are seemingly hard to reconcile; the first approach rejects the
relevance of authorial intention, while the latter hinges on the notion of
authorial intention. By invoking an analytical distinction between 'intended
meanings' and 'received meanings', the two approaches are conceptualized
as operating on different temporal levels, the synchronic and the diachronic
respectively. By following the above distinction between Rezeptionsgeschichte
and Wirkungsgeschichte, the concern with authorial intentions is particularly
important in relation to the immediate reception of a text. Consequently, the
search for the 'intended meaning' focuses on the 'author' or 'agent' regard
less of the success of the immediate reception. The 'received meaning', how
ever, is a result of a reception, either through an immediate contemporary
reception or through later receptions. Thus, in the case of later receptions, ear
lier receptions or interpretations — if they are known — may impinge on the
subsequent receptions of a given 'text'.
The importance of distinguishing between 'intended meaning', 'received
meaning' and 'language' can be illustrated by addressing the political theory
of Augustine. Although there are good reasons for claiming that the De
civitate Dei contains the main tenets of Augustine's political theory, it was not
intended as such. Rather, it was the medieval reception of Augustine which
interpreted the presentation of an 'earthly' and a 'heavenly city' in political
theoretical terms.62 Another reason for adopting this differentiation between
meanings can be seen by addressing Gad Prudovsky's criticism of 'linguistic
contextualism'. According to Prudovsky, it is possible to ascribe to past
thinkers concepts they had no linguistic means to express. For instance, in

'Received Meaning' and 'Language' in Pope Gregory VII's Letter to Hermann of Metz
(1081).
62 For analyses of the political thought of Augustine, see J.N. Figgis, The Political
Aspects of St Augustine's City of God (London, 1921); M.J. Wilks, 'Roman Empire and
Christian State in the De civitate Dei', Augustinus, 12 (1967), pp. 489-510; J. Boler,
'Augustine and Political Theory', Mediaevalia, 4 (1978), pp. 83-97; O. O'Donovan,
'Augustine's City of God XIX and Western Political Thought', Dionysius, 11 (1987),
pp. 89-110; R. A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St Augustine
(Cambridge, 1988); P.J. Burnell, 'The Status of Politics in St. Augustine's City of God',
History of Political Thought, XIII (1992), pp. 13-29; J. Coleman, 'St Augustine: Chris
tian Political Thought at the End of the Roman Empire', in Plato to Nato: Studies in
Political Thought, ed. B. Redhead (Harmondsworth, 1995), pp. 45-60.
Galileo's thought on the motion of bodies lay an implicit notion which was
truly revolutionary, although Galileo himself was not entirely aware of it.63
Hence, by distinguishing between 'intended meaning', 'received meaning
and 'language', it is possible not only to delineate whether Galileo had a rev
lutionary notion of motion without actually being entirely aware of it, but als
to discover when the conceptual innovations took place. The first can b
accomplished by comparing Galileo's 'intended meaning' to the 'belief a
the point in time when he formulated his thoughts on bodily motion and the
comparing this with the 'language' which enabled the 'received meaning' to
use new concepts to highlight the revolutionary aspects of Galileo's thought.
The second — discovering when — is possible by investigating the 'received
meaning' of the original text.
What about the concept of the author? Whereas Skinner has recently admi
ted that his approach 'leaves the traditional figure of the author in extremel
poor health'64 my approach recognizes the need to rescue the author. This
means, in turn, that the concept of the author needs to be differentiated. Nee
less to say, the modern concept of the author is markedly different from that o
the medieval author. Similarly, the extent to which the author can influence
the immediate reception of a given work was vastly different in the Middl
Ages. In this period, authority played a prominent part in all types of intelle
tual activity; the reputation and perceived authority of the author can in som
cases count for more than the text itself. For instance, the church father
Cyprian had a tremendous influence throughout the Middle Ages, although
few had actually read more than a selection of his work. The same point can b
made with regard to Augustine. Until the twelfth century, very few in fact had
read the De civitate Dei, for instance. Rather, the knowledge of Augustine
relied on excerpts of texts transmitted by collections of authorities (florilegia
which usually contained a number of texts by different authors. Thus, while
Skinner's eschewing of the author perhaps makes little difference in relation
to discovering the 'intended meaning' of the text, the author needs to be take
into account at once when we deal with the reception of the text.
The focus on the institutional mediation of concepts in Begriffsgeschichte
is of particular importance in relation to 'received meaning': by grounding th
transmission and reception of a concept in an institutional setting, we are in
position to introduce ideological variables that might determine the trans
mission of a text. In addition, this institutional component highlights the pa
ticular institutions and forms of communication used for transmitting and
receiving the text in question. Of course, these institutions are of several
kinds, including social groups and parties on the one hand, and institutions
63 G. Prudovsky, 'Can we Ascribe to Past Thinkers Concepts They had no Linguisti

