Release date is 2025-11-21

Barbara Magni and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This transcription was produced from images generously made available by Bayerische Staatsbibliothek / Bavarian State Library.)

"Storia della città di Roma nel medio evo, vol. 3/8" by Ferdinand Gregorovius is a historical account written in the late 19th century. This volume studies Rome during the Carolingian age up to about the year 900, centering on the shifting balance between papal and imperial power and Rome’s claim to be the moral capital of a Christian commonwealth. It blends political narrative with institutional, legal, and architectural observations, from imperial legates and papal jurisdiction to the proliferation of churches and monasteries that reshaped the city.

The opening of this historical account portrays Rome’s renewed global standing under the Carolingians, defining the empire as a Germanic-Roman synthesis and Rome as the spiritual center of a universal Christian order, distinct from a sidelined Byzantium. It explains why Charlemagne avoided making Rome his political capital, outlines the role of the imperial missus in Roman justice, and follows early events after his coronation: uneasy exchanges with Constantinople, Leo III’s journey to the emperor, and the visit of King Ardulf of Northumbria. The narrative then moves through Pepin of Italy’s death, Bernard’s short and tragic rule, Louis the Pious’s coronation at Aachen, and a sweeping appraisal of Charlemagne’s world-historical legacy alongside the scant Roman legends tied to him. After Charlemagne’s death, Rome erupts in unrest; Leo III responds harshly, and the text surveys his extensive church-building, using this to sketch the character of Carolingian-era architecture and to list tituli, diaconiae, and monasteries. Stephen IV seeks confirmation and anoints Louis, dies soon after, and Paschal I is swiftly elected, with discussion of a later-forged diploma attributed to Louis. With Lothair associated to the empire and crowned in Rome, imperial justice is asserted (notably in Farfa’s lawsuit against papal claims), followed by the violent killing of two papal officials; Paschal eludes an imperial inquiry via an oath of purgation and soon dies. The section closes by introducing Paschal’s major church restorations and mosaics—especially at Santa Cecilia, Santa Prassede, and Santa Maria in Domnica—setting up a closer look at these monuments. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Venezia: Antonelli, 1872