How the Popes Survived the Fall of the Western Roman Empire

0:05 For millions of people, the Pope is the spiritual leader of their religion.

0:11 Today, his secular domain covers only a few square kilometres in Rome,

0:16 yet his voice still carries weight in international politics.

0:19 But what does the history of this institution look like in its early days?

0:25 How did this decisive bearer of the idea of Romanitas–

0:30 of all things Roman– survive the turmoil of late antiquity

0:34 and the power struggles in early medieval Italy to become

0:38 one of the decisive players in the history of Europe?

0:41 Today, we want to explore this complex history

0:44 of the papacy between late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

0:52 The Role of the Pope in Late Antiquity The story of the Papacy’s

1:27 original rise to power begins in the era of late antiquity,

1:36 when the Roman Empire still dominated the Mediterranean world.

1:39 By 313 the Roman Empire started to become formally a Christian empire.

1:45 Over the course of the 4th century,

1:48 Christian dioceses emerged within the Empire’s borders,

1:51 while Christian bishops increasingly became both

1:53 the spiritual and political leaders of Roman cities.

1:57 As the central authority of the emperor

2:00 in the West declined throughout the 5th century,

2:02 the bishops of the Roman Church increasingly took

2:05 on sovereign and administrative tasks in their dioceses.

2:09 During this time of transition,

2:11 the Pope first and foremost the bishop of the city of Rome,

2:15 and did not necessarily hold supremacy over all other bishops as he does today.

2:19 He was elected by its community, especially its urban nobility and clergy,

2:24 with the bishops of the surrounding dioceses attending the election.

2:28 Like every bishop, the Bishop of Rome also had

2:31 the task of spreading the faith and keeping it pure.

2:35 Theologically significant at this point, however,

2:37 is the exegesis of a passage in Matthew 16:18-19,

2:41 in which Jesus Christ is said to have handed over

2:45 the power of excommunication and absolution to the Apostle Peter;

2:49 he and the authority emanating from him allow sins to be forgiven.

2:55 According to legend, Peter was martyred in Rome,

2:59 making him the founder and first bishop of the Roman community in tradition.

3:03 Throughout the 5th century, questions of faith were repeatedly referred to Rome,

3:07 if only for the Bishop of Rome to act as a mediator between the parties.

3:12 Rome quickly assumed a position of honour among the dioceses of Christendom,

3:17 which did not entail any practical primacy,

3:20 but strengthened the self-confidence of its bishops.

3:23 The increasing Christianisation of the Roman Empire,

3:26 especially within the upper classes in the city of Rome itself,

3:29 helped make the Roman bishop exceptional in a very worldly sense:

3:34 through donations and inheritances, he became the largest landowner in Italy.

3:39 His possessions were soon bundled into so-called patrimonies and managed

3:44 by lawyers and clerics following the model of the imperial administration.

3:48 By the tenure of Pope Leo I, who reigned from 440-461,

3:53 arguments were being made that, as Saint Peter's successor and heir,

3:58 the Bishop of Rome also had authority

4:01 over other bishops and the Church in general.

4:04 The diocese of Rome therefore had precedence over

4:07 other communities and its bishop over other church leaders.

4:11 Leo's intention to enforce this claim is evident

4:14 in his condemnation of the Metropolitan Hugo of Arles,

4:17 whom he reduced to the rights of a simple bishop.

4:21 He also had his judgement confirmed by Emperor Valentinian III in secular terms.

4:25 Last but not least, Leo, represented by envoys,

4:28 was also one of the most important players at the Council

4:32 of Chalcedon where important decisions on the faith were made.

4:36 So it was that Rome, as the ancient centre of the empire,

4:40 was to become the religious Caput Orbis– the head of the world.

4:44 However, this claim by the Roman bishops to occupy a higher position than

4:48 the other bishops was slow to gain

4:51 acceptance and remained controversial for centuries.

4:53 Nevertheless, shortly before the end of the Western Roman Empire,

4:57 the bishops of Rome already held a prominent

5:00 position in the state-religious apparatus of the empire.

5:03 The Bishop of Rome and the Ostrogoths The end of the Western

5:05 Roman Empire in 476 did not spell the end for Pope Simplicius,

5:09 who was ruling bishop in Rome at the time.

5:12 Even though the Visigothic Patricius Odoacer proclaimed himself rex Italiae,

5:17 King of Italy, life initially continued as it was.

5:21 The empire had been unstable for decades,

5:23 its armies in the west were weak, and armed gangs roamed Italy.

5:28 In 410 and 455, first the Vandals

5:30 and then the Visigoths had sacked the Eternal City;

5:34 so what difference did it make if another

5:37 Roman military leader deposed the emperor in the west?