Means to Express?', History and Theory, 36 (1997), pp. 15-31.
64 Skinner, Visions of Politics, p. 118.
394 L. MELVE
such as the medieval royal c

modern period on the other
With regard to Wirkungsg
ing' and 'language' is introd
focuses on the intentions of
in question, 'received mean
reception, in turn, leads to
terpretive societies' which m
question. 'Language', howe
result from consecutive rec
interpretations of the tex
'paradigms', with the impor
several elements that can in
Arguably the most famous
cal vocabulary that becam
political treatises in the mid
Detecting Political-Theoreti
The third element addresses

and how to explain the inno
of 'intended meaning' on a
'received meaning' and 'lan
standing of political-theore
to offer a more precise sc
so-called 'critical conceptual
tution of the United States
underneath conceptual chan
tions' and the subsequent cr
65 See for instance C.J. Neder

ence" in the Twelfth Century'
T. Struve, 'Die Bedeutung der a
der staatlichen Gemeinschaft',
ed. J. Miethke (Munich, 1992)
Mittelalter. Einleitung', Vivar
66 J. Farr, 'Conceptual Change
and the Constitution, ed. T. B
'Whereas "problem" covers an
tradiction" implies manifestly
tem or between a theoretical s
asserting one proposition implie
sitions require resolution by elim
the theoretical or observational
tradictions may be discovered o
dictory beliefs are central to m
for his part, underlines that conceptual changes are brought about by politic
agents occupying specific sites and working under the linguistic constrain
of a particular tradition at a given point in time.67 Building on the theory
conceptual change, Robert W.T. Martin emphasizes the need to isolate certai
contextual shifts that intensified the contradiction in question to thereby
able to present the causal conditions that triggered a conceptual change.68
The similarities to Begriffsgeschichte notwithstanding, this 'critical conc
tual history' lays more stress on the potential for explanation inherent in
Begriffsgeschichte, mainly with the intention of supplementing linguisti
contextualism.69
The question then becomes one of how to identify and then to isolate co
textual shifts. The suggested approach may contribute in two central way
Firstly, because the appearance of 'contradictions' necessarily demands
reception of the prevailing 'text', 'received meaning', 'language', or all
these, the attention has to be directed at the 'interpretive societies' responsi
for instigating political-theoretical innovations. Secondly, the distinction
between 'language' (or discourse), 'received meaning' (referring to the
cific discussion of arguments and concepts of a given text) and 'intend
meaning' (what people are doing when saying something) provides a mean
for isolating the contested elements.
Consequently, political-theoretical innovations can occur either on a con
ceptual level or on the level of 'language', often resulting from later rece
tions. In both cases, the 'interpretive societies' are of great importance,70
largely by introducing a pragmatic dimension to Wirkungsgeschichte in t
form of two-way-communication centred on oral and written performan
(Pocock). Depending on the outcome of this deliberation over 'contrad
tions', the 'interpretive societies' may become the source of a new politica
theory that in turn is received and possibly achieves its own Wirkung. In
Prudovsky's example of Galileo's revolutionary thought on the motion
bodies, the principle of 'contradictions' on the three different levels of 'i
tended meaning', 'received meaning' and 'language' provides the means for
67 T. Ball, Transforming Political Discourse: Political Theory and Critical Conc

tual History (Oxford, 1988), p. 15.
68 R.W.T. Martin, 'Context and Contradiction: Toward a Political Theory of C
ceptual Change', Political Research Quarterly, 50 (1997), pp. 413-36, p. 429. See al
Political Concepts, ed. R. Bellamy and A. Mason (Manchester, 2003).
69 See Martin, 'Context and Contradiction', p. 417.
70 The notion of 'interpretive societies' owes a great deal to Brian Stock's theory
'textual communities', but is not restricted to dealing with the formation of such comm
nities in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. For Stock's theory, see B. Stock, The Im
cation of Literacy, Written Language and Models of Interpretation in the Eleventh a
Twelfth Centuries (New Jersey, 1983). See also the further development and clarificat
of the theory in articles collected in B. Stock, Listening for the Text: On the Uses of
Past (Philadelphia, 1996).
396 L. MELVE
identifying when and how

received and recognized as suc
conceptual innovation occurs
Galileo's text and find that
address this logic in greater d
Investiture Contest.
Ill
Exemplification of the Theoretical Approach:

