On the Donation of Constantine

On the Donation of Constantine
Author: Lorenzo Valla
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674030893

Valla (1407-1457) was the most important theorist of the humanist movement. His most famous work is the present volume, an oration in which Valla uses new philological methods to attack the authenticity of the most important document justifying the papacy's claims to temporal rule.

"Donation of Constantine" and "Constitutum Constantini"

Author: Johannes Fried
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2012-02-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 3110902230

The Donation of Constantine is the most outrageous and powerful forgery in world history. The question of its precise time of origin alone kept generations of researchers occupied. But, what exactly is the Donation of Constantine? To find the answer, it is necessary to approach the question on two different semantic levels: First, as the Constitutum Constantini, a fictitious privilege, in which, among other things, rights and presents were bestowed on the catholic church by a grateful Emperor Konstantin. Secondly, as a reflection of the Middle Age mindset, becoming part of the culture landscape midway through 11th century A.D. The author not only reinterprets the origin of this forgery (i.e. puts it down to the Franks’ opposition of Emperor Louis the Pious), but retells, as well, the history of its misinterpretation since the High Middle Ages. In an appendix, all relevant texts are printed in the original language, an English translation is provided.

The Invention of Papal History

The Invention of Papal History
Author: Stefan Bauer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2020
Genre: History
ISBN: 0198807007

The Catholic Church is among the oldest, most secretive, institutions in the world, but in the sixteenth century a friar, Onofrio Panvinio, undertook ground-breaking investigations into the Church's history from Christ to the Renaissance. This study shows how his writings impacted on church and society, but also how he changed historical writing.

Remembering Constantine at the Milvian Bridge

Remembering Constantine at the Milvian Bridge
Author: Raymond Van Dam
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2011-04-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139499726

Constantine's victory in 312 at the battle of the Milvian Bridge established his rule as the first Christian emperor. This book examines the creation and dissemination of the legends about that battle and its significance. Christian histories, panegyrics and an honorific arch at Rome soon commemorated his victory, and the emperor himself contributed to the myth by describing his vision of a cross in the sky before the battle. Through meticulous research into the late Roman narratives and the medieval and Byzantine legends, this book moves beyond a strictly religious perspective by emphasizing the conflicts about the periphery of the Roman empire, the nature of emperorship and the role of Rome as a capital city. Throughout late antiquity and the medieval period, memories of Constantine's victory served as a powerful paradigm for understanding rulership in a Christian society.

Old Saint Peter's, Rome

Old Saint Peter's, Rome
Author: Rosamond McKitterick
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 523
Release: 2013-11-07
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1107041643

Provides the first full study of the predecessor church of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, from late antique construction to Renaissance destruction.

The Life and Legacy of Constantine

The Life and Legacy of Constantine
Author: M. Shane Bjornlie
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2016-07-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317025660

The transformation from the classical period to the medieval has long been associated with the rise of Christianity. This association has deeply influenced the way that modern audiences imagine the separation of the classical world from its medieval and early modern successors. The role played in this transformation by Constantine as the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire has also profoundly shaped the manner in which we frame Late Antiquity and successive periods as distinctively Christian. The modern demarcation of the post-classical period is often inseparable from the reign of Constantine. The attention given to Constantine as a liminal figure in this historical transformation is understandable. Constantine’s support of Christianity provided the religion with unprecedented public respectability and public expressions of that support opened previously unimagined channels of social, political and economic influence to Christians and non-Christians alike. The exact nature of Constantine’s involvement or intervention has been the subject of continuous and densely argued debate. Interpretations of the motives and sincerity of his conversion to Christianity have characterized, with various results, explanations of everything from the religious culture of the late Roman state to the dynamics of ecclesiastical politics. What receives less-frequent attention is the fact that our modern appreciation of Constantine as a pivotal historical figure is itself a direct result of the manner in which Constantine’s memory was constructed by the human imagination over the course of centuries. This volume offers a series of snapshots of moments in that process from the fourth to the sixteenth century.

The Pope's Legion

The Pope's Legion
Author: Charles A. Coulombe
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2009-11-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0230617565

Charles A. Coulombe's The Pope's Legion tells the amazing adventures of the remarkable multinational force that rallied in defense of the Vatican during the ten-year war of Italian reunification. With Arthurian grandeur the Papal Zouaves marched into Italy in the mid-nineteenth century, summoned by the Pope under siege as the Wars of the Risorgimento raged. Motivated by wanderlust, a sense of duty and the call of faith, some 20,000 Catholic men from around the world rallied to Vatican City to defend her gates against Sardinian marauders. Volunteers came from France, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Austria, and many other countries, including the United States. The battles that ensued lasted over 10 years, among a shifting array of allies and enemies and are among history's most fascinating yet largely overlooked episodes. Napoleon, Pius IX, and Bismarck all make appearances in the story, but at the center were the Zouaves--steeped in a knightly code of honor, and unflinching in battle as any modern warrior--as the Church they vowed to defend to the death teetered at the brink of destruction.