5:40 From Ravenna, the essential structures of the late Roman Empire remained intact,

5:44 and Odoacer was recognised by the Eastern

5:47 Roman Emperor as regent under his nominal supremacy.

5:50 The new ruler was also able to come to terms with the Roman nobility.

5:55 Although the Papacy continued to subtly assert its authority over

5:59 other Bishops after the fall of the last Western Emperor,

6:02 it was still far from holding a hegemonic position

6:05 or even a leadership position in the former Western Empire.

6:09 This was clearly illustrated by the dispute over

6:12 the election of Pope Anastasius II's successor in late 498.

6:16 Two candidates were elected: Symmachus and Laurentius.

6:20 Symmachus was elected by the clergy and Laurentius

6:23 by the nobility and people of Rome.

6:26 A decision had to be made, and both parties turned to Theodoric the Great,

6:30 who had deposed Odoacer as ruler of Italy

6:34 in 493 and founded the so-called Ostrogothic Empire.

6:37 Both parties now tried to win over the new

6:40 ruler to their cause with words and gifts.

6:43 There was more than just a personnel issue at stake:

6:47 while Laurentius took a conciliatory line towards the Eastern

6:50 Roman Empire in a theological dispute over the Monophysitism,

6:54 Symmachus was uncompromising and wanted to maintain the schism

6:57 as long as the East did not yield– consequently,

7:00 the question of Rome's ties and position to Constantinople was also at stake.

7:06 In 499, Theoderic decided to support Symmachus,

7:09 thereby angering the Eastern Roman Empire.

7:12 The conflict between the parties dragged on until 506,

7:16 with supporters of both sides engaging in full-scale street battles

7:19 until Theodoric put his foot down and closed the matter.

7:24 It is important to note that not

7:27 only was Theodoric a so-called “barbarian” Goth, but he was an Arian Christian,

7:32 a brand of Christianity considered heretical to the Roman Church.

7:36 This dispute shows that it was hardly

7:38 a problem to turn to a foreign and, moreover,

7:41 heretical mediator to resolve the internal church problems of Rome.

7:45 It was therefore natural for Theoderic to send Pope John I to Byzantium in 523

7:50 as a negotiator to intercede on behalf

7:53 of the Goths who were being persecuted there.

7:56 However, with the death of Theoderic the Great in 526,

8:00 Rome and the pope once again came under the direct rule of the Empire.

8:04 Byzantine and the Papacy– Caput orbis at the edge

8:06 of the Empire During the western reconquests of the Eastern Roman Empire,

8:09 the armies of Emperor Justinian I brought North Africa,

8:12 enclaves in Hispania and the Italian peninsula

8:16 back under the direct control of Constantinople.

8:19 This changed the power structure to which the Roman bishop was subject.

8:24 Numerous Romans left the city in the course of the fighting,

8:28 which shrank noticeably in size once again.

8:30 The intellectual elite in particular migrated to the East,

8:34 their high theological disputations giving way

8:36 to spiritual accounts by miracle storytellers,

8:39 just as the city's squares gave way to the cattle of the farmers.

8:44 Italy was reintegrated into the empire, and with the imperial troops came

8:48 an administration and tax system oriented towards Constantinople.

8:52 As Bishop of Rome, the Pope was once again

8:55 a subject of the Roman Emperor during this period.

8:59 After being elected Pope,

9:00 the candidate and the election proceedings had to be reported

9:03 to the Emperor together with the Credo– the candidate's profession of faith.

9:08 After examination, the Emperor confirmed the election,

9:11 and only then could the consecration take place.

9:14 Due to this procedure,

9:16 in some cases years passed between the election and the consecration of a pope.

9:21 With Justinian's reconquest of Rome,

9:23 the Roman law he codified also came to Italy.

9:26 Here, the pope had his own role to play: on the one hand, according to this law,

9:31 the pope's role as the first of the priests

9:34 of ancient Rome was limited to the West.

9:37 On the other hand, the same laws described the secular

9:40 duties that bishops were allowed to assume in Italy.

9:43 For example, they were to be allowed to have

9:45 a say in the appointment of civil servants.

9:48 These laws laid the foundations for the further establishment

9:51 of the papacy's rule and emancipation from secular rulers.

9:56 But Italy remained a coveted place.

9:59 From 568 onwards, the Lombards invaded the peninsula.

10:03 They were initially able to wrest Friuli

10:05 and the north-west of the peninsula from the Eastern Empire.

10:08 The Lombards settled mainly in the Po Valley

10:11 and established a kingdom with Pavia as its capital.