'Intended Meaning', 'Received Meaning' and 'Language'
in Pope Gregory VII's Letter to Hermann of Metz (1081)
The letter in question is one of the most famous texts from the Investiture
Contest, the conflict that shook the European social fabric in the last half of
the eleventh century. The early Middle Ages had not experienced a conflict
between the secular and the sacerdotal powers of this magnitude before.
Without wanting to dwell on whether the Contest was a 'revolution' or not,71
there is no use in denying that it led to a number of innovations, the emergence
of the first public debate in medieval Europe counting as perhaps the most
important of these.72 Throughout the Contest, from the early 1030s to the end
of the struggle with the Concordat of Worms in 1122, the intellectual commu
nity was mobilized to intellectual warfare by both parties.73 In a wider per
spective, the profound upheaval resulting from the Investiture Contest paved
the way for several of the intellectual innovations associated with the twelfth
century renaissance, the 'textualization' of society being arguably the most
important of these.74
The Papal Letter as 'Political Theory'?

The immediate historical context of the letter is the excommunication of King
Henry IV of Germany in 1076 because of his association with excommunicated
71 See for instance H.J. Berman, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western
Legal Tradition (Cambridge, MA, 1983); K.G. Cushing, Papacy and Law in the Grego
rian Revolution: The Canonistic Work ofAnselm of Lucca (Oxford, 1998).
72 See L. Melve, The Public Debate during the Investiture Contest (1030-1122)
(forthcoming).
73 The literature on the Investiture Contest is enormous. A selection of recent contri
butions includes I.S. Robinson, Authority and Resistance in the Investiture Contest: The
Polemical Literature of the Late Eleventh Century (Manchester, 1978); U.-R. Blumenthal,
Der Investiturstreit (Stuttgart, 1982); G. Tellenbach, Die westliche Kirche vom 10. bis
zum fruhen 12. Jahrhundert (Gôttingen, 1988); W. Hartmann, Der Investiturstreit
(Munich, 1993).
74 For a Stand der Forschung with regard to the twelfth century renaissance, see
L. Melve, ' "The Revolt of the Medievalists": Directions in Recent Research on the
Twelfth Century Renaissance', Journal of Medieval History, 32 (2006), pp. 231-52.
clerics. In a slightly wider perspective, the excommunication was the resu

an escalation of the conflict between the empire and the papacy in the first h
of the 1070s, in which the reform papacy's claim to 'freedom of the chu
(libertas ecclesia) confronted the political hegemony of the German Emp
The following year, in 1077, King Henry was taken back into the religio
community in the famous Canossa episode and the last years of the 1070s
nessed attempts at reconciliation between the contestants. Eventually
attempts failed, and by 1080 the struggle had erupted again, ignited by
pope's second excommunication of King Henry, along with the release fr
their oath of his subjects.
The letter to Bishop Hermann of Metz from 15 March 1081 (Reg. 8
was an attempt to justify the excommunication and the release from the oath
the papal chancery responsible for its composition drew mainly on a mo
theological argument — the biblical passage Matt. 16:18-19 which conced
the power to bind and to loose (excommunicate) to the head of the Apos
See (the papacy). In addition, the letter used historical proof in order to s
that former popes had excommunicated kings and emperors. Beyond the
specific arguments, the letter is also the best evidence for the political theor
or to be more precise, the political ecclesiology — of the Gregorian refo
papacy. Basically, the letter presents the so-called 'hierocratic theory' in its m
clear-cut shape. The point of departure is Augustine's view of the differ
origins of the secular and the religious powers as contained in a number of
writings, including the De civitate Dei. According to the pope, because s
lar rulers were of 'human origin' — in contrast to the divine origin of the
gious hierarchy — even the lowest rank in the church, the exorcist, ran
above the secular and thus sinful rulers. Besides the presentation of
hierocratic theory, the letter is also specific on the hierarchical relation
75 For analyses of different aspects of the letter, see E. Caspar, 'Gregor VII. in sein
Briefen', Historische Zeitschrifl, 34 (1924), pp. 1-30; S. Salloch, Hermann von M
Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des deutschen Episkopats im Investiturstreit (Frank
1931); E. Peters, The Shadow King: Rex Inutilis in Medieval Law and Litera
751-1327 (New Haven, 1970), pp. 41-2; H.-W. Goetz, 'Tradition und Geschicht
Denken Gregors VII. ', in Historiographia mediaevalis: Studien zur Geschichtsschre
und Quellenkunde des Mittelalters. Festschrift fur Franz-Josef Schmale zum 65. Geburt
ed. D. Berg, H.-W. Goetz (Darmstadt, 1988), pp. 138^18; R. Schieffer, 'Gregor VII
die Kônige Europas', Studi Gregoriani, 13 (1989), pp. 189-211 ; T. Struve, 'Gregor
und Heinrich IV. Stationen einer Auseinandersetzung', Studi Gregoriani, 14 (1991),
29-61; W. Stumer, 'Gregors VII. Sicht vom Ursprung der herrscherlichen Gew
Studi Gregoriani, 14 (1991), pp. 61-9; S. Beulertz, 'Gregor VII. als "Publizist"
Wirkung des Schreibens Reg. VIII, 21 \Archivum Historiae Pontificae, 32 (1994)
7-31; J.W. Busch, 'Vom einordnenden Sammeln zur argumentierenden Darlegu
Beobachtungen zum Umgang mit Kirchenrechtssatzen im 11. und 12. Jahrhund
Fruhmittelalterliche Studien, 28 (1994), pp. 243-56; H.E.J. Cowdrey, Pope Gregory
1073-1085 (Oxford, 1998).
398 L. MELVE
between different ranks with

