''Libellus de imperatoria potestate in urbe Roma'' is an anonymous Latin treatise on the authority of the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

in the city of Rome. It has been dated to between the late 9th century and the middle of the 10th. It was probably written at Spoleto. It survives in one manuscript, which was appended to the contemporary ''Chronicon'' of Benedict of Sant'Andrea. The ''Libellus'' argues for the authority of the

in the so-called " patrimony of Saint Peter". The author clearly sides with the

Emperor Louis II Louis II (825 – 12 August 875), sometimes called the Younger, was the king of Italy and emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone. Louis's usual title was ''impera ...

against

Pope Nicholas I Pope Nicholas I ( la, Nicolaus I; c. 800 – 13 November 867), called Nicholas the Great, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 858 until his death. He is remembered as a consolidator of papal authority, exerting dec ...

Ferdinand Gregorovius Ferdinand Gregorovius (19 January 1821, Neidenburg, East Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia – 1 May 1891, Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria) was a German historian who specialized in the medieval history of Rome. Biography Gregorovius was the son of Neide ...

calls its author an "Imperialist" and a "partisan", and doubts the accuracy of his claim that " he emperor'slegate resides in Rome at all times". According to

Eleanor Duckett Eleanor Shipley Duckett (7 November 1880, Bridgwater, Somerset, England – 23 November 1976) was an English-born Philology, philologist and Middle Ages, medieval historian who spent most of her career in the United States. For thirty years, sh ...

, the author of the ''Libellus'' "poured out his feelings into that interesting document".

Notes

References

;Editions *Giuseppe Zucchetti, ed. ''Il Chronicon di Benedetto, monaco di S. Andrea del Soratte e il "Libellus de imperatoria potestate in urbe Roma"'', Fonti per la storia d'Italia, 55. Rome: 1920. *

Georg Pertz Georg Heinrich Pertz (28 March 17957 October 1876) was a German historian. Personal life Pertz was born in Hanover on 28 March 1795. His parents were the court bookbinder Christian August Pertz and Henrietta Justina née Deppen. He married twi ...

, ed. "De imperatoria potestate in urbe Roma libellus", ''

Mon. Germ. Hist. The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and Archives, archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Rom ...

'' Scriptores, iii, 719–22. ;Further reading *Ferdinand Hirsch, "Die Schenkung Kaiser Karls des Kahlen für Papst Johann VIII und der Libellus de imperatoria potestate in urbe Roma", ''Forschungen sur deutschen Geschichte'', 20. *Marios Costambeys, ''Power and Patronage in the Early Medieval Italy: Local Society, Italian Politics, and the Abbey of Farfa, c.700–900''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. {{refend 9th-century Latin books 10th-century Latin books Political books Papal States