10:13 By the middle of the 7th century,

10:16 they had succeeded in extending their dominion to the centre of Italy.

10:20 Various Lombard principalities, known as duchies, emerged here.

10:24 Trento, Friuli, Spoleto,

10:26 Tuscany and Benevento surrounded Rome and the papal possessions.

10:31 Byzantine possessions remained in the form

10:33 of the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Pentapolis,

10:36 the duchies of Rome and Naples, as well as in southern Italy and Sicily.

10:41 The popes now found themselves caught between the Lombards,

10:44 Byzantium and their own interests in the city of Rome,

10:47 and had to carefully balance these.

10:49 In the process, Rome increasingly became a border town on the edge

10:54 of the Eastern Roman sphere of influence

10:56 and had to act more and more independently.

10:59 The increasingly seperated nature of the relationship

11:02 between Rome and Constantinople is illustrated

11:05 by the dispute between Emperor Constans II and Pope Martin I in 648.

11:11 The point of contention was the question of the will and nature of Christ,

11:15 on which the emperor had issued a decree that deviated

11:19 from the dogmatic faith and therefore caused a stir in the West.

11:23 Martin I convened a synod in the Lateran in 649

11:27 and not only condemned the religious movement in the East,

11:31 but also excommunicated the patriarch of Constantinople

11:34 and other priests in the East.

11:36 Since these decisions were explicitly

11:38 directed against the emperor's religious policy,

11:41 Constans wanted to have the pope arrested for high treason.

11:45 The exarch Olympios moved his troops

11:47 to Rome in accordance with the emperor's wishes,

11:50 only to proclaim himself emperor in the West.

11:52 Martin I did nothing to counter this and waited for the situation to blow over.

11:58 After Olympios fell in battle against Muslim forces in 652,

12:02 his successor returned to Rome, ravaged and plundered the Lateran Palace,

12:06 imprisoned the Pope and took him to Constantinople to stand trial.

12:10 Martin was convicted and exiled and used as a scapegoat

12:14 for the imperial officers who had partaken in Olympios rebellion.

12:18 Under imperial pressure, a new Pope was elected in Rome.

12:22 A vivid example of the problems faced by both parties:

12:26 resistance to the emperor and emancipation of Constantinople was possible if

12:30 the Empire did not have control over its own power structures.

12:34 Maintaining this control became increasingly problematic for Constantinople.

12:37 The volatile relationship between the pope

12:39 and the basileus repeatedly led to similar escalations,

12:43 in which theological and imperial claims collided.

12:47 Over the course of the rest of the 7th and the beginning

12:51 8th century the rift between Rome and Constantinople continued to widen,

12:55 despite having phases of good relations.

12:58 Once again, theological and secular reasons intertwined

13:01 in the third of the 8th century.

13:04 The iconoclastic controversy saw Constantinople side with the iconoclasts,

13:08 while Rome continued to tolerate images of God, Mary and the saints.

13:13 At the same time, the Eastern Roman Empire attempted to impose higher taxes

13:18 on papal landholdings in order to finance

13:20 the ongoing struggle against the Muslims.

13:23 Pope Gregory II and his successor and namesake Gregory III refused to comply

13:28 with the tax increases and condemned

13:30 Emperor Leo III in the iconoclastic controversy.

13:33 In response to the refusal to pay taxes

13:36 and the Pope's position in the iconoclastic controversy,

13:37 the emperor withdrew the southern Italian

13:38 and Sicilian provinces from the vicarial control of the Pope and directly made

13:43 them subordinate to the patriarchate of Konstantinople.

13:46 The Pope's generous possessions located there were confiscated,

13:49 causing Rome to lose important sources of income.

13:53 The practical sphere of influence of the Patrimonium Perti was therefore limited

13:57 to central Italy and some areas along the Exarchate on the Adriatic coast.

14:02 And even these areas were threatened by the Lombards,

14:06 who were becoming increasingly aggressive towards the Pope and also Byzantium.

14:10 The Lombard king Liutprand I ensured strong internal stability

14:14 in his kingdom and employed many Romans at his court.

14:18 At the same time, he succeeded in bringing the independent Lombard duchies

14:22 into line with his own interests by means of conquest and treaties.

14:27 King Aistulf then succeeded in conquering Ravenna in 751,

14:31 thereby destroying the Byzantine Exarchate.

14:34 Now the strengthened Lombard Empire made preparations to extend

14:38 its supremacy over Rome and the papal possessions.

14:41 Byzantium, as the imperial protector of the Pope,

14:44 had slowly but steadily lost control of the regained

14:47 territories soon after the death of Justinian I.