position of the pope as the ulti
Can Pope Gregory's hierocr
Needless to say, the pope never
cal theory. Rather, the letter to
nication of King Henry in term
the secular to the religious pow
format is far from that of a 'p
between religion and politics i
cal theory, Pope Gregory's lett
tantly wrong to disqualify this l
what characterizes early-mode
iting an anachronistic criterion
Unfortunately, this has often
the Middle Ages being reduc
styles resemble that of the early
the textbook presentation of
trated on a Marsilius of Padua o
for 'the concept of liberty',7
thought usually leapt straight
late-medieval political thinkers
political writings of Aristotle i
approach to medieval political
that the theory of Marsilius, fo
modern characteristics, esch
76 Das Register Gregors VII. (ed

77 This has to do with the fact tha
callwith any historical accuracy "p
when modern historians of political
to study a range of discourses that
But... for the Middle Ages, "politic
not least because it is everywhere a
Political Thought: From the Middle
78 In discussing the canon of the
the new textbooks largely follow in
matic textbook history of political
cept of liberty'. Consequently, it is
pean history, see S. Stuurman, 'Th
tique and a Proposed Alternative'
See also N. Xenos, 'Political Theor
pp. 419-25; J. Coleman, A History
Christianity (Oxford, 2000), pp. 1
most ways fundamentally medieval.79 Janet Coleman, in particular, has n

the tendency to set distinctly medieval qualifications aside, . so th
Marsilius is often brought into a modern classroom as though dressed de
cratically in jeans'.80 In fact, most of the political theories of the period
the shape of a political ecclesiology that in some cases could approach
later political theory, but in most cases did not. In addition, and perhaps
more serious, such an anachronistic approach would exclude most of
political theory of the Middle Ages on formal grounds. Fortunately, and
result of a recent interest in new environments that took part in the form
tion of medieval political theory, recent textbooks complemented the focu
the classical political texts with an approach that highlights the diversit
political thought in the Middle Ages.81 In particular, there has been mu
focus on the reception of Aristotle in university environments in the thirtee
century, resulting in a new understanding of what was thought at the med
universities as well as what political theorizing developed out of this teach
and concomitant discussions.82
The question, then, is how to approach medieval political theory, exem
fied in this case by the letter to Hermann of Metz. Our approach might b
some help here, first and foremost in order to make sense of the unpredic
patterns of reception and transmission which are the fate of most medi
texts. This unpredictability is, as will be seen, partly a result of the manus
basis of the transmission, and partly a result of the specific medieval patt
of communication. In Figure 2,1 have attempted to exemplify the theoret
approach in terms of the above rudimentary analysis of the 'intended m
ing' of Gregory VII's letter to Hermann of Metz, and in relation to the fo
ing treatment of the reception of the text.
79 See for instance the analyses of C.J. Nederman, Community and Consent:
Secular Political Theory of Marsiglio of Padua's Defensor pacis (Nedham, 19
J. Canning, 'The Role of Power in the Political Thought of Marsilus of Padua', Histo
Political Thought, XX (1999), pp. 21-34.
80 Coleman, A History of Political Thought: From the Middle Ages to the Re
sance, p. 140.
81 See J. Canning, A History of Medieval Political Thought: 300-1450 (London,
1996); Coleman, A History of Political Thought: From Ancient Greece to Early Chris
tianity:; Coleman, A History of Political Thought: From the Middle Ages to the Renais
sance.
82 See for instance, C. Fliieler, 'Die Rezeption der "Politica" des

