Testing the limits of the 'Donation of Constantine': Linking a forgery to the rise of the medieval Papal States.

摘要

Although the "Donation of Constantine" was purportedly an early fourth century document, ca. 314s---originating during the time of Constantine and the reign of Pope Sylvester---its useful life effectively began much later. Chronologically, the supposed gift first came to light as a forgery in the eighth century and, consequently, its initial, official use was during the rule of Pippin the Short and Charlemagne, ca. 750s--770s. Still, it was not then known to be an outright fraud; rather, it was widely accepted as having bestowed vast temporal powers and substantial property rights on the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. Its total lack of authenticity was not definitively proven until the mid-fifteenth century; at that time, a trio of scholars (Nicholas of Cusa, Lorenzo Valla and Reginald Pecock) conclusively demonstrated the "Donation of Constantine" to be a fraudulent document. Valla's proofs however, were the most rigorous and comprehensive; hence, he is credited with exposing the fraud. Notwithstanding these assaults against the "Donation of Constantine," the doctrine survived attack.1 Its life expired with the demise of the Papal States when the later were merged into a United Italy in 1870. On balance, it may be concluded the Church acted legally (whether through guile or innocence) upon fraudulent grounds. By linking the rise of the medieval Papal States to the fraudulent "Donation of Constantine," this dissertation goes beyond the theory Thomas F. X. Noble postulates that there was a Republic of St. Peter in the eighth-century and actualizes Peter Partner's imaginative vision of a connection between the "Donation of Constantine" and the rise of the Papal States.;1Joseph M. Levine, "Reginald Pecock and Lorenzo valla on the Donation of Constantine", Studies in the Renaissance, 20 (1973), p.118.