Donation of Constantine
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The Donation of Constantine (Latin, Constitutum Donatio Constantini) is a forged Roman imperial edict, purportedly issued by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 324, and granting Pope Sylvester I and his successors sovereignty and spiritual authority over Rome, Italy, and the entire Western Roman Empire.
Legend claims that the donation was Constantine's reward to Sylvester for curing him of leprosy by a miracle. Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople, which became the centre of power of the Eastern Roman Empire, later the Byzantine Empire. Were the document genuine, the popes could have ruled as emperors in the West; a succession of Western Emperors who were not popes after Constantine suggests that the document was false.
The Popes used the Donation to bolster their powers and their territorial claims as prince bishops in medieval Italy. The Italian humanist Lorenzo Valla proved in 1440 that the Donation could not be genuine by analysing its language, and showing that the Latin in the document could not have been written in the year 324. Currently it is thought that the document was written during the papacy of Stephen II, around 752, when the church needed something to bolster its authority against threats by secular powers.
See also
External links
- Text of the Constitutum Donatio Constantini (http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/donation.html) (Latin)
- Lorenzo Valla's Discourse on the Forgery of the Alleged Donation of Constantine (http://history.hanover.edu/texts/vallatc.html)nl:Donation Constantini
de:Konstantinische Schenkung es:Donación de Constantino fr:Donation de Constantin it:Donazione di Costantino ja:コンスタンティヌスの寄進状 pl:Donacja Konstantyna