The Fragrance of Authority: Did Medieval Folks Smell Power? And Did Power Want to be Smelled?
Joëlle Rollo-Koster, Professor of Medieval History, University of Rhode Island
Part of the Workshop: Scents of Religious Authority, 5 & 6 June 2023.
Growing from research undertaken for my latest book, The Great Western Schism, 1378-1417: Performing Legitimacy, Performing Unity (CUP, 2022) my new project emphasizes the sense of smell as a vehicle to inculcate political authority. While seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching are overly emphasized by the historiography, smell has not been fully considered. Looking at the ceremonials surrounding the granting of the Golden Rose, a precious object that the pope offered to the most ardent defensor of Christianity of his time, I will discuss how the rose taught its audience (via its aroma) how to recognize legitimate authority, and maybe how authorities “controlled” this smell to assert themselves.