The political decretals issued by the popes during thethirteenth century profoundly re-shaped thinkingabout the locus and character of supreme politicalauthority. O n the one hand, the popes themselvestook canon law in new directions, developing newjusti􀀀cations for papal power and re-working olderjusti􀀀cations in ways that ampli􀀀ed papalauthority over both bishops and temporal princes. On the other hand, the canon lawyers struggled tobring greater legal precision to the often-vagueideas introduced by the popes. In this chapter, Itrace one current in the evolution of the languageof supreme authority in canon law—that dealing withthe character of supreme authority in the decretalQuanto personam. Ido this by examining how ideas introduced in thisvery in􀀀uential papal decretal morphed and mutatedas a result of being glossed, either directly orindirectly, by in􀀀uential canon lawyers, in theprocess providing much of the raw material that theintellectual protagonists in the con􀀀ict betweenBoniface and Philip would use to assemble andadvance their respective arguments for papal andregnal sovereignty at the end of the thirteenthcentury.

Quanto personam was apapal decretal that nominally dealt with theauthority to translate a bishop from one episcopalsee to another. The proximate cause for itstransmission was Bishop Conrad of Querfort'sunilateral decision to transfer himself fromHildesheim's see to the more a􀀀uent see ofWürzburg. Viewing this transfer as a violation ofwhat he considered the exclusively papal prerogativeto translate bishops, Innocent III responded byinstructing Conrad to quit both Würzburg and hisformer see of Hildesheim. Quanto personam, issued on August 21,1198, ordered a group of 􀀀ve German bishops toenforce this command by excommunicating Conrad fromthe Church if he failed to comply with the papalmandate to vacate both sees within twenty days. Thedecretal was incorporated into Innocent'sauthoritative collection, Compilatio tertia, in 1209/10 and wassubsequently glossed by several in􀀀uentialcanonists, including Laurentius Hispanus, VincentiusHispanus, Johannes Teutonicus, and Tancred. AlthoughInnocent issued several decretals on unauthorizedepiscopal translations, Quantopersonam is generally considered to bethe most consequential.