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The Donation of Sutri was an agreement reached at Sutri by
Liutprand, King of the Lombards Liutprand was the king of the Lombards from 712 to 744 and is chiefly remembered for his multiple phases of law-giving, in fifteen separate sessions from 713 to 735 inclusive, and his long reign, which brought him into a series of conflicts, mos ...
and
Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
Gregory II in 728. At Sutri, the two reached an agreement by which the city and some hill towns in
Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...
(like
Vetralla Vetralla is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Viterbo, in central Italy, south of that city, located on a shoulder of Monte Fogliano. History Vetralla's dominating fortified position in the heart of Etruscan territories has been cont ...
) were given to the
Papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
, "as a gift to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul" according to the ''
Liber Pontificalis The ''Liber Pontificalis'' (Latin for 'pontifical book' or ''Book of the Popes'') is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' stopped with Pope Adrian II (86 ...
''. The pact formed the first extension of papal territory beyond the confines of the
Duchy of Rome The Duchy of Rome ( la, Ducatus Romanus) was a state within the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. Like other Byzantine states in Italy, it was ruled by an imperial functionary with the title ''dux''. The duchy often came into conflict with the Pap ...
and was the first of two land transfers from Liutprand to the Church of Rome.


History

The Lombard peoples had long been adherents to the Christian sect of
Arianism Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...
, but they had converted to Catholicism over time. After his election as
King of the Lombards The Kings of the Lombards or ''reges Langobardorum'' (singular ''rex Langobardorum'') were the monarchs of the Lombard people from the early 6th century until the Lombardic identity became lost in the 9th and 10th centuries. After 568, the Lomba ...
in 712, Liutprand faced a series of challenges from the strength of aristocratic families and the threat of secession from the grand duchies in his domain. The duchies of
Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Sp ...
and
Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and '' comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...
in Langobardia Minor were particularly autonomous from Liutprand's central power and were separated from the rest of the kingdom by the informal division of the that ran through the center of Italy, from Rome to north of Ravenna. Liutprand began to centralize the power of his kingdom. Meanwhile, he found support from Rome and the Papal State once disputes over
iconoclasm Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be consid ...
turned them against the Byzantine Empire, which had attempted to conquer the territory that divided it into two parts. Liutprand seized the moment when the Italian territories governed by the Byzantines rejected the emperor
Leo III the Isaurian Leo III the Isaurian ( gr, Λέων ὁ Ἴσαυρος, Leōn ho Isauros; la, Leo Isaurus; 685 – 18 June 741), also known as the Syrian, was Byzantine Emperor from 717 until his death in 741 and founder of the Isaurian dynasty. He put an e ...
's support of
iconoclasm Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be consid ...
. Liutprand's military campaign began with his goal to take the territory that divided Langobardia in two—the duchy of Rome and the Byzantine Corridor. When the Pope understood Liutprand's intentions—that he would probably decide to conquer Rome—he felt endangered. For many years, the Byzantine Empire had ceased to intervene militarily for Rome, using its energies only for the defense of Ravenna. The course of Liutprand's campaign changed, however, when in 728, the Lombards conquered the fortress of
Narni Narni (in Latin, Narnia) is an ancient hilltown and '' comune'' of Umbria, in central Italy, with 19,252 inhabitants (2017). At an altitude of 240 m (787 ft), it overhangs a narrow gorge of the Nera River in the province of Tern ...
, the strategic center of the ''
Via Flaminia The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' ( Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans ha ...
''. Having lost the Roman road, the Byzantines concentrated their defenses upon the ', the only Roman road that left Rome and crossed Umbria and
Picenum Picenum was a region of ancient Italy. The name is an exonym assigned by the Romans, who conquered and incorporated it into the Roman Republic. Picenum was ''Regio V'' in the Augustan territorial organization of Roman Italy. Picenum was also ...
. Controlling the ''Via Amerina'' were the fortresses of
Todi Todi () is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction. I ...
, Amelia, and
Orte Orte is a town, '' comune'', former Catholic bishopric and Latin titular see in the province of Viterbo, in the central Italian region of Lazio, located about north of Rome and about east of Viterbo. Geography Orte is situated in the Tiber va ...
. Further south, the ''
castra In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term. In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular a ...
'' of Bomarzo, Sutri, and Blera safeguarded the '' Via Cassia''. In 728, Liutprand took the castle of Sutri, which held strategic importance in the duchy of Rome and dominated the highway at Nepi on the roads to Perugia and Tuscany. Pope Gregory II asked Liutprand directly to renounce the territories he had just conquered and to return them to the control of the Byzantine
Exarchate of Ravenna The Exarchate of Ravenna ( la, Exarchatus Ravennatis; el, Εξαρχάτο της Ραβέννας) or of Italy was a lordship of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) in Italy, from 584 to 751, when the last exarch was put to death by the ...
. By that time, Liutprand had already quelled the rebelling duchies of Spoleto and Benevento. Softened by the entreaties of Pope Gregory II, he restored Sutri "as a gift to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul" directly to the Papal State. According to Gustav Schnürer,
This expression of the "Liber pontificalis" was erroneously interpreted to mean that in this gift the beginning of the States of the Church was to be recognized. This is incorrect inasmuch as the popes continued to acknowledge the imperial Government, and Greek officials appear in Rome for some time longer. True it is, however, that here for the first time we meet the association of ideas on which the States of the Church were to be constructed. The pope asked the Lombards for the return of Sutri for the sake of the Princes of the Apostles and threatened punishment by these sainted protectors. The pious Liutprand was undoubtedly susceptible to such pleas, but never to any consideration for the Greeks. For this reason he gave Sutri to Peter and Paul, that he might not expose himself to their punishment. What the pope then did with it would be immaterial to him.
The pact was the first extension of Papal territory beyond the confines of the Duchy of Rome.


