The Italian Renaissance | The Eternal City - Rome (Lecture 22)

Lecture 22: Rome was as much an idea as it was a city and, as a consequence, had a much different character from that of Florence during the Renaissance. Its ancient heritage was everywhere to be seen in huge ruins. The legend of the Donation of Constantine (in which the emperor was said to have given rule of the western empire to Pope Sylvester when the capital was moved to Constantinople) permitted the pope to claim universal sovereignty. And the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul made the city an attraction for pilgrims, ambitious scholars and clerics, and those who wished to serve or profit from them. Rome was, then, a cosmopolitan city of foreigners, with an enormous floating population of pilgrims and clergy from across Europe.

However, conflict damaged the city during the 14th century. Violence among the great Roman families resulted in the Babylonian Captivity, during which the pope abandoned Rome to reside in Avignon between 1305 and 1377. There were insufficient funds to maintain the great churches and palaces, and the population and the number of pilgrims and visitors fell precipitously. The Renaissance, then, came late to Rome.

Primary Source Texts:
Kenneth R. Bartlett, “The Church and the Papacy,” pp. 309–315, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance.
Petrarch, Book Without a Name (Liber Sine Nomine).

Secondary Sources:
Guillaume Mollat, The Popes at Avignon, 1305–1378.

Supplementary Reading:
Charles L. Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome.

Lecture 23: https://rumble.com/v4yjk2w-the-italian-renaissance-the-rebuilding-of-rome-lecture-23.html