Pariser Artistenfakultat im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert', in Das Pub
Theorie im 14. Jahrhundert, ed. J. Miethke, pp. 127-51. See also seve
tions in Political Thought and the Realities of Power in the Middle A
and O.G. Oexle (Gôttingen, 1998) and Politische Reflexion in der Wel
alters, ed. M. Kaufhold (Brill, 2004).
400 L. MELVE
Figure 2: Pope Gregory VH's

as a Test Case
Diachronic
dimension
1500
Wirkung
1250
Interpretive societies
1122
Royal Papal
party party
'Language' 'Received meaning' 1085
Hierocratic theme The specific arguments
'Belief \ J 'Intended meaning
Reg 8, 21 in relation to The papal interpretation 1081
other papal letters of the hierocratic theory

addressing the hierocratic
theory
Author (agent)
Pope
Gregory VII
Synchronic dimension The social context

- horizontal and vertical
- institutional mediation
The Synchronic Dimension: The Search for 'Intended Meaning'
The exemplification of this approach in relation to the search for 'intende

meaning' and 'belief (synchronic dimension) on the one hand, and the late
'received meaning' of Gregory's letter (Reg 8, 21) on the other, underline
several important theoretical points. Most basically, it reminds us of the ne
to take the synchronic as well as the diachronic dimension into account. In t
case, the synchronic dimension is limited to the period 1081 to 1085, from t
time of the issuing of the letter on 15 March 1081 to the death of Pope Gregor
VII (1085).
The first option available if we want to investigate the 'intended meaning
of the letter is to undertake a textual analysis of the letter. A second option
to broaden the investigation to include other papal letters in search of the
tended meaning' of the letter. For example, the correspondence of 1081 cou
be compared to the first letter to Hermann of Metz of 1076. In this letter,
pope used similar arguments in an attempt to justify the first excommunic
tion of King Henry.83 The specific arguments of the 1081 letter could also
illuminated by taking still other papal letters into account. For instance, th
understanding of the papal argument of elective kingship — which is ver
rudimentarily presented in the 1081 letter — could be elaborated b
introducing the two other letters of the corpus that also refer to this theme.84
third way to approach the letter is to go beyond papal correspondences an
contextualize the letter in terms of other contemporary or near-contempora
texts. One option would be to investigate writings of previous reform pope
and thereby pinpoint the characteristic tenets of Pope Gregory's political
theory.
A fourth option for contextualizing the letter would broaden the perspec
tive even further, namely by addressing the general historical context. As
mentioned above, it is impossible to specify the entire context in each case.
Perhaps the best thing to do would be to search for the relevant context, thus
avoiding what Preston King calls 'contextual overinterpretation'.85 This could
amount to an outline of the reform papacy and different 'reform languages',
as well as an understanding of the ideological underpinnings of the eleventh
century German empire, including its Carolingian heritage. In addition to this
search for relevant contexts, I would stress the need to investigate the institu
tional mediation of the text. The reason for this will hopefully become clear in
the following.
83 Das Register Gregors VII. (MGH Epistolae Selecta 2, Berlin, 1920, 1923), 4, 2,
pp. 293-7.
84 Ibid., 4, 3; 9, 2.
85 King, 'Historical Contextualism', p. 219.
402 L. MELVE
The Diachronic Dimension: T
Needless to say, the contemp

readers — or, in the medieva
letter to Hermann was dispa
ory VII in 1085, the first lit
addressed the letter had sur
of Salzburg probably knew o
papal cause, perhaps in the s
anonymous author of the Di
familiarity with the papal c
Thus, while the pope was ali
but also discussed by two 'in
terpretive societies' respecti
suddenly with the letter of
from the outbreak of the str
said, the letter changed the
Firstly, the reception of the
the lifetime of the pope cre
tent of the papal letter. Seco
more extensive reception in
interpretation of the hieroc
familiar to the papal as well
tively vague references to th
detailed encounters with the
ple of 'received meaning'. Fo
Osnabriick criticized the his
the pope, justified papal exco
ent historical source, Cassiod
some of the historical evide
should have excommunica
understood.88
In the period of this more extensive reception, from the death of Pope Greg
ory to the end of the Investiture Contest in 1122, the historical evidence was
not the only subject under discussion. The political ecclesiology was also
debated. In 1103, the royalist writer Hugh of Fleury used the papal letter as a
point of departure for presenting his own political theory.89 A decade or so
later, the anonymous author of the Disputatio vel defensio Paschalis papae
(1116) elaborated on the ecclesiology of the Gregorian reform papacy from a
86 Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite, I (1891), pp. 261-79.