Political context

At the end of the 7th century, under
Pope Gregory I Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...
, the Catholic church had been forced to replace the Byzantine administration in providing for the population of Rome and the surrounding countryside. The population had suffered under several famines and plagues during that time. With the assent to the Papacy's intervention by the Byzantine Empire and the Exarchate of Ravenna, the Pope placed the duchy of Rome's civil and military administration under his control. Often, to defend the territory and in the name of the Emperor, the same Pope Gregory had to exercise the duchy's ''
imperium In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from '' auctoritas'' and '' potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic a ...
'' (the command of the military garrison) over the Byzantine troops stationed in Rome. In this period, the duchy's ''de facto'' acquisition by the Pope lead to a new political role for the Papacy in the territory and its surroundings. This was not by virtue of a formal territorial sovereignty, but by the recognition of the states surrounding it and the peoples living within it. The heightened political clout of the Church, that also had religious authority, also lead to a restructuring of the
Papal household The papal household or pontifical household (usually not capitalized in the media and other nonofficial use, ), called until 1968 the Papal Court (''Aula Pontificia''), consists of dignitaries who assist the pope in carrying out particular ceremoni ...
to address its increased secular responsibilities. The Lombardic donations of the first castles in the 8th century, including Sutri, formally intended "for the Apostles Peter and Paul", took place in recognition of the consolidated political role of the Church, which the Lombard kings saw as a power in the political equilibrium of the Italian peninsula. That belief was strengthened by the traditions of Papal primacy and
Apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is held to be derived from the apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been associated with a claim that the succession is through a series of bisho ...
—the Papacy's moral authority had come to be recognized even by the Germanic peoples: the
Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools ...
, the
Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is k ...
of Spain, the
Burgundians The Burgundians ( la, Burgundes, Burgundiōnes, Burgundī; on, Burgundar; ang, Burgendas; grc-gre, Βούργουνδοι) were an early Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared in the middle Rhine region, near the Roman Empire, and ...
, the
Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened ...
of England, and the Lombards themselves. On the other hand, the Papacy was already the owner of numerous territories, the , documented churches and monasteries given to the Pope. These had been received by the end of the 4th century, as testified by the
Edict of Milan The Edict of Milan ( la, Edictum Mediolanense; el, Διάταγμα τῶν Μεδιολάνων, ''Diatagma tōn Mediolanōn'') was the February 313 AD agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire. Frend, W. H. C. ( ...
through which Constantine and
Licinius Valerius Licinianus Licinius (c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan, AD 313, that granted official toleration to C ...
ordered that previously confiscated goods be returned to the Church and as described in the ''
Liber Pontificalis The ''Liber Pontificalis'' (Latin for 'pontifical book' or ''Book of the Popes'') is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' stopped with Pope Adrian II (86 ...
''. In the years just before the Donation of Sutri, other restitutions of land had come to the Catholic Church from the Lombards, like lands in Alpi Cozie and the city of Cumae. The Donation of Sutri, which occurred during the revolt against the Byzantine iconoclast decrees, placed the Roman population on the side of the Pope, against the representatives of the Byzantine Empire. The Donation was one of the few times the Papal State aligned itself against the legitimate rulers of territory surrounding Rome. The recognition of the Papal State's authority, even if it was ''de facto'' and not ''de jure'', by the Lombards would be accentuated in the following years by the successors of Gregory II (Popes Gregory III and Zachary), thanks to the growing disinterest and distance of the Byzantine Emperors.


