Philip the Fair and Boniface VIII: State vs. Papacy

Nowadays, the Pope is typically seen as a benign figure, even by those who do not share his beliefs. Well, Wood's collection of essays about an earlier pope, Boniface 8, and his dealings with Philip the Fair of France, is a jarring reminder of an earlier era. When a pope wielded real secular power, as a de jure monarch in his own right. The rise of Benedict Gaetani to the Papacy in 1294 is chronicled. He is described as an ambitious schemer, amongst other appelations. Attracted to the office's power. But the book then describes how during his reign, his miscalculations greatly weakened the Vatican. Inadvertantly, he aided the rise of various nationalisms.