87 Ibid., pp. 454-60.
88 Ibid., pp. 468-9.
89 Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite, II (1892), pp. 465-94.
papal perspective.90 All of these more specific encounters with the p

ecclesiology of the 1081 letter are examples of 'received meaning'
trast to the Gregorian 'language' that also derived from the letter.
From a communicative perspective, it is important to underline that
the transmission of the hierocratic theme as a 'language' nor the recep
the 'received meaning' necessarily need to stem from a reading of th
There is ample evidence for an oral diffusion of the content of the lett
to intellectual defenders and opponents of the papal cause and to semi-
and illiterate audiences. However, in most cases of 'received meaning'
authors seem to have had a version of the letter, or at least part of the
available for consultation.
At this point, the unpredictability of a manuscript culture compared to a
print culture becomes apparent. Although the letter was one of the most
widely diffused contemporary texts, this does not mean that the transmission
was uniform. On the contrary, the letter is one of the few contemporary texts
to have survived in its original, due to the accidental survival of the papal reg
ister.91 The polemicists that defended or opposed the papal letter in this
period, however, did not have a uniform copy of the text. They had to rely on
copies of the letter that diverged significantly from the original. In most cases,
only partial versions of the correspondence were available. For example, the
royalist writer Hugh of Fleury had to settle for a partial version of the letter
found in the papalist writer Hugh of Flavigny's Chronicon.92 In short, in order
to estimate the reception not only of this particular text but of most texts in a
manuscript culture, the unpredictability of the transmission of handwritten
manuscripts as well as the use of oral and aural communication to diffuse the
content of a text needs to be taken into account.
The Diachronic Dimension: The Search For 'Received Meaning' (1122-1500)
What has been outlined so far is only the reception of the letter in the period up
to the end of the Contest in 1122. In order to grasp the wider reception and
thus also the Wirkung of the letter, the diachronic dimension has to be
extended further. The letter was one of the few papal letters of the Gregorian
reform papacy that was received into canon law. Gratian used passages of the
letter in his Decretum, a collection composed in the 1140s and which became
the standard canon law collection until replaced by Pope Gregory IX's
90 Ibid., pp. 658-66.

91 The majority of surviving contemporary letters have only survived as copies made
by the recipient. A large portion of these copies were not even made in the immediate
period after being dispatched. Rather, they are included in letter collections, most of
them from the twelfth century.
92 Hugh of Flavigny, Chronicort (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, SS, 8,
pp. 280-502.
404 L. MELVE
canonical collection, the L