14:50 Battles against the Persians,

14:52 then against Slavic and nomadic groups in the Balkans,

14:56 as well as the ever-advancing Muslim forces,

14:58 tied up most of the empire's forces,

15:00 so that by the middle of the 8th century Italy and the Bishop

15:04 of Rome ended up far down on the list of priorities.

15:08 No Byzantine dux had been appointed in Rome since the middle of the 8th century,

15:13 so that all worldly power here finally

15:15 passed to the Pope and the Roman nobility.

15:17 The Pope was now the lord of the Duchy of Rome, its army and its administration.

15:22 This development ultimately led to a final

15:25 break with the Eastern Roman-Byzantine Empire

15:27 and led the way to an heir to the empire in the West.

15:31 Let's be Frank to the Lombards– The Papacy and the Carolingian Franks

15:31 With Constantinople's power over Italy in decline

15:34 and the Lombards expanding their territory,

15:36 Rome and the Pope needed a new protector after 751.

15:40 Popes Gregory II and Gregory III had

15:43 already taken a favourable stance towards the Franks

15:46 and their ruling family of the Merovingians as well

15:49 as of their mayor of the palace, Charles Martel.

15:52 After all, they had promoted the Christian mission,

15:55 increasingly aligned Christian rites north of the alps

15:58 with the Roman model and, last but not least,

16:01 were successful in the fight against the advancing Muslim forces.

16:04 Thus when the Lombard king Aistulf began to exert pressure on the Pope

16:08 in Rome to place his possessions

16:10 and the rule over Rome itself under Lombard control,

16:14 Pope Stephen II first turned to the Eastern Emperor Constantine V.

16:18 His call for help went unheard from across the Bosporus,

16:22 whereupon Stephen himself turned to the Frankish king Pippin III.

16:26 Pippin had only been elevated to king in 751,

16:29 after asking Pope Zacharias whether it was good that the kings

16:33 of the Franks from the Merovingian dynasty had no power.

16:36 The Pope replied that it was better to designate as king the one who had power.

16:42 Consequently, the last Merovingian king, Childeric III,

16:45 was deposed with the Pope's consent,

16:47 and Pippin III of the Carolingian dynasty ascended the throne.

16:51 Pope Stephen II himself travelled to the Franks

16:55 and met with this new king in Ponthion in 754.

16:58 Here the Pope showed himself humble towards the Frankish ruler,

17:02 fell down before him and asked for the help of Pippin

17:05 and the Franks against the Lombards who were threatening the Holy See.

17:09 After lengthy negotiations, Pippin agreed to fight for the Pope and Rome.

17:13 He promised to protect the Pope's possessions and added to them

17:17 lands from the Lombards and Byzantines that were yet to be conquered.

17:21 The Patrimonium Petri, which still exists today as the Papal States,

17:26 was thus established by Pippin's donation.

17:28 The Frankish king and his descendants

17:31 received the title patricius romanorum for this.

17:34 In addition, Pippin and his descendants Carloman

17:37 and Charles were anointed by Pope Stephen,

17:40 further cementing the legitimacy of their still young reign.

17:43 With these new titles and the new consecration,

17:46 the Carolingians began to present themselves more

17:49 and more in close coordination with the Pope

17:51 as a continuation of Roman authority

17:54 and as the elevated protectors of Christianity.

17:56 In 755 and 756, the Franks waged war against the Lombards,

18:02 who were forced to surrender both times under the blows of the Franks.

18:06 The Pope in Rome had found a new protector,

18:08 and ancient Rome was now to come to terms

18:11 with this new heir to the Roman Empire from the West.

18:14 Summary and conclusion The history of the papacy is

18:17 one of the longest continuous

18:19 historical narratives in Euro-Mediterranean history.

18:20 It stretches from the birth of Christ at the beginning

18:22 of the Common Era to the present day.

18:23 We have only been able to trace the fundamental developments of this institution

18:25 from the end of antiquity to the early Middle Ages in excerpts.

18:29 The most important aspects were probably

18:32 the continuity of Roman rule and tradition,

18:35 the slowly developing supremacy of the Roman bishop in the post-Roman world,

18:39 and the constant connection with secular rulers.

18:42 In doing so, the popes of the early Middle Ages had

18:45 to deal cautiously but firmly with the secular rulers in Constantinople,

18:49 Milan, Pavia and, finally,

18:51 north of the Alps in matters of theology and power politics.

18:55 In all this, there is a line of development

18:58 that leads to the independence of the Pope's rule

19:01 over Rome and finds its first conclusion in the connection

19:04 with the Franks and the simultaneous separation from Byzantium.

19:07 We will tell you about the history of the Pope's relationship with the Franks

19:12 and the baptism of a new empire in the West in another video,

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