The Italian Renaissance | The Rebuilding of Rome (Lecture 23)

Lecture 23: The Babylonian Captivity was followed hard upon by the Great Schism of 1378−1417, in which there were two and, finally, three competing popes. With the papacy absent or competing for souls and revenues with anti-popes, the authority of the Church and the wealth of Rome declined. The schism was finally ended, not through purely religious means, but by a general council of the Church (Constance, 1414−1418) under the authority of the German Holy Roman Emperor who, with memories of the Guelf-Ghibelline conflict, also claimed to be the sovereign heir of the Roman emperors.

The return of a united papacy in 1420 required the rehabilitation of the neglected, derelict public and religious spaces of the eternal city. Driven by a desire for grandeur and concrete evidence of the end of the schism in the Church, popes increasingly looked to ancient models for authority, not only the example of St. Peter but also their imperial legacy. For example, Nicholas V (d. 1455) began the Vatican Library and brought artists and architects to rebuild the city and restore an ancient aqueduct to ensure sufficient fresh water. Sixtus IV (d. 1484) continued this work, constructing the first bridge across the Tiber since ancient times and establishing hospitals and churches, as well as the Sistine Chapel in the apostolic palace.

Secondary Sources:
Paolo Portoghesi, Rome of the Renaissance.
C. W. Westfall, In This Most Perfect Paradise: Alberti, Nicholas V, and the Invention of Conscious Urban Planning in Rome, 1447–1455.

Supplementary Reading:
Loren Partridge, The Art of Renaissance Rome, 1400–1600.

Lecture 24: https://rumble.com/v4yjq8x-the-italian-renaissance-the-renaissance-papacy-lecture-24.html