turn, paved the way for th
decretalists of the thirteen
reception of the letter, the
fused and elaborated that in most cases it is difficult to trace this back to the
papal letter of 1081. Rather, what was discussed instead was certain passages
and concepts of the letter as transmitted in canonical collections, in particular
the Decretum. For instance, Hostensius discusses Pope Gregory IV's inter
pretation of the biblical passage Matt. 16:18-19 which conceded the power to
bind and to loose to the vicar of the Apostolic See.94
Herein lie the importance of Begriffsgeschichte and its focus on the
diachronic dimension as well as its stress on the importance of addressing the
institutional context of the emergence of a given 'concept', specifically
because the discussion of the 1081 letter a mere two hundred years after its
composition takes place in an entirely different institutional setting; the
immediate reception of the letter in the last part of the eleventh century took
place in a nascent intellectual environment and had to be mediated orally to
other powerful segments of society because of the general lack of reading
ability.95 Two hundred years later, the intellectual community was not only
firmly established within the new universities but, in addition, the reception
takes place in a period which was characterized as marking 'the victory of the
papacy' in terms of power and hegemony. Hence, this reception of the letter
took place in quite a different environment compared to the hostile and com
bative climate of the Investiture Contest.
If we move another two hundred years forward to the Reformation debates
in the first part of the sixteenth century, we encounter another reception of the
papal letter. Again, certain passages of the letter — those outlining the church
hierarchy led by a pope having absolute power — were applied by Catholic
93 See J. Gilchrist, 'The Reception of Pope Gregory VII into the Canon Law
(1073-1141), Part II', Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stifung fiir Rechtsgeschichte, 66 (1980),
pp. 192-229. See also A. Winroth, The Making of Gratian's Decretum (Cambridge,
2000).
94 For different perspectives on the elaboration of the hierocratic theory, see M. Wilks,
The Problem of Sovereignty in the Later Middle Ages: The Papal Monarchy with
Augustinus Triumphus and the Publicists (Cambridge, 1964); J. A. Watt, 'The Theory of
Papal Monarchy in the Thirteenth Century: The Contribution of the Canonists', Traditio,
20 (1964), pp. 179-317; K. Pennington, The Papal Monarchy in the Twelflh and Thirteenth
Centuries (Philadelphia, 1984); K. Pennington, The Prince and the Law, 1200-1600:
Sovereignty and Rights in the Western Legal Tradition (Berkeley, 1993).
95 For a discussion of the relationship between orality and literacy in the Middle
Ages, see L. Melve, 'Literacy, Aurality, and Orality. A Survey of Recent Research into
the Orality/Literacy Complex of the Latin Middle Ages', Symbolae Osloenses, 78
(2003), pp. 143-98.
propagandists to muster the papal cause.96 Needless to say, the historical and
institutional context beneath this reception was radically different from thos
underlying the different medieval receptions of the letter; the printing press
altered the communicative confines of the debate which in turn forced the
Catholic Church to hire theologians to buttress a defence against the
protestant menace.97
Although 'received meaning' and 'language' refer to another level of the
history of political ideas than that dealing with the 'intended meaning' of the
author, it is nevertheless important not to exaggerate the difference between
the synchronic and diachronic dimensions. There are good reasons for com
bining these approaches. To be more specific, a knowledge of the later recep
tions, and hence Wirkung of the letter, might facilitate the search for the
'intended meaning' of the author, as a glimpse at near-contemporary under
standings can help us to avoid anachronistic readings of the 'intended mean
ing'. On the other hand, it is hardly possible to treat 'received meaning' and
'language' in an adequate way without being familiar with the 'intended
meaning', as this is a vital point of departure for later receptions. In all cases,
however, it is imperative to address the communicative aspects that impinge
on the search for the history of political ideas in a manuscript culture.
This short overview also illustrates the extent to which 'contradictions'
were imperative in catapulting political-theoretical changes. It shows how the
distinction between 'language' and 'received meaning' is useful in isolating
the different forms of contradictions that emerged during the Investiture
debate. On the level of 'language', the stark hierocratic theory of Pope
96 The literature on the pamphlet literature that emerged in the course of the struggle
is extensive. For a selection of titles, see H.-J. Kohler, 'Fragestellungen und Methoden
zur Interpretation friihneuzeitlicher Flugschriften', in Flugschriften als Massenmedium
der Reformatlonszeit. Beitrage zum Tiibinger Symposion 1980, ed. H.-J. Kohler
(Stuttgart, 1981), pp. 1-29; H.-J. Kohler, 'The Flugschriften and their Importance in
Religious Debate: A Quantitative Approach', in 'Astrologi hallucinati': Starts and the
End of the World in Luther's Time, ed. P. Zambelli (New York, 1986), pp. 153-76; P.A.
Russell, Lay Theology in the Reformation: Popular Pamphleteers in Southwest Germany
1521-1525 (Cambridge, 1986); M. Arnold, Handwerker als theologische Schriftsteller.
Studien zu Flugschriften der friihen Reformation (1523-1525) (Gôttingen, 1990);
D.V.N. Bagchi, Luther's Earliest Opponents: Catholic Controversialists, 1518-1525
(Minneapolis, 1991); M.U. Edwards Jr., Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther
(Berkeley, 1994); R.W. Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda
for the German Reformation (Oxford, 1994); T. Hohenberger, Lutherische Rechtfert
igungslehre in den reformatorischen Flugschriften der Jahre 1521-22 (Tubingen,
1996); B. Moeller and K. Stackmann, Stadtische Predigt in der Friihzeit der Reforma
tion. Eine Untersuchung deutscher Flugschriften der Jahre 1522 bis 1529 (Gôttingen,
1996).
97 For the classical work, see E.L. Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of
Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early-Modem Europe
(Cambridge, 1979).
406 L. MELVE
Gregory contradicted the m