Legacy

In 739, Pope Gregory III addressed a letter to
Charles Martel Charles Martel ( – 22 October 741) was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesm ...
, master of the Frankish kings' royal palace in which appeared, for the first time, the phrase "populus peculiaris beati Petri". The Pope was referring to the population of the duchies of Rome, Ravenna, and the
Pentapolis A pentapolis (from Greek ''penta-'', 'five' and ''polis'', 'city') is a geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities. Cities in the ancient world probably formed such groups for political, commercial and military reasons, as happene ...
as living together in a republic, of which
Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...
was the protector and eponymous hero. Between 739 and 741, the following were added to the land ceded with Sutri:
Gallese Gallese is an Italian '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo, from Viterbo. It was taken by Duke Thrasimund II of Spoleto in 737 or 738, at which time it was essential to communications between Rome and Ravenna and had a large ...
, Amelia,
Orte Orte is a town, '' comune'', former Catholic bishopric and Latin titular see in the province of Viterbo, in the central Italian region of Lazio, located about north of Rome and about east of Viterbo. Geography Orte is situated in the Tiber va ...
, Blera, and Bomarzo. And again in 743, Liutprand titled to
Pope Zachary Pope Zachary ( la, Zacharias; 679 – March 752) was the bishop of Rome from 28 November 741 to his death. He was the last pope of the Byzantine Papacy. Zachary built the original church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, forbade the traffic of sla ...
four cities that he had occupied—
Vetralla Vetralla is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Viterbo, in central Italy, south of that city, located on a shoulder of Monte Fogliano. History Vetralla's dominating fortified position in the heart of Etruscan territories has been cont ...
, Palestrina, Ninfa, and Norma—as well as restoring to the Pope part of the Sabina that had been taken by the dukes of Spoleto thirty years before. Liutprand, having temporarily eased the tensions between the Lombardic dukes of Spoleto and Benevento, avoided a civil war. The Donation of Sutri was followed in 754 by the
Donation of Pepin The Donation of Pepin in 756 provided a legal basis for the creation of the Papal States, thus extending the temporal rule of the popes beyond the duchy of Rome. Background In 751, Aistulf, king of the Lombards, conquered what remained of the ...
, affirmed in
Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the ...
by the Frankish king
Pepin the Short the Short (french: Pépin le Bref; – 24 September 768), also called the Younger (german: Pippin der Jüngere), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian to become king. The younger was the son of ...
. Through the close pacts with the Frankish sovereigns from the second half of the 9th century, the Papal State was no longer solely the patrimony of the archbishop of Rome, but as a body with recognized jurisdiction to which Pepin the Short guaranteed military protection in 754 against potential aggression by the Lombardic kings. The following restitutions of the Lombardic kings to the Papacy in 774, including
Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the c ...
and the Pentapoli—induced by pacts with the Franks—spoke directly of a return to the "republic of Romans' of which the bishop of Rome was recognized as leader. Another consequence of the Donation of Sutri was the drafting of the false document, the '' Donation of Constantine''. According to the document, retrodated to 321, the Roman Emperor Constantine had ceded to the Catholic Church of Pope Sylvester I the civil jurisdiction of the city of Rome, Italy, and the entire
Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...
. The authenticity of the ''Donation of Constantine'' was greatly debated among the Catholic
canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is t ...
synods after the year 1000 and was questioned by the Germanic and Frankish chanceries. While they couldn't place the document itself in doubt, they had evidence that the plan was inconsistent with the claimed prerogatives of the Church. Given the uncertain secular power of the Church when the ''Donation of Constantine'' was forged (the 9th and 10th centuries), the document reflects the new role occupied by the Papal State and the jurisdictional status it intended to retain, especially regarding Rome. This was a claim particularly useful for the new representatives of the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
, that was born in the year 800 thanks to the support of the Papal State.


See also

* '' Translatio imperii'' * '' Inter caetera'' * Caesaropapism *
Byzantine Papacy The Byzantine Papacy was a period of Byzantine domination of the Roman papacy from 537 to 752, when popes required the approval of the Byzantine Emperor for episcopal consecration, and many popes were chosen from the '' apocrisiarii'' (liaisons ...


References


Bibliography

* *


External links


Santo Gregorio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donation Of Sutri Kingdom of the Lombards 8th century in the Papal States 8th-century treaties 728 Western Christianity History of the Papal States Catholicism and politics History of Catholicism in Italy de:Kirchenstaat#Schenkung von Sutri