and sacerdotal powers prevai
a public discussion involving
'language' was one point of d
meaning', however, more s
'contradict' the traditional p
ship between the two power
historical evidence used by P
nicate secular rulers. Alread
criticized by several writers
for contradicting the traditi
traditional notion, the pop
emperor. 'Contradictions', th
political-theoretical innovati
Conclusion
The outlined approach to the history of ideas is an attempt to capitalize on the

main tenets of the discussion of the theoretical sides of the history of ideas and
the history of political thought during the last three decades. By combining
the insights of linguistic contextualism in dealing with the synchronic dimen
sion with Receptionsgeschichte and Wirkungsgeschichte in relation to the
diachronic dimension, the end result is an approach that is able to grasp the
innovative ideas at the moment they appear as well as to trace their eventual
further destiny through subsequent receptions. Begriffsgeschichte is intro
duced because of its focus on the institutional and diachronic side of the medi
ation of political concepts. The stress which the so-called 'critical conceptual
history' lays on 'contradictions' as a means to explain political-theoretical as
well as political change has been used in order to introduce a pragmatic
dimension to the synthesis. In short, by introducing the 'interpretive societies'
as the protagonist in the mediation of 'language' and 'received meaning', it is
possible to isolate what aspect of the 'tradition' is being contested and 'con
tradicted' at a given historical juncture. Finally, the synthesis also takes into
account the effects of the communicative patterns of a manuscript culture on
the transmission and reception of a 'text'. Therefore, it offers a more universal
model to the history of ideas, enabling an approach that does not impose
early-modern and modern standards on historical periods prior to the coming
of the printing press.
L. Melve UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN

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INTENTIONS, CONCEPTS AND RECEPTION: AN ATTEMPT TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE

HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT. Vol. XXVII. No. 3. Autumn 2006

offered new ways of app

quantitative terms — the hand-copying of a text sets definitive limits on the

The Theoretical Component

Three different schools hav

and 'revolution', are ambiv

23 P.L. Janssen, 'Political Th

scheme.30 Following Skinner, writings of the past should be viewed as

regarding the meta-theoretic

Ν. Tarcov, 'Quentin Skinner's

rightly be accused of being deterministic, albeit to a lesser degree than that o

The Theoretical Components II: Begriffsgeschichte

The aims of Begriffsgeschichte have been to specify and explain conceptual

In what ways can Be griff

contexts, aspects mostly lacking in the analyses of the linguistic cont

The Theoretical Components III: Rezeptionsgeschichte

The combination of linguistic contextualism and Begrijfsgeschichte

49 J. Schmidt, 'How Historical is Begriffsgeschichte?', History of Europ

being created by specific a

52 E.D. Hirsch, Validity in Interpretation (New Haven, 1967).

How does this third theoretical component — Rezeptionsgeschichte and

The Theoretical Approach: Integrating the Theoretical Components

57 Schmidt, 'How Historical is Begriffsgeschichte', pp. 12-13.

Figure 1: The Theoretical Sc

Synchronic dimension The social context

The Synchronic Dimension

In order to analyse the synchronic dimension, I am basically adopting the

59 Skinner, Visions of Politics, p. 82.

of these institutions, the me

The Diachronic Dimension

The second element of the approach addresses the diachronic dimension. As

61 See below, III: Exemplification of the Theoretical Approach: 'Intended Meaning',

63 G. Prudovsky, 'Can we Ascribe to Past Thinkers Concepts They had no Linguisti

such as the medieval royal c

The third element addresses

65 See for instance C.J. Neder

67 T. Ball, Transforming Political Discourse: Political Theory and Critical Conc

identifying when and how

Exemplification of the Theoretical Approach:

The Papal Letter as 'Political Theory'?

clerics. In a slightly wider perspective, the excommunication was the resu

between different ranks with

76 Das Register Gregors VII. (ed

most ways fundamentally medieval.79 Janet Coleman, in particular, has n

82 See for instance, C. Fliieler, 'Die Rezeption der "Politica" des

Figure 2: Pope Gregory VH's

Hierocratic theme The specific arguments

'Belief \ J 'Intended meaning

Reg 8, 21 in relation to The papal interpretation 1081

other papal letters of the hierocratic theory

Synchronic dimension The social context

The Synchronic Dimension: The Search for 'Intended Meaning'

The exemplification of this approach in relation to the search for 'intende

The Diachronic Dimension: T

Needless to say, the contemp

86 Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite, I (1891), pp